DEBATE: Has Westbrook been the MVP so far this season?

Sport360 staff 00:15 23/01/2017
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    JAY ASSER, REPORTER, SAYS YES

    Russell Westbrook is averaging a triple-double after 44 games. Only one player in NBA history, Oscar Robertson in 1961-62, has averaged a triple-double for an entire season.

    For many, that alone would settle the MVP discussion, making it an open-and-shut case. I am not one of those people.

    Raw numbers built on the foundation of high volume are not appealing to me. Scoring 30 points on 25 shots is, in a vacuum, much less impressive than scoring 25 points on 15 shots. Efficiency matters. A lot.

    So it would only make sense to consider James Harden, who has undeniably been a more efficient player this season, the leader for MVP, right?

    No, because you know what else matters? Context.

    Westbrook and Harden aren’t in environments with the same controlled variables. We’ll never know for sure how they would fare if put in each other’s situation, but what we do know is one has less around him to work with.

    Harden has enjoyed many more wins this season, but he’s also on a better team where a lot of credit should go to coach Mike D’Antoni for his up-tempo, bombs-away style of play and general manager Daryl Morey for assembling a roster to fit that vision. The same can’t be said for Westbrook, who no longer has Kevin Durant – or even Serge Ibaka – to help carry the burden. And yet, the Thunder appear on track to reach the playoffs as a mid-seed.

    More than the triple-double average though, the stat that best demonstrates Westbrook’s value are the on/off court numbers. OKC’s offensive and defensive rating (points scored/allowed per 100 possessions) are both improved when he’s on the floor, with the net rating plus-4.6 on and minus-11.1 off. For Harden, Houston’s defensive rating actually improves when he’s on the bench, while overall they’re plus-7.5 with him on and plus-3.8 off.

    The gap between the two leading MVP candidates is incredibly slim, but the former is more necessary to his team.

    James Piercy, Deputy Editor, SAYS NO

    Russell Westbrook is having a superhuman season and in the truest sense of MVP – Most Valuable Player – it’s tough to argue beyond the Tasmanian devil, who’s at the heart of everything the Thunder do.

    That said, for all his comic book-esque performances, should we be surprised?

    His triple double averages of 30.6 points, 10.4 assists and 10.6 rebounds are incredible but in assists he’s matching his mark of last term; his defensive rebounds have increased but his offensive boards have remained about the same; but it’s in points where the biggest gain has been made – up 7.1 from 15/16.

    This was inevitable, though, when Kevin Durant walked out of the Chesapeake Arena to sign for Golden State.

    Westbrook was simply going to see an awful lot more of the ball. He’s taking an average of more than five more shots per game, while his useage rate (the number of team plays ending with him shooting, turning the ball over or getting fouled) has spiked 10.3 per cent, from 31.6 to 41.9.

    Is Westbrook exceeding expectations or just playing to previously-high levels with much more of the ball?

    And just because they lost Durant and an increasingly-inneffectual Serge Ibaka, doesn’t mean OKC are all of a sudden a bad team, either.

    Westbrook may be the difference between playoffs or lottery, but in terms of where they should be in the Western Conference, they are only marginally operating above preseason predictions.

    When you consider the dramatic change in Houston – 34-13 compared to 25-22 at this stage last season – with James Harden marginally down on Westbrook in points but producing more assists and higher shooting percentages, against a lower useage rate (33.9).

    Or that LeBron James has made Cleveland arguably a better team that last season, while touching career-high numbers in shooting percentage, assists and rebounds; all at the age 32.

    Or that Durant has walked into last season’s best-performing team and become their key player, it’s far
    from an open and shut case.

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