People gotta relax with this LaMelo>Wiseman stuff. You can't settle a debate about which 19 year old has a better career in a season, let alone 25 games.
Obviously, you can't definitely say that but from what we've seen until now LaMelo has legitimate superstar potential and is having one of the best rookie seasons in the modern NBA. Does anyone doubt he'd go #1 if a redraft was held tomorrow?
It's too early to say things with complete confidence but it's also naive to assume that our priors (information before the draft) haven't been significantly changed now.
One good thing though is I think the value of our asset haas appreciated. Wiseman now is probably a more valuable trade piece than #2 was on draft night.
Not always. You can probably tell pretty soon if it's evident enough. Most knew Ayton/Bagley over Doncic was bonkers on draft night itself. Same with Toppin over Avdija/Vassell/Haliburton. Thabeet over Harden/Rubio/Steph was also a disaster and we knew that pretty soon.
Although I agree with the broader point, Gobert was a case of misevaluation of talent. IIRC, Utah's defense was about 10 points better when he was out there.
I think Jaylen Brown and Brandon Ingram might be a better example of that.
I see some possible issues for sure. In last night's Wolves game I noticed LaMelo didn't really box out when the shot went up, he drifted toward the basket in search of a rebound. He seemed to drift toward the ball a lot defensively, although maybe that was part of the gameplan. And not that it really matters, but the screen I saw him set was pretty unconvincing.
Could just be a rookie thing that he cleans up as he goes along, or not. Need more time to know.
But the most important thing is we still don't know if he can shoot threes yet, encouraging early numbers aside. It's pretty important for primary ballhandlers to be able to shoot threes. Doncic has made it work without that ability, but even then, I think it's a hole in his game that can be exploited in the playoffs. And Doncic has a ridiculous ability to get to his spot regardless, can LaMelo do that if his shot doesn't work?
I do think Wiseman's lack of physicality is pretty concerning, but I'd also be lying if I said I knew if that was something 19 year olds commonly grew out of or not. I think he's a sure thing if he cleans up his physicality and his hands.
on that ESS podcast, Bogut was asked specifically about Wiseman's hands and Bogut mentioned a specific training exercise they could do with oddly shaped balls. I'm guessing it's something his trainer is aware of and will start to work on.
For me, it's the general defense. Watching JTA being able to predict plays alongside Draymond, or even the disparity in defensive numbers with Loon... there's just a LOT of growth needed there (and rebounds too, like you mention). I feel pretty good about Wiseman and the Warriors being able to develop both his strengths and weaknesses, but he for sure looks as young and raw as his 19 years
I watched the game. The first half was horrible, like at least tied for the worst basketball I've ever seen in all summer league and g league. Well into the second quarter they were on pace for 40 turnovers in the game AND at the same time were shooting below 50% on free throws as a team. Second half they actually almost made a comeback. So I have no idea. Need to see more games.
Most interesting moment in the game (for warriors fans) was halfway through the 3rd quarter, baby dubs are looking at a 24 point demolition.
Then, in about 3 or 4 minutes: Lin makes some good plays and gets multiple guys open 3s. Poole finds Mannion for a 3, then Mannion finds Poole way downcourt for a corner three, complete with the Curry Style look away (actually not kidding here, haha).
Suddenly it's a one possession game. At that point Poole tries to do it himself and hit a three that would tie, and he misses. Next trip down, he gives it to Manion, who then gives it back, and as Poole is about to shoot his defender jumps toward him. So he does the natural NBA play: he jumps straight into the guy. On rewatch it actually looks like it would be an NBA foul, but I don't think they call that weirdness the same way in the G League. Poole misses the ugly attempt to draw a foul, then immediately recovers and makes a hustle play to try to steal the ball thrown way downcourt off his miss and gets tangled up with another guy. Poole then complains (yells? whines? Couldn't hear it in the audio) to the refs, and they give him a tech. The Santa Cruz coach then looks like he has a pretty serious talking-to with Poole. Probably telling him we don't whine to the refs in this league, all the guys are working hard here... I don't know, fill it in for yourself. My guess is Poole was telling the very adult refs that they are not officiating basketball in the correct way.
Anyway, at that point they go back and forth for a while before the other team gets some separation and wins by 10.
Ivan Rabb is in the G League? Doing nothing? Wow…a long way from being a prime recruit at Cal (with Jaylen). So sad to see. Such potential. He shoulda left after his freshman year also.
Ivan Rabb is in the G league? And doing nothing. So sad to see. He was such a huge recruit for Cal (along with Jaylen Brown). He should’ve left after his freshman year. He also would’ve been a top 10 draft pick. Loved watching him play at Cal, tho.
The highlights are up now. Looks like they both had a really bad first half. Mannion with some eye-popping plays including a one-handed hammer after a blow-by
Yea, it's going to be tough for him. Even if he had solid stats, right now Jarret Jack would probably be the better option for a vet PG (at 37 yrs old!).
The MVP award is just for the media's most valuable player. It's not the player that generates the most value to his team but rather the player that generates the most clicks, views, retweets, and gives the media the most to write about and the _easiest_ storylines and narratives to promote. This shouldn't be all that much of a stretch given that the media essentially gets paid by those metrics and are the actual voters for the MVP award. Sometimes this aligns with a player's actual performance (eg. Unanimous) and sometimes it's questionable (Westbrook's 42FG%, 47% EFG... but omg triple doubles!).
I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of the media just loads up traditional stats on nba.com and sorts by fantasy points per game.
Kurtenbach for the Mercury summed it up pretty well:
> In fact, it makes me wonder if the pundits, influencers and tastemakers out there — the folks who create national narratives about things like the MVP award — are watching the games at all.
>
> They should turn Curry and the Warriors on. They’re missing a great show.
Steph's not really leading the league in many categories (just, you know... points) so people who aren't watching the games are pitifully oblivious to what he's doing. The game speaks for itself... if you're listening.
How is his lead on 3P attempts staggering? Steph is taking 11.6 a game, McCollum is taking 11.0 a game, and Dame is taking 10.7 a game. Buddy Hield is taking 10.5 a game. Hardly a huge difference? The difference is that Steph is shooting 5% higher than either of those guys on slightly more attempts.
I guess Steph does have like 2 more games played than Dame and Hield, but that's just because the Warriors' schedule has been crazy packed with lots of back to backs and not a lot of two day rests... hardly much of an advantage?
Same argument applies to not 3PM and 3PA... CJ making 4.8 a game on better 3P%, just in fewer games. Steph is taking a lot and making a lot. Not sure why you interpreted my comment so negatively.
50 more attempts than #2 - 16% more - is a pretty substantial gap. And it’s getting bigger, 12.4 attempts per game over his last 10 and 13.8 over his last five.
It's kind of a mirage though, because Dame has played 3 fewer games due to a lighter schedule. So you'd expect that gap to close by 30+ attempts by the end of the season. But more games played does skew total 3s made in addition to attempts, of course!
Actually Hield is now only one game played behind Steph, so the numbers almost match up! He's 37 attempts behind, which is only a 12% difference. And Hield has made 32 fewer threes... which is a 24% difference. Still a pretty big discrepancy.
Some narratives I hope Curry’s stellar season is putting to rest:
* The notion that KD was the reason they won those last two Chips.
* The notion that KD was the best player on those teams.
To boot, I think it’s possible the Dubs would have won two or more Chips even if KD hadn’t signed on. Barnes was a good SF and has since improved. More importantly, the brass would have had a lot more money for the bench. Not saying that Barnes and a better beach would have been more productive than KD, but it would have been close enough. Also, we can see that with KD there, we missed out on three years of cheat-code Curry, like we’re having the pleasure of witnessing again now. Additionally, with a better bench in tow, the Dubs’ stars probably wouldn’t have had to play so many minutes during the season and especially in the playoffs, which, imo, largely led to all the injuries of the last couple of seasons.
So, not only do I think a hypothetical non-KD Dubs team could have won two Chips in those three years, but it’s also likely that Klay would not have been injured two years straight, potentially leading to another title in at least one of those seasons, culminating in three or four Chips rather than two. On the other hand, without the tank job from last season, the Dubs wouldn’t have landed Wiseman. So there’s that.
Anyways, my main point is that Steph is legendary and I enjoy watching him go supernova on a near-nightly basis.
Agree that Steph is legendary and I love watching him play.
That said, my recollection is that it's doubtful the Ws could have kept Barnes and still had a lot more money for a better bench. Barnes had already turned down something like $64 million. He eventually signed with Dallas for in the $90+ million range -- at an annual salary close to what the Ws paid for Durant. I may have my details wrong, as I haven't bothered to look all of this up, so I'm willing to be fact checked and recant. But if that's true, Durant was basically a straight across trade for Barnes -- a no-brainer. IF the Ws had whiffed on Durant and given up the farm to keep Barnes, we would have had the same bench problems.
That said, I do think the Ws could have won championships with HB. They had already won one, and were on the verge of a second but for a perfect storm of problems -- Dray's suspension (bogus because it came about because of LBJ's intervention, but not bogus because he probably should have been suspended in the previous round for kicking Adams in the groin -- that just can't happen), Steph's (and then later, Bogut and Iguodala's) injuries, Barnes' going cold at exactly the wrong time, and a couple of heroic plays by James and Irving.
But it would have had to be with that thinner bench, with the starters playing those heavier minutes they ended up playing.
Among my least favorite gaslighting of Steph success included "...how can he be MVP when he's not even the best player on his own team!!!?!?!?".
--a bunch of people who have Kawhi Leonard or Paul George or both, LeBron James or Anthony Davis or both, KD, etc high on their MVP lists.
Now we have "...but their record isn't good, should Bradley Beal be MVP?!?!?!?!?!" despite the Wizards being a .273 team compared to the Warriors at .538 (hah), while those same people have Jokic as a favorite with the Nuggets at .542.
(I think Jokic is a worthy MVP candidate, but Steph should be right there with him)
Kinda reminds me of Brady. Even after his first 3 rings and an incredible (perhaps the greatest?) 07 season, it felt like he still had to prove himself to people.
There is certainly no denying now who's the 🐐, so hopefully Steph will eventually get the respect he deserves. I honestly believe he can play till he's at least 40 as well
Lol bro I was a charger fan (san diegan here), ALL MCREE HAD TO DO WAS GO DOWN! But he honestly won me over after he beat the Seahawks. Plus im a neutral fan nowadays anyway
I wasn't implying that Steph is the goat, just that the disrespect the two received is comparable IMO. Although I do feel Steph will finish his career as the GOAT PG
Actually, KD was not that much more expensive than Barnes max extension.
He gave GSW a very heft discount for those 3 years... but he more than earned it back from endorsements that came with being in SF, being a Warrior, 2x Championships and 2x Finals MVP.
I thought that initial offer Barnes turned down was reasonable enough, not sure what he considered a discount but who knows what woulda happened if KD didn't come.
It's sad. But what I remember at the time was the Barnes had turned down that $64 million extension. He's the one who wanted more money, and while I don't blame him for that -- who doesn't want more money? -- it's hard to say that the decision was made for him, as if they forced him out. Do I believe he wanted to stay? Well, not for $16 million/year. He got a lot more money to go to Dallas, which was good for him. But it's hard to buy the story about being pushed out when they offered him perfectly good money to stay.
I agreed with everything else you said, but Igoudala, Livingston, West, Looney and McGhee was the core of a pretty great bench. I think the biggest difference if we didn’t get KD and kept Barnes would have been Andrew Bogut would have remained our starting center. It’s easy to forget how huge (literally!) he was for us.
That's why I always get pissed when ppl were like "Cavs would have won the year before too if they had Love and Kyrie". MFers no! It wasn't just Dray getting suspended. People wanna conveniently forget the impact of Dre being out for a game and Bogut shredding his knee. But Bogues was apparently not important cause he didn't score smdh
I vaguely recall you mentioning something about the difficulty of Curry being an MVP when the Warriors are not amongst the top teams, and the MVP tends to be the best player in the best team (if it wasn't you, I'm sorry, I'm having an excess of Curry related information lately, so I might totally be mistaken. I was actually thinking about this after the game and with the MVP buzz all over twitter. I think that if the Dubs make the playoffs, Curry could totally have a chance at MVP. I mean, this is a team everyone (except dubnation) thought it was going to always be in the bottom. Everybody was talking so much about The Great Legacy Loss and all that. And now, the narrative is changing after every game. And while the Dubs are still irregular, they seem to become a little more solid every game, even when they loose (I might be totally partial and mistake, though).
I know it's a long season, and like you say, so many random factors enter on deciding the MVP, but I'm becoming increasingly hopeful...
Yeah, that "best player on the best team" sounds like me for sure. It's just NOT that. I'm not sure if it ever was, or if I just didn't follow the NBA closely enough as a kid, but it's been clear over the past decade or so that being the best player on the best team isn't a lock for the MVP award.
Interestingly, it looks like Jokic gets a pass somehow (he got a bunch of votes in that straw poll, and the Nuggets are tied with the Warriors at 6.5 games back).
One thing I think will work in Steph's favor in this regard though is how little offensive support he has. Anyone who watches a game can easily imagine how this same roster would look without Steph - and it's not good. Pull LeBron or AD off the Lakers, and they're still pencilling in as a Finals team probably, at a minimum a deep playoff team. We all saw what the Warriors looked like last season, and Steph is so good and so much better that it's jarring (in a good way)
Thank *you* for writing it (and also for taking the time to reply!). I really enjoy reading your articles, they're interesting and well researched, and offer great analysis. And I love how you include cultural and social references, or little things like explaining why articles should have a "so what."
I completely agree with everything you say, and it is exactly what makes me feel like he might have a chance. Honestly, I really don't care that much about him getting another MVP, I much rather the Dubs making the playoffs. But when I see him playing so amazingly, I just feel it's unfair he's not in the top five. But, oh well... Like he said, let the game speak for itself
- He really is a great show to watch. His passing is magical and he does so many things really well despite being a huge, slow-footed guy who can barely jump. This is worth even more since he hasn't won it before.
- He's near the top of the league in a bunch of box-score stats. #3 in steals, #4 in assists, #8 in rebounds, #8 in points, #13 in FG%...
- ALL the advanced stats love him. He's currently on top of the league in Win Shares (offense, total, and per-48), Box Plus/Minus, VORP, RAPTOR Wins Above Replacement (he was leading total RAPTOR earlier in the season but he's trailed off a little there).
And even though the Nuggets are not at the top of the league right now, they're essentially unchanged from the team that went to the WCF last year after beating two of the teams that are currently leading the league, so there's good reason to believe they'll climb higher in the standings before the season is over.
He's a different kind of player than Steph and both absolutely deserve to be in the MVP conversation. Embiid and Kawhi both have strong cases, too. It's impressive what LeBron continues to do given his age and legacy but I'm not remotely convinced that he deserves MVP for this season.
He's not "starry" enough, LeBron deserves it after being the Best Player In The World since 2003 and not winning it in, like, forever. We gave it to Curry that one year cuz we were bored, we gave it to Curry again cuz he improved even further, we gave it to Westbrook, and Giannis... that was fun and all, but LeBron's reminding us that he's still The Best Player In The World, and he's 36!
I think he’s very “starry”. It’s just taking a while for people to realize it. He’s not a big media market and a lot of people didn’t pay attention to the bubble; ratings were way down. Also, he’s white, which adds an extra point of interest for some people.
By the end of the year, his support will look better by numbers... I read an article somewhere recently where somebody was talking up LeBrons 3pt shooting, while talking down Jokics’s because he’s a career 34% 3pt shooter... LeBron is a career 34% 3pt shooter. People will tell themselves the story they want to tell themselves. This is already booked as the LeBron MVP year, so it’s going to take a miracle to change that narrative
I'm banking on that miracle. I'm a "anyone but lebron" kinda guy. And I'm really thinking by the end of the season, Steph & the Warriors will have changed everyone's preconceptions.
By the end of the season, narrative will change so that LeBron gets his lifetime achievement MVP. Not saying he doesn’t deserve another MVP, but that’s the National narrative and they’ll adjust things to make that work... unless Steph goes really, really crazy and wills the team to a top seed
Yeah, totally, I agree. Buuuuut I kinda cannot give up hope of Steph so big something really crazy. I *have* tried, but then he goes and scores 40 and 10 3p and I'm back at being optimistic again... 😂
you'll see some people floating around how Lillard has a higher shooting percentage than Curry from the looooong-long range areas of the floor. I would love to see how many of Curry's attempts from beyond 30 feet are his half-court/full-court heaves at the end of quarters that he loves so much. My gut instinct is that that's the only reason Lillard's percentage is higher, is that he hasn't taken nearly as many of those heaves as Curry has.
Long range shooting stats are a crapshoot as far as how consistent they are between various sources. And now that stathead sports nee basketball ref paywalled their query stuff it's hard to put together something there.
Not only does he not have Klay or any other 40%+ 3pt-shooter to back him up, he's also a known quantity, scouted and famous. 29 coaches in the league have had all season, often multiple seasons, to craft a defense specifically tailored at stopping him from going off. Rookies in the league can hardly even remember a time when Steph *wasn't* playing for the Warriors.
And yet he's still doing (*gesticulates wildly*) THIS.
It would make sense if he were getting a halfway respectable number of points and had good +/- and assist numbers. Which he does. But he's actually just blowing up those defensive schemes that were specifically created to stop him. Not even just some of them. Every time! Can you even think of three games this season where he was "bottled up"?
I'm loving every game of this, and just crossing my fingers that his and everybody's health holds up long enough for this to continue.
Wait a second... these replies are silly, guys. I know you didn't just say Looney... Looney has attempted FIVE three point shots this year. No one wants to see him gain an offensive game beyond great screening more than me, but you don't count a guy with a total of TWO made 3s on the year in your percentage stats.
Wiseman is also averaging 1 attempt a game, and JTA is averaging 1.7 attempts and hasn't played in most the games this year. So in the end you've got Baze shooting 2 threes a game, and Lee who's been incredible this year. But all these guys together barely add up to half Klay's number of 3pt attempts per game, and Baze and Lee don't even spend most of their time on the court WITH STEPH.
That's the point mDuo is making when they say no 40% shooter "backing" Steph up. There's no major threat from 3 on the court with Steph to take pressure off the primary scorer and create spacing on the floor. Basically every good team in the NBA has this, fyi, and Steph does not. So I think it's a fair point.
> Can you even think of three games this season where he was "bottled up"?
I hate you for making me do this...
Toronto: 11 points in 38 minutes, 2 of 16 from the field, 1 of 10 from three (6 of 6 from the line); Warriors won but I'd say he was bottled up for sure.
Clippers: 13 points in 35 minutes, 5 of 17 from the field, 1 of 6 from three, 2 of 4 from the line; Warriors loss
Indiana: 20 points in 36 minutes, 7 of 17 from the field, 3 of 8 from three, 3 of 5 from the line; Warriors loss
One of the Minnesota games might have been worse but the Warriors won by 12 so....
But yeah, that's about all I've got, throwing out the first two games where the whole team was a show of the caca.
Thanks digging into this—I had the Indiana and Toronto games in mind when I wrote that, forgot he scored as low as 13 points against the Clippers. 3 games out of 26 is 11%, so in other words Curry is popping off about 90% of the time. I guess if you're throwing out the first two games it's a smaller percentage.
Related: I'm honestly surprised Indiana and Toronto's defenses aren't ranked higher in the stats this season after how well they played us.
It's a privilege to watch him play. Was losing a year of Curry's prime "worth it"? Probably not, honestly. He makes every game feel like must watch basketball and we lost a year's worth of that.
Hope he plays with the Warriors until he's 40, and glad Kerr is pacing his minutes so he has a chance to get there.
You can look at it that way. But the 'glass half full' way is that a broken hand extended his career by a year. Imagine what Steph would have been like 'wasting' a prime year on the team we had then. No knock against the team because they all got valuable playing time / experience. But would we have even won 15 more games... and we would not have ended up with the pick we did. Karma.
Yup. I remember the debate leading up to Curry's return against Toronto, about "should Curry play again in a meaningless season, won't that just hurt the tank?". And they were probably right about the tank, although COVID (and the flu) prevented the Warriors from worsening their draft position since Curry only played one game. But that game and this season has reminded everyone that Curry makes any game feel meaningful. And there's only so many games with Curry in them left.
Great article! Also, definitely would not hate it if someone who had access to Zach Lowe's latest paywalled column copy and pasted the Curry section here...
Or, maybe a summary instead, as copying and pasting paywalled content is really not kosher, and it would be a little hypocritical on a site with paywalled content...
This analysis ignores that Steph has been significantly better on defense, setting screens and playing through contact this year. Maybe it's all that time lifting, some veteran savvy or both but he is playing better in almost every aspect versus the unanimous year.
The other thing is that this team has gotten so much better than they were to start the season and have so much potential to be even better when Wiseman and Looney return. The other starters learning to play Kerr ball and with Steph has a lot do with why Steph has looked so great these last 13 games.
The 2020-2021 warriors will not be better than the 2015-2016 club but at the current pace, Steph has a real chance to break his 405 3s record in a 72 game season.
14 3s in a game is at risk every time he steps onto the court. Saturday against Brooklyn would be a great time to break that one.
A few more signature performances, a few more broken records and going 24-12 down the back half of the season might be enough to get that MVP chant going across the country.
I still really wrestle with defensive metrics because even the ones that I think are good and meaningful can return mixed results. I find that you need to read too much context around most of the fancier defensive metrics and it makes me shy away from them a bit.
Plus, this one is just about the MVP chatter, and we all know that no one cares about defense. MVP is really an offensive award mostly.
People talking about MVP do care about defense; they use it as a knock on Steph not being a "two-way player" which is probably one of the dumbest things I can think of considering basketball players all literally play both ways, and teams have tried to exploit Steph's alleged terrible defense for years with dubious results.
Anyway, all of the top MVP candidates are excellent defenders or at least have excellent defensive highlights (*cough* LeBron *cough*).
No argument here on that specifically, but my point was that it's not something consistent... and sometimes the stats just conveniently back one narrative or another.
When Harden won in 2017-18, Anthony Davis had a monster year as well. NOP finished 6th in the West, his offensive numbers were on par or close to Harden's and clearly is the superior defender.
MOSTLY an offensive award. Also mostly a narrative award. And a "not him again" award. Maybe the NBA should go ahead and formalize that no player can win more than 2 in a row or 4 in a career.
Yeah, it might actually be good for the conversation to have explicit limits like that. Commentators want to recognize new guys who have done something different and also awesome in the game, and I can respect that. Limiting how many awards the same guy can get would free up people to say, "Yeah, this guy continues to be insanely good, but he's gotten the award enough times now, so let's talk about how crazy good this other guy is."
I would LOVE to see the league issue some sort of meaningful criteria. I was pretty shocked when I learned that there isn't actually ANYTHING about what voters are supposed to base their decisions on.
If there was a fixed statistical criteria, there would be no need for a vote, or narratives, or talk shows, or vlogs or teams/coaches pimping their guy.
Seeing SC30 go thermonuclear never gets old. It's like a cat playing with a mouse. The losing team sees a potential comeback, and then the Michelin starred Chef Curry grinds their hopes to dust, gives a good shimmy or two, and then dances on their charred remains, as opposing coaches scream in agony like Anakin on Mustafar.
Loved watching the video of Curry cooking Ennis, then shaking his head. I had it on a loop for a while and couldn't stop laughing.
This is what Kobe meant when he talked about Steph and Klay being thought of as nice guys but actually being 'killers' (don't love the analogy, but I get what he means). They're good natured guys, but they are downright disdainful of the thought that you could stop them.
Morning boss, I'm going to prepare for and expect myself to be the most valuable employee in our industry. Have a great day.
People gotta relax with this LaMelo>Wiseman stuff. You can't settle a debate about which 19 year old has a better career in a season, let alone 25 games.
Obviously, you can't definitely say that but from what we've seen until now LaMelo has legitimate superstar potential and is having one of the best rookie seasons in the modern NBA. Does anyone doubt he'd go #1 if a redraft was held tomorrow?
It's too early to say things with complete confidence but it's also naive to assume that our priors (information before the draft) haven't been significantly changed now.
One good thing though is I think the value of our asset haas appreciated. Wiseman now is probably a more valuable trade piece than #2 was on draft night.
Yeah, realistically you gotta wait until like their rookie deals are done.
Not always. You can probably tell pretty soon if it's evident enough. Most knew Ayton/Bagley over Doncic was bonkers on draft night itself. Same with Toppin over Avdija/Vassell/Haliburton. Thabeet over Harden/Rubio/Steph was also a disaster and we knew that pretty soon.
That's true, but then sometimes we don't know. Gobert didn't get a single ROY vote in 2013-2014 and even got assigned to the G-League.
Although I agree with the broader point, Gobert was a case of misevaluation of talent. IIRC, Utah's defense was about 10 points better when he was out there.
I think Jaylen Brown and Brandon Ingram might be a better example of that.
I see some possible issues for sure. In last night's Wolves game I noticed LaMelo didn't really box out when the shot went up, he drifted toward the basket in search of a rebound. He seemed to drift toward the ball a lot defensively, although maybe that was part of the gameplan. And not that it really matters, but the screen I saw him set was pretty unconvincing.
Could just be a rookie thing that he cleans up as he goes along, or not. Need more time to know.
But the most important thing is we still don't know if he can shoot threes yet, encouraging early numbers aside. It's pretty important for primary ballhandlers to be able to shoot threes. Doncic has made it work without that ability, but even then, I think it's a hole in his game that can be exploited in the playoffs. And Doncic has a ridiculous ability to get to his spot regardless, can LaMelo do that if his shot doesn't work?
I do think Wiseman's lack of physicality is pretty concerning, but I'd also be lying if I said I knew if that was something 19 year olds commonly grew out of or not. I think he's a sure thing if he cleans up his physicality and his hands.
Too early to know, for either guy.
on that ESS podcast, Bogut was asked specifically about Wiseman's hands and Bogut mentioned a specific training exercise they could do with oddly shaped balls. I'm guessing it's something his trainer is aware of and will start to work on.
For me, it's the general defense. Watching JTA being able to predict plays alongside Draymond, or even the disparity in defensive numbers with Loon... there's just a LOT of growth needed there (and rebounds too, like you mention). I feel pretty good about Wiseman and the Warriors being able to develop both his strengths and weaknesses, but he for sure looks as young and raw as his 19 years
Nbcsports.com says DeAndre Jordan “reportedly out” for tomorrow nights game.
Confirmed.
From what I can find, he's out for "personal reasons" and given the times, I just hope everyone is ok
I’m guessing he wouldn’t have played much vs. our small lineup...err...available roster
Ugh some ugly stats from G-League (didnt see the game though). We had 26 TOs total, ouch!
Poole: 7/18 FG, 4/13 3P, 6 REB, 4 AST, 7 TO, 19 PTS
Mannion: 8/17 FG, 3/12 3P, 5 REB, 6 AST, 8 TO, 22 PTS
https://gleague.nba.com/games/20210212/SCWDEL/
I watched the game. The first half was horrible, like at least tied for the worst basketball I've ever seen in all summer league and g league. Well into the second quarter they were on pace for 40 turnovers in the game AND at the same time were shooting below 50% on free throws as a team. Second half they actually almost made a comeback. So I have no idea. Need to see more games.
I only caught the first half so they must have played a lot better in the 3rd quarter to make it close. That was some ugly basketball.
Most interesting moment in the game (for warriors fans) was halfway through the 3rd quarter, baby dubs are looking at a 24 point demolition.
Then, in about 3 or 4 minutes: Lin makes some good plays and gets multiple guys open 3s. Poole finds Mannion for a 3, then Mannion finds Poole way downcourt for a corner three, complete with the Curry Style look away (actually not kidding here, haha).
Suddenly it's a one possession game. At that point Poole tries to do it himself and hit a three that would tie, and he misses. Next trip down, he gives it to Manion, who then gives it back, and as Poole is about to shoot his defender jumps toward him. So he does the natural NBA play: he jumps straight into the guy. On rewatch it actually looks like it would be an NBA foul, but I don't think they call that weirdness the same way in the G League. Poole misses the ugly attempt to draw a foul, then immediately recovers and makes a hustle play to try to steal the ball thrown way downcourt off his miss and gets tangled up with another guy. Poole then complains (yells? whines? Couldn't hear it in the audio) to the refs, and they give him a tech. The Santa Cruz coach then looks like he has a pretty serious talking-to with Poole. Probably telling him we don't whine to the refs in this league, all the guys are working hard here... I don't know, fill it in for yourself. My guess is Poole was telling the very adult refs that they are not officiating basketball in the correct way.
Anyway, at that point they go back and forth for a while before the other team gets some separation and wins by 10.
This was cool, thanks for sharing.
I'm always torn about watching those games
Ivan Rabb is in the G League? Doing nothing? Wow…a long way from being a prime recruit at Cal (with Jaylen). So sad to see. Such potential. He shoulda left after his freshman year also.
Ivan Rabb is in the G league? And doing nothing. So sad to see. He was such a huge recruit for Cal (along with Jaylen Brown). He should’ve left after his freshman year. He also would’ve been a top 10 draft pick. Loved watching him play at Cal, tho.
Sorry. Trouble creating account, so double post.
Welcome!
The highlights are up now. Looks like they both had a really bad first half. Mannion with some eye-popping plays including a one-handed hammer after a blow-by
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrVb84OlsTA
Guess they’re not ready to take-over for Wanamaker
I thought it said “Welcome to California”
Yea, it's going to be tough for him. Even if he had solid stats, right now Jarret Jack would probably be the better option for a vet PG (at 37 yrs old!).
The MVP award is just for the media's most valuable player. It's not the player that generates the most value to his team but rather the player that generates the most clicks, views, retweets, and gives the media the most to write about and the _easiest_ storylines and narratives to promote. This shouldn't be all that much of a stretch given that the media essentially gets paid by those metrics and are the actual voters for the MVP award. Sometimes this aligns with a player's actual performance (eg. Unanimous) and sometimes it's questionable (Westbrook's 42FG%, 47% EFG... but omg triple doubles!).
I wouldn't be surprised if the vast majority of the media just loads up traditional stats on nba.com and sorts by fantasy points per game.
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/traditional/?sort=NBA_FANTASY_PTS&dir=-1&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular%20Season
Kurtenbach for the Mercury summed it up pretty well:
> In fact, it makes me wonder if the pundits, influencers and tastemakers out there — the folks who create national narratives about things like the MVP award — are watching the games at all.
>
> They should turn Curry and the Warriors on. They’re missing a great show.
Steph's not really leading the league in many categories (just, you know... points) so people who aren't watching the games are pitifully oblivious to what he's doing. The game speaks for itself... if you're listening.
I mean, his lead on made threes right now is staggering.
True story. his lead on 3PA is also staggering...
How is his lead on 3P attempts staggering? Steph is taking 11.6 a game, McCollum is taking 11.0 a game, and Dame is taking 10.7 a game. Buddy Hield is taking 10.5 a game. Hardly a huge difference? The difference is that Steph is shooting 5% higher than either of those guys on slightly more attempts.
I guess Steph does have like 2 more games played than Dame and Hield, but that's just because the Warriors' schedule has been crazy packed with lots of back to backs and not a lot of two day rests... hardly much of an advantage?
Same argument applies to not 3PM and 3PA... CJ making 4.8 a game on better 3P%, just in fewer games. Steph is taking a lot and making a lot. Not sure why you interpreted my comment so negatively.
What!? I didn't take it negative at all, was just pointing out 11.6 a game probably isn't a "staggering" difference from 11.0 or 10.7. No worries man!
50 more attempts than #2 - 16% more - is a pretty substantial gap. And it’s getting bigger, 12.4 attempts per game over his last 10 and 13.8 over his last five.
It's kind of a mirage though, because Dame has played 3 fewer games due to a lighter schedule. So you'd expect that gap to close by 30+ attempts by the end of the season. But more games played does skew total 3s made in addition to attempts, of course!
Actually Hield is now only one game played behind Steph, so the numbers almost match up! He's 37 attempts behind, which is only a 12% difference. And Hield has made 32 fewer threes... which is a 24% difference. Still a pretty big discrepancy.
Some narratives I hope Curry’s stellar season is putting to rest:
* The notion that KD was the reason they won those last two Chips.
* The notion that KD was the best player on those teams.
To boot, I think it’s possible the Dubs would have won two or more Chips even if KD hadn’t signed on. Barnes was a good SF and has since improved. More importantly, the brass would have had a lot more money for the bench. Not saying that Barnes and a better beach would have been more productive than KD, but it would have been close enough. Also, we can see that with KD there, we missed out on three years of cheat-code Curry, like we’re having the pleasure of witnessing again now. Additionally, with a better bench in tow, the Dubs’ stars probably wouldn’t have had to play so many minutes during the season and especially in the playoffs, which, imo, largely led to all the injuries of the last couple of seasons.
So, not only do I think a hypothetical non-KD Dubs team could have won two Chips in those three years, but it’s also likely that Klay would not have been injured two years straight, potentially leading to another title in at least one of those seasons, culminating in three or four Chips rather than two. On the other hand, without the tank job from last season, the Dubs wouldn’t have landed Wiseman. So there’s that.
Anyways, my main point is that Steph is legendary and I enjoy watching him go supernova on a near-nightly basis.
Agree that Steph is legendary and I love watching him play.
That said, my recollection is that it's doubtful the Ws could have kept Barnes and still had a lot more money for a better bench. Barnes had already turned down something like $64 million. He eventually signed with Dallas for in the $90+ million range -- at an annual salary close to what the Ws paid for Durant. I may have my details wrong, as I haven't bothered to look all of this up, so I'm willing to be fact checked and recant. But if that's true, Durant was basically a straight across trade for Barnes -- a no-brainer. IF the Ws had whiffed on Durant and given up the farm to keep Barnes, we would have had the same bench problems.
That said, I do think the Ws could have won championships with HB. They had already won one, and were on the verge of a second but for a perfect storm of problems -- Dray's suspension (bogus because it came about because of LBJ's intervention, but not bogus because he probably should have been suspended in the previous round for kicking Adams in the groin -- that just can't happen), Steph's (and then later, Bogut and Iguodala's) injuries, Barnes' going cold at exactly the wrong time, and a couple of heroic plays by James and Irving.
But it would have had to be with that thinner bench, with the starters playing those heavier minutes they ended up playing.
Among my least favorite gaslighting of Steph success included "...how can he be MVP when he's not even the best player on his own team!!!?!?!?".
--a bunch of people who have Kawhi Leonard or Paul George or both, LeBron James or Anthony Davis or both, KD, etc high on their MVP lists.
Now we have "...but their record isn't good, should Bradley Beal be MVP?!?!?!?!?!" despite the Wizards being a .273 team compared to the Warriors at .538 (hah), while those same people have Jokic as a favorite with the Nuggets at .542.
(I think Jokic is a worthy MVP candidate, but Steph should be right there with him)
Totally, I don't know where all the bias against Curry comes from, but he's one of the most disrespected superstars in the history of the Association.
Kinda reminds me of Brady. Even after his first 3 rings and an incredible (perhaps the greatest?) 07 season, it felt like he still had to prove himself to people.
There is certainly no denying now who's the 🐐, so hopefully Steph will eventually get the respect he deserves. I honestly believe he can play till he's at least 40 as well
first ring didnt count! IT WAS A FUMBLE! Yes, im still bitter 😂
Lol bro I was a charger fan (san diegan here), ALL MCREE HAD TO DO WAS GO DOWN! But he honestly won me over after he beat the Seahawks. Plus im a neutral fan nowadays anyway
Ya, u guys have an even more bleak history than us of Raider Nation. So many blown opportunities
Im still an unfortunate Raider fan. Gruden is the new Al Davis. Fml.
To be considered in the GOAT discussion, he’s going to need to do this for a really long time and win at least three more MVP’s
I wasn't implying that Steph is the goat, just that the disrespect the two received is comparable IMO. Although I do feel Steph will finish his career as the GOAT PG
I assume by coddled, they mean "wrapped up in wrestling submission holds that are never called as fouls every time he cuts without the ball."
Actually, KD was not that much more expensive than Barnes max extension.
He gave GSW a very heft discount for those 3 years... but he more than earned it back from endorsements that came with being in SF, being a Warrior, 2x Championships and 2x Finals MVP.
Read a while back that Barnes was willing to take a pay cut to stay with the team. Of course, the team couldn't pass up on KD so it was a moot point.
I thought that initial offer Barnes turned down was reasonable enough, not sure what he considered a discount but who knows what woulda happened if KD didn't come.
Yea lol. This is more accurate. I was happy for him when he got grossly overpaid by DAL, however.
It's sad. But what I remember at the time was the Barnes had turned down that $64 million extension. He's the one who wanted more money, and while I don't blame him for that -- who doesn't want more money? -- it's hard to say that the decision was made for him, as if they forced him out. Do I believe he wanted to stay? Well, not for $16 million/year. He got a lot more money to go to Dallas, which was good for him. But it's hard to buy the story about being pushed out when they offered him perfectly good money to stay.
But my main argument still stands.
Also, think of "Barnes" as a place-holder for any decent SF.
I agreed with everything else you said, but Igoudala, Livingston, West, Looney and McGhee was the core of a pretty great bench. I think the biggest difference if we didn’t get KD and kept Barnes would have been Andrew Bogut would have remained our starting center. It’s easy to forget how huge (literally!) he was for us.
For sure, Bogues' importance to that dynasty is massively underrated.
That's why I always get pissed when ppl were like "Cavs would have won the year before too if they had Love and Kyrie". MFers no! It wasn't just Dray getting suspended. People wanna conveniently forget the impact of Dre being out for a game and Bogut shredding his knee. But Bogues was apparently not important cause he didn't score smdh
Great article. ❤️
I vaguely recall you mentioning something about the difficulty of Curry being an MVP when the Warriors are not amongst the top teams, and the MVP tends to be the best player in the best team (if it wasn't you, I'm sorry, I'm having an excess of Curry related information lately, so I might totally be mistaken. I was actually thinking about this after the game and with the MVP buzz all over twitter. I think that if the Dubs make the playoffs, Curry could totally have a chance at MVP. I mean, this is a team everyone (except dubnation) thought it was going to always be in the bottom. Everybody was talking so much about The Great Legacy Loss and all that. And now, the narrative is changing after every game. And while the Dubs are still irregular, they seem to become a little more solid every game, even when they loose (I might be totally partial and mistake, though).
I know it's a long season, and like you say, so many random factors enter on deciding the MVP, but I'm becoming increasingly hopeful...
thanks for reading!
Yeah, that "best player on the best team" sounds like me for sure. It's just NOT that. I'm not sure if it ever was, or if I just didn't follow the NBA closely enough as a kid, but it's been clear over the past decade or so that being the best player on the best team isn't a lock for the MVP award.
Interestingly, it looks like Jokic gets a pass somehow (he got a bunch of votes in that straw poll, and the Nuggets are tied with the Warriors at 6.5 games back).
One thing I think will work in Steph's favor in this regard though is how little offensive support he has. Anyone who watches a game can easily imagine how this same roster would look without Steph - and it's not good. Pull LeBron or AD off the Lakers, and they're still pencilling in as a Finals team probably, at a minimum a deep playoff team. We all saw what the Warriors looked like last season, and Steph is so good and so much better that it's jarring (in a good way)
Thank *you* for writing it (and also for taking the time to reply!). I really enjoy reading your articles, they're interesting and well researched, and offer great analysis. And I love how you include cultural and social references, or little things like explaining why articles should have a "so what."
I completely agree with everything you say, and it is exactly what makes me feel like he might have a chance. Honestly, I really don't care that much about him getting another MVP, I much rather the Dubs making the playoffs. But when I see him playing so amazingly, I just feel it's unfair he's not in the top five. But, oh well... Like he said, let the game speak for itself
Jokic has a few things going for him:
- He hasn't won it before, so it's fresh.
- He really is a great show to watch. His passing is magical and he does so many things really well despite being a huge, slow-footed guy who can barely jump. This is worth even more since he hasn't won it before.
- He's near the top of the league in a bunch of box-score stats. #3 in steals, #4 in assists, #8 in rebounds, #8 in points, #13 in FG%...
- ALL the advanced stats love him. He's currently on top of the league in Win Shares (offense, total, and per-48), Box Plus/Minus, VORP, RAPTOR Wins Above Replacement (he was leading total RAPTOR earlier in the season but he's trailed off a little there).
And even though the Nuggets are not at the top of the league right now, they're essentially unchanged from the team that went to the WCF last year after beating two of the teams that are currently leading the league, so there's good reason to believe they'll climb higher in the standings before the season is over.
He's a different kind of player than Steph and both absolutely deserve to be in the MVP conversation. Embiid and Kawhi both have strong cases, too. It's impressive what LeBron continues to do given his age and legacy but I'm not remotely convinced that he deserves MVP for this season.
He's not "starry" enough, LeBron deserves it after being the Best Player In The World since 2003 and not winning it in, like, forever. We gave it to Curry that one year cuz we were bored, we gave it to Curry again cuz he improved even further, we gave it to Westbrook, and Giannis... that was fun and all, but LeBron's reminding us that he's still The Best Player In The World, and he's 36!
I think he’s very “starry”. It’s just taking a while for people to realize it. He’s not a big media market and a lot of people didn’t pay attention to the bubble; ratings were way down. Also, he’s white, which adds an extra point of interest for some people.
By the end of the year, his support will look better by numbers... I read an article somewhere recently where somebody was talking up LeBrons 3pt shooting, while talking down Jokics’s because he’s a career 34% 3pt shooter... LeBron is a career 34% 3pt shooter. People will tell themselves the story they want to tell themselves. This is already booked as the LeBron MVP year, so it’s going to take a miracle to change that narrative
I'm banking on that miracle. I'm a "anyone but lebron" kinda guy. And I'm really thinking by the end of the season, Steph & the Warriors will have changed everyone's preconceptions.
By the end of the season, narrative will change so that LeBron gets his lifetime achievement MVP. Not saying he doesn’t deserve another MVP, but that’s the National narrative and they’ll adjust things to make that work... unless Steph goes really, really crazy and wills the team to a top seed
Yeah, totally, I agree. Buuuuut I kinda cannot give up hope of Steph so big something really crazy. I *have* tried, but then he goes and scores 40 and 10 3p and I'm back at being optimistic again... 😂
Yes, laughing out loud in delight watching Steph play is pure joy.
you'll see some people floating around how Lillard has a higher shooting percentage than Curry from the looooong-long range areas of the floor. I would love to see how many of Curry's attempts from beyond 30 feet are his half-court/full-court heaves at the end of quarters that he loves so much. My gut instinct is that that's the only reason Lillard's percentage is higher, is that he hasn't taken nearly as many of those heaves as Curry has.
Long range shooting stats are a crapshoot as far as how consistent they are between various sources. And now that stathead sports nee basketball ref paywalled their query stuff it's hard to put together something there.
I have actually seen somewhere in twitter that indeed Curry has less number of long range shots made but a higher percentage.
Not only does he not have Klay or any other 40%+ 3pt-shooter to back him up, he's also a known quantity, scouted and famous. 29 coaches in the league have had all season, often multiple seasons, to craft a defense specifically tailored at stopping him from going off. Rookies in the league can hardly even remember a time when Steph *wasn't* playing for the Warriors.
And yet he's still doing (*gesticulates wildly*) THIS.
It would make sense if he were getting a halfway respectable number of points and had good +/- and assist numbers. Which he does. But he's actually just blowing up those defensive schemes that were specifically created to stop him. Not even just some of them. Every time! Can you even think of three games this season where he was "bottled up"?
I'm loving every game of this, and just crossing my fingers that his and everybody's health holds up long enough for this to continue.
JTA, Lee, Bazemore, as well as Looney and Wiseman are all shooting 40%+ on 3’s.
Mulder's at 44.1% - just a shade over Curry.
Wait a second... these replies are silly, guys. I know you didn't just say Looney... Looney has attempted FIVE three point shots this year. No one wants to see him gain an offensive game beyond great screening more than me, but you don't count a guy with a total of TWO made 3s on the year in your percentage stats.
Wiseman is also averaging 1 attempt a game, and JTA is averaging 1.7 attempts and hasn't played in most the games this year. So in the end you've got Baze shooting 2 threes a game, and Lee who's been incredible this year. But all these guys together barely add up to half Klay's number of 3pt attempts per game, and Baze and Lee don't even spend most of their time on the court WITH STEPH.
That's the point mDuo is making when they say no 40% shooter "backing" Steph up. There's no major threat from 3 on the court with Steph to take pressure off the primary scorer and create spacing on the floor. Basically every good team in the NBA has this, fyi, and Steph does not. So I think it's a fair point.
Shhh... stop with your facts
> Can you even think of three games this season where he was "bottled up"?
I hate you for making me do this...
Toronto: 11 points in 38 minutes, 2 of 16 from the field, 1 of 10 from three (6 of 6 from the line); Warriors won but I'd say he was bottled up for sure.
Clippers: 13 points in 35 minutes, 5 of 17 from the field, 1 of 6 from three, 2 of 4 from the line; Warriors loss
Indiana: 20 points in 36 minutes, 7 of 17 from the field, 3 of 8 from three, 3 of 5 from the line; Warriors loss
One of the Minnesota games might have been worse but the Warriors won by 12 so....
But yeah, that's about all I've got, throwing out the first two games where the whole team was a show of the caca.
Thanks digging into this—I had the Indiana and Toronto games in mind when I wrote that, forgot he scored as low as 13 points against the Clippers. 3 games out of 26 is 11%, so in other words Curry is popping off about 90% of the time. I guess if you're throwing out the first two games it's a smaller percentage.
Related: I'm honestly surprised Indiana and Toronto's defenses aren't ranked higher in the stats this season after how well they played us.
It's a privilege to watch him play. Was losing a year of Curry's prime "worth it"? Probably not, honestly. He makes every game feel like must watch basketball and we lost a year's worth of that.
Hope he plays with the Warriors until he's 40, and glad Kerr is pacing his minutes so he has a chance to get there.
You can look at it that way. But the 'glass half full' way is that a broken hand extended his career by a year. Imagine what Steph would have been like 'wasting' a prime year on the team we had then. No knock against the team because they all got valuable playing time / experience. But would we have even won 15 more games... and we would not have ended up with the pick we did. Karma.
We lost a year of Curry to a broken hand, so I'm not sure what exactly that "got us" other than... not seeing Curry?
James Wiseman
Yup. I remember the debate leading up to Curry's return against Toronto, about "should Curry play again in a meaningless season, won't that just hurt the tank?". And they were probably right about the tank, although COVID (and the flu) prevented the Warriors from worsening their draft position since Curry only played one game. But that game and this season has reminded everyone that Curry makes any game feel meaningful. And there's only so many games with Curry in them left.
Great article! Also, definitely would not hate it if someone who had access to Zach Lowe's latest paywalled column copy and pasted the Curry section here...
Or, maybe a summary instead, as copying and pasting paywalled content is really not kosher, and it would be a little hypocritical on a site with paywalled content...
This analysis ignores that Steph has been significantly better on defense, setting screens and playing through contact this year. Maybe it's all that time lifting, some veteran savvy or both but he is playing better in almost every aspect versus the unanimous year.
The other thing is that this team has gotten so much better than they were to start the season and have so much potential to be even better when Wiseman and Looney return. The other starters learning to play Kerr ball and with Steph has a lot do with why Steph has looked so great these last 13 games.
The 2020-2021 warriors will not be better than the 2015-2016 club but at the current pace, Steph has a real chance to break his 405 3s record in a 72 game season.
14 3s in a game is at risk every time he steps onto the court. Saturday against Brooklyn would be a great time to break that one.
A few more signature performances, a few more broken records and going 24-12 down the back half of the season might be enough to get that MVP chant going across the country.
> break his 405 3s record
*402
ooh, great point!
I still really wrestle with defensive metrics because even the ones that I think are good and meaningful can return mixed results. I find that you need to read too much context around most of the fancier defensive metrics and it makes me shy away from them a bit.
Plus, this one is just about the MVP chatter, and we all know that no one cares about defense. MVP is really an offensive award mostly.
People talking about MVP do care about defense; they use it as a knock on Steph not being a "two-way player" which is probably one of the dumbest things I can think of considering basketball players all literally play both ways, and teams have tried to exploit Steph's alleged terrible defense for years with dubious results.
Anyway, all of the top MVP candidates are excellent defenders or at least have excellent defensive highlights (*cough* LeBron *cough*).
I wouldn't call Luka or Joker an excellent defender... but neither were Westbrook or Harden. 2014 KD wasn't known for defense either.
If playing decent defense had any influence on MVP, then Westbrook and Harden must've had historically great offensive years to compensate...
It was one of the main argument for Giannis over Harden though
No argument here on that specifically, but my point was that it's not something consistent... and sometimes the stats just conveniently back one narrative or another.
When Harden won in 2017-18, Anthony Davis had a monster year as well. NOP finished 6th in the West, his offensive numbers were on par or close to Harden's and clearly is the superior defender.
MOSTLY an offensive award. Also mostly a narrative award. And a "not him again" award. Maybe the NBA should go ahead and formalize that no player can win more than 2 in a row or 4 in a career.
Yeah, it might actually be good for the conversation to have explicit limits like that. Commentators want to recognize new guys who have done something different and also awesome in the game, and I can respect that. Limiting how many awards the same guy can get would free up people to say, "Yeah, this guy continues to be insanely good, but he's gotten the award enough times now, so let's talk about how crazy good this other guy is."
I would LOVE to see the league issue some sort of meaningful criteria. I was pretty shocked when I learned that there isn't actually ANYTHING about what voters are supposed to base their decisions on.
If there was a fixed statistical criteria, there would be no need for a vote, or narratives, or talk shows, or vlogs or teams/coaches pimping their guy.
4 simple criteria:
1. You can't win more than 2 in a row
2. You can't win more than 3 in a career.
3. You must play in at least 75% of the games your team plays that season.
4. Your team must win at least 60% of the games you played in
Bonus: Some meaningful defensive metric
Seeing SC30 go thermonuclear never gets old. It's like a cat playing with a mouse. The losing team sees a potential comeback, and then the Michelin starred Chef Curry grinds their hopes to dust, gives a good shimmy or two, and then dances on their charred remains, as opposing coaches scream in agony like Anakin on Mustafar.
Loved watching the video of Curry cooking Ennis, then shaking his head. I had it on a loop for a while and couldn't stop laughing.
This is what Kobe meant when he talked about Steph and Klay being thought of as nice guys but actually being 'killers' (don't love the analogy, but I get what he means). They're good natured guys, but they are downright disdainful of the thought that you could stop them.
In fairness, Steph had the higher ground.