I think it comes down to what an MVP is. Best player in the league? Or most valuable to his team. Jokic is probably the best. Shai at worst is what?? Top 3 or 5. Leads OKC to #1 seed, averages 30ppg, 53% from the field. Denver has a better supporting cast as well. That might not be the case in a few years but Joe/Wallace/Wiggins are still rotation players in OKC. Down the line Wallace might be the only player who carves out a roll for a title contender.
Exceptions don’t prove the rule. That’s why they are exceptions.
Haven’t they already carved out roles on a really good team? So…I don’t get that point?
Joe shoots 40%+ from 3 on a pretty rough diet at a really high volume. He seems good for an 18 minute guy? Aaron Wiggins had 67% true shooting! These seem like elite scouts from the front office! If they played for Miami the media would be writing the 73rd paean to Riley’s HEAT CULTURE
I personally don’t really care who won (I know Shai and Jokic probably do) so I don’t really bother with thinking about the debate. They’re both really really good, both deserving.
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Oh my god romeo
lol. Oh cmon.
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Im looking at it from the pov that they will still have future lottery picks coming up or trading them to add star caliber players. Its not going to be at the expense of Shai/Chet/Giddey/Williams.
Oh it will 100% be at the expense of Giddey I think (I think they’ve shown they’re more invested in Dort than Giddey). Agree on the others. If I’m them, I make Paul George a godfather offer this off-season. The good thing about their position is that they are so cheap right now they can just go pay guys without trading assets.
Jokic is the best and the most valuable to his team.
I love SGA, but the only reason to give it to him is because OKC got the one seed (with the same record) and people underestimated OKC before the season (or alternatively as kturnup says, voter fatigue). OKC has a really good team. SGA is a big part of that, but Jokic is just a different animal. The reason OKC took a big jump this year is not due to SGA. He was really good last year. They took a jump because they got Chet back and Williams became an All-Star caliber player.
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Yeah, as I said I’m not that invested in it, but the Shai campaign seems at least in part based on “giving it to Jokic again is sort of boring”
I personally think Luka is the “most valuable” and his sheer stardom makes him pretty deserving in the sense he is a top 5 player easily. I don’t like how you have to finish at the top of the conference to get the MVP in the NBA aside from a few exceptions.
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I was having an interesting debate and am wondering what some of you would think. If you had to start a team tomorrow with no one else on your roster, rate these guys 1-12 (taking everything into consideration). These guys are all 25 or younger
Luka
Banchero
Ant Man
Wemby
Cade
Maxey
Haliburton
Zion
SGA
Trae Young
Lamelo
Morant
I would probably do:
- Wemby
- Ant Man
- Luka
- Shai
- Banchero
- Cade
- Haliburton
- Zion
- Maxey
- Morant
- Lamelo
- Young
I am considering health, production and future prospect.
- Wemby
- Luka
- Ant
- SGA
- Ja
- Trae
- Hali
- Banchero
- Cade
- Zion
- Lamelo
- Maxey
Cade should be at or near the bottom
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I think you are way too low on Banchero and way too high on Trae Young. Young will never even be close to the best player on a championship team but Banchero looks to be well on his way to absolute superstar. I think there is a big drop off after Wemby, Ant, Luka, Shai, and Banchero
His position, positional size, and his pedigree still carry him. He has shown glimpses of being able to be that dude and just hasn’t had any support whatsoever and has been injured. I still like him over a smaller and older guard like the ones I have listed.
Trae production puts him at an elite level on offense in terms of scoring, passing and gravity generated by his shooting. Banchero is good, but I need to see more from him plus his shooting is his biggest swing skill.
9th seems reasonable on that list, but there’s only 7 guys I’d say are worth “building a team around” on it (Wemby, Luka, Ant, SGA, Ja (mmmaybe but thats not a play quality thing), Hali, Banchero.
Zion is obviously better, but health is a tremendous enough red flag there. Lamelo may be better, but maturity AND health are big red flags.
I think Maxey/Cade is a toss up? Maxey definitely had a better season, but situations are pretty disparate. Wouldn’t argue with either choice.
I’d also put Barnes and Sengun on this list, as I’d take them over some of these guys.
I mean Banchero just went off in his first playoffs as a second year guy and really has no major flaws. Your team is very limited going forward with Trae Young as the best player.
Bottom 2 for me and Lamelo and Cade by a decent margin, personally
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