The NBA is full of surprises each and every season. Trying to predict who will have a breakout year, who will thrive in a new role, and which star will shine the brightest is nearly impossible. But in the 2015-16 NBA Awards Prediction Series at Last Word On Sports, we will try to do exactly that. A panel of five LWOS basketball writers will be predicting the winner for each of the five main awards – Sixth Man of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, Defensive Player of the Year, and Most Valuable Player – in preparation for the 2015-16 NBA season.
For a complete listing of the 2015-16 NBA Awards Prediction Series, click here.
Without further ado, here are our picks for the 2015-16 Most Valuable Player award.
2015-16 NBA Most Valuable Player Predictions
Robert Holmes, basketball staff writer: James Harden. I believe this competition really comes down to two players, Anthony Davis and James Harden. There are two factors that put Harden as the number one candidate for this award. The first factor is that the Pelicans probably will not make the playoffs again this year regardless of the fact that Davis could potentially average 30 points and 10 rebounds this season. The second factor is Dwight Howard. No matter how important Howard is to this team, no one will give Howard an ounce of credit and all of the success will be attributed to Harden. I expect Harden to put up the same numbers as last year, 27.4 points, 7 assists, and 5.7 rebounds per game but the Rockets should be in contention for the number one seed in the Western Conference and everyone will praise Harden for the job he is doing with that team, all by himself.
Lior Kozai, basketball staff writer: In LeBron James’ fourth season, at age 22, he led his Cavaliers to the NBA Finals. In Kevin Durant’s fourth season, at age 22, he took the Thunder to the Western Conference Finals. Now, Anthony Davis will have his turn to shine. The 22-year-old superstar is better than anyone in the world not mentioned earlier in this paragraph, and he’s only going to further dominate with Alvin Gentry coaching him in his fourth season. With James coasting during the regular season while his team easily takes the top spot in the East and Durant possibly taking it easy after coming off multiple foot injuries last season, the door is wide open for Davis to win MVP while guiding his team to a better playoff spot than last season.
Jack Hammond, basketball staff writer: Anthony Davis will win the MVP unanimously as he carries New Orleans this season. Davis is simply too good: he can post up, face-up 15 feet from the basket, anchor the defense and apparently has even added a three-point shot this off-season. This guy is a force to be reckoned with and was basically unguardable against Golden State in the postseason. Davis proves he is the best player in the league, hands down.
Peter Rosston, basketball staff writer: Last season, the MVP came down to a two-horse race between Stephen Curry and James Harden. This season, any one out of Curry, Harden, LeBron James, Kevin Durant or Anthony Davis could easily walk away with the title. Out of those five, I think James Harden will emerge the victor. Once again, he will be carrying a talented Rockets team on offense and should average in the neighborhood of 27 PPG. Last season, Harden arguably had a better statistical season than Curry, but the Warriors were the darlings of the NBA and being the best player on the best team certainly helped Curry. LeBron James will see a decreased role this year, Kevin Durant is a question mark coming back from injury, and the Pelicans are not good enough for Davis to win the MVP, which is why I’m picking Harden to win it this season.
Jack Moon Perrin, basketball department head: LeBron James. James will be on a mission this season. He was a one-man wrecking crew in last season’s playoffs when he had to play without stars Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving for most of the games. The Cleveland Cavaliers have returned most of their team from last year. James averaged 25 points, six rebounds and seven assists per game and shot .480 from field. While MVP voters seem to want to give the award to anyone but James each year, this year they will have to give the award to the league’s best player.
Matthew Cardenas: James Harden– This is who the MVP should’ve been last season. Harden led the injury-ridden Houston Rockets to the 2nd seed in the West and a Western Conference Finals appearance. This season, he is out with a vengeance. Harden has stated numerous times that he felt he deserved to win the award. With Ty Lawson in Houston, Harden’s game is only going to get better. It will be exciting to see what he can do with a chip on his shoulder.
