NBA MVP Series: Lebron James, the Argument For and Against Him
SteemSports Presenter: @scottybuckets
SteemSports Editor: @theprophet0
The NBA regular season is over and the playoffs get started this weekend. We want to take a look at the potential MVP winners and give our take on why they should and why they should not win the honor. Next, lets take a look at the one and only King James! The Cavs will be back in action when they host the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.
Lebron James is absolutely one of the best players in the NBA and maybe one of the greatest of all time. Every year that he plays at such a high level like this, he should be considered to be an MVP. This year he averaged 27.5 points per game, his highest in a decade. He averaged a career high in Assists and Rebounds. And Lebron did all of this with one of the least talented teams he has had in years. He exploded for some incredible performances and is still in phenomenal shape. It would not be surprising in any year to hear his name called when they announce the MVP.
But, Lebron James only led the Cavs to a 4th place finish in the extremely weak Eastern Conference. He also averaged a career high in turnovers with 4.2 per game. And his free throw percentage was below his career average while his free throw attempts per game was the lowest since his rookie year back in 2003. Lebron is terrified of going to the free throw line late in games. He has no confidence. In fact, he just missed two out of three free throws last Friday that cost the Cavs not only the game but also the #3 seed in the playoffs. Can we really give a MVP to a person that chokes at the free throw line?
And as far as the “lack of talent” on this Cavs team, it is all Lebron’s fault. He pushed Kyrie Irving out of town. He barely gave Isaiah Thomas a chance to prove his worth, and now he is surrounded by an inferior cast, other than Kevin Love.
So where do I stand with my argument? Lebron had a great year. He deserves to be in the top 4 MVP Race. But a 4th place finish in the East? That is disqualifying in my opinion, sorry Lebron, not this year.
Thank you for following @steemsports and you can find me @scottybuckets
Lebron is an amazing talent, and def. top 5 all-time. He isn't the MVP based on how the NBA votes for the MVP, but he has been the most valuable player to his team basically since he came into the league. I haven't liked Lebron since he decided to "take his talents to South Beach", but as a player I respect his talent. There will never be another Lebron, just like there will never be another Jordan.
This has some extremely dubious arguments in it. Saying he missed 2 out of 3 free throws at the end of the game to make a point about clutchness when one of them was missed on purpose to give the Cavaliers a chance to win when down 2 with 1 second left is very disingenuous. Not to mention, if you look at the Cavaliers average point differential they grade out as a 44 win team instead of a 50 win team, meaning they won more close games than expected, which is a good indicator Lebron played well in the clutch.
As for some other points you made, the Cavs record would have put them in 3rd in the West, the West only won about 2% more games than the East overall, and it's not like Harden was some amazing teammate for Dwight Howard last year. None of this is to say that Harden isn't deserving of MVP, but Lebron not getting the award isn't because of any of the reasons you stated.
Thank you for your comments...the fact that the Cavs play in the East makes their overall strength of schedule WAY less than any team in the West.