5 NBA Most Valuable Player Candidates
Curry is the current MVPFour days after the All Star break is as good of time as any to run through where we currently stand in the MVP discussion. With every team having just under 30 games left on the docket, the main MVP candidates will be gearing up for their closing run to hopefully take home the trophy, though most people can guess who the clear front runner is at this point of the season.Even still, we have multiple players having fabulous seasons that could rightfully put them in the MVP discussion any season, and one guy who is biding his time to reach his full powers in the playoffs (you know who that guy is).Before we dive into the top five candidates, let’s take a second to look at the guys who just failed to make the cut. Maybe not the first guy off but definitely someone who deserves a mention is Draymond Green, who serves as the Warriors heart and soul while being their top defender and playmaker.John Wall suffered through a tough opening stretch but has played amazingly for two and a half months now, terrorising point guards all over the league. Paul George, while falling off after his hot first month is still playing very well, while I am throwing in a mention for Damian Lillard who could get the Blazers into the playoffs and eviscerate the league for not voting him into the All Star game for the next two months.
#5 Russell Westbrook
Coming it at number five, is the NBA Tasmanian Devil Russell Westbrook who continues to demoralize opponents with his running mate Kevin Durant. It still amazes me every time I watch the Thunder that they have two MVP candidates in the prime of their careers. Like how can these two guys actually play together, sometimes it seems unfair.
The case for Westbrook on this list is simple to me, he does basically everything you can do on the court when he’s locked in. Sadly that is very little on the defensive end, where he falls behind someone like KD or Steph for me because he loses concentration coming around screens or gets caught zoning out.
But offensively, he can do everything despite being a subpar shooter from deep. The two biggest improvements in Russ’s game, even over last year is how he has learned to pick his spots and how he is able to find shooters everywhere running the pick and roll. With KD back, Russ knew he was going to curtail some of his scoring, but he might be even better this year despite lower numbers because he is more efficient and selective on when to go shot hunting.