Top 5 NBA regular season MVP candidates
The 2015 NBA Playoffs are all set to begin early Saturday afternoon [Saturday night, according to IST], after the 82 game regular season commenced on Wednesday night. With the race for the last Playoff spot in either conference going right down to the wire. In the first round, the West is loaded as ever while in the East 3 of the 4 match-ups are relatively easy ones.Here’s the Playoffs first round preview:Anyway getting back to the title of this piece, the NBA regular season isn’t completely over till the individual awards for the season are announced, which brings us to this year’s MVP debate. The contest for winning MVP honors might have been the closest this year in recent years.In the years since the beginning of this decade, the MVP debate has been all about LeBron James, I mean even the years he didn’t win (2011 & 2014) he came a close second. Although he is in the list of candidates, this year turned out quite differently for James.Before going from No. 5 to my MVP pick, let’s have a look at the criteria on which the players have been ranked from 1 to 5.- Stats - Team’s performance - Number of games played.- Consistency Now that, we have made that clear, let’s go through the league’s Top 5 regular season candidates:-
#5 Anthony Davis-New Orleans Pelicans
At just 22, he has the talent to win multiple MVP’s but just not this year. Nonetheless do give this young chap credit for even being in the conversation (Top 5) at his age.
Averaging 24.4 points (4th in the league), 10.2 rebounds (8th) and 2.9 blocks (leads the league) per game, Anthony Davis had the best season of his 4 year career. Coming up big when it mattered in the New Orleans Pelicans’ final league game against the defending champions San Antonio Spurs, Davis booked the franchise’s first Playoff appearance since Chris Paul’s departure in 2011.
He played 68 games out of the 82 and does a lot more than you might expect from a 6 foot 10 inches forward. Every year he grows, he only gets more dangerous not only on offense but on both ends of the floor.
So what put’s him on the list and what keeps him at the bottom of the top 5?
Davis finished the regular season with a Player Efficiency Rating (PER) of 30.89, the youngest player in NBA history to finish the season with a PER above 30. He is also only the eight player all time to achieve this feat. In short, stats are what keep him in the conversation.
Unfortunately it’s his team which puts him at No. 5. The Pelicans won 45 games and did just enough to make it to the Playoffs but their win tally is 22 games behind that of the league leading Golden State Warriors. Davis might be 5th on the list but couple of healthy season could really turn it around for him and his team.