{"id":3885,"date":"2017-01-23T08:00:24","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T13:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/?p=3885"},"modified":"2017-01-22T20:00:26","modified_gmt":"2017-01-23T01:00:26","slug":"tiers-mvp-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2017\/01\/23\/tiers-mvp-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiers of the NBA MVP Race"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA<\/strong>\u00a0MVP<\/strong> Race so far this season has surprisingly been much more competitive than most people expected prior to opening night. Due to many players having career years, a lot of these guys have put their teams on their backs.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to breakdown my current MVP rankings a little bit differently. On top of putting them in order, I also separated the players into tiers.<\/p>\n

First Tier<\/b><\/h3>\n

James Harden<\/a>:\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

If I had to give out the MVP Award right now, it would be James Harden<\/strong> without a doubt. Having Harden take over the point guard role for Houston<\/strong> was a tremendous move by Mike D\u2019Antoni<\/strong>. Without taking a dip in his scoring average, he\u2019s contributed four more assists per game and is now leading the league in APG (11.6). To go along with that he\u2019s upped his rebounding (6.1 to 8.3 RPG) and his efficiency (59.8% to 61.3% True Shooting and 25.3 to 28.0 Player Efficiency Rating). Harden is putting up the stats of an MVP, but the most impressive thing that he\u2019s done is make the team better. Before the season, a lot of people wrote the Rockets<\/strong> out of the playoffs, now they are a top 5 team in the entire league.<\/p>\n

Notable NBA<\/strong> Ranks:<\/p>\n

PPG: 28.7 (3rd)<\/p>\n

APG: 11.6 (1st)<\/p>\n

PER: 28.0 (5th)<\/p>\n

Russell Westbrook<\/a>:<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

What Russell Westbrook<\/strong> is doing this season is one of the most amazing things I\u2019ve witnessed as a basketball fan. The fact that he\u2019s able to give his insane amount of effort night in and night out is incredible by itself. Westbrook is on pace for the highest usage percentage in NBA history. After recording his 21st triple-double of the season last night, he\u2019s not far off the clip of Oscar Robertson<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s record season (41 triple-doubles).<\/p>\n

Notable NBA Ranks:<\/p>\n

PPG: 30.6 (1st)<\/p>\n

APG: 10.4 (2nd)<\/p>\n

RPG: 10.6 (11th)<\/p>\n

PER: 29.5 (1st)<\/p>\n

Second Tier<\/b><\/h3>\n

LeBron James<\/a>:\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

Another player that\u2019s not far off from averaging a triple double, LeBron James<\/strong> might be the most valuable to his team. The Cavaliers are 0-3 when LeBron doesn\u2019t play, which is pretty eye-opening for the best team in the Eastern Conference<\/strong>. The assumption is that he\u2019ll either sit out more games or play less minutes per game after the All Star Break. If his team continues to lose without him, he\u2019ll definitely have a strong case for MVP.<\/p>\n

Notable NBA Ranks:<\/p>\n

PPG: 25.5 (9th)<\/p>\n

APG: 8.3 (5th)<\/p>\n

PER: 25.9 (11th)<\/p>\n

Kevin Durant<\/a>:<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

It kind of seems like Kevin Durant<\/strong> is flying under the radar this season. Everyone knows how good of an offensive player he is, but he\u2019s really starting to become a great defender. He\u2019s averaging career bests in blocks, turnovers, rebounds and FG%. The efficiency Durant has shown on offense this season is incredible. If he can improve his free throw shooting, he\u2019ll be well on his way to his second 50-40-90 shooting season.<\/p>\n

Notable NBA Ranks:<\/p>\n

PPG: 26.3 (7th)<\/p>\n

BPG: 1.7 (11th)<\/p>\n

TS%: 66.0 (4th)<\/p>\n

PER: 28.3 (4th)<\/p>\n

Kawhi Leonard<\/a>:<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

Following up his MVP runner-up season, Kawhi Leonard<\/strong> has only improved. He is now averaging career highs in scoring and assists without much of a decrease in efficiency. Leonard is currently 1% too low on his FG% from shooting 50-40-90 also. His increase in offense to go with his top-tier defense is enough to put him in the MVP conversation.<\/p>\n

Notable NBA Ranks:<\/p>\n

PPG: 25.1 (10th)<\/p>\n

SPG: 1.9 (5th)<\/p>\n

PER: 28.4 (2nd)<\/p>\n

Isaiah Thomas<\/a>:<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

By now, most people know that Isaiah Thomas<\/strong> has earned a spot in the MVP discussion. The \u201cKing of the Fourth Quarter\u201d has been arguably the best closer in the entire NBA. Putting up career highs in scoring, FG%, 3P% and FT%. He thrives off of people doubting him and after missing out on starting in the All Star Game<\/strong>, who knows what he\u2019ll do next.<\/p>\n

Notable NBA Ranks:<\/p>\n

PPG: 29.0 (2nd)<\/p>\n

FT%: 91% (3rd)<\/p>\n

PER: 27.0 (9th)<\/p>\n

Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a>:<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

The Greek Freak just continues to amaze everyone with the things he is able to do. A Khris Middleton<\/a><\/strong>-less Bucks<\/strong> team had very low expectations going into the season, yet Giannis has kept them in the playoff race. Giannis is averaging career highs across the board, all he\u2019s really missing is a reliable outside shot. The future is incredibly bright for this kid.<\/p>\n

Notable NBA Ranks:<\/p>\n

PPG: 23.5 (14th)<\/p>\n

SPG: 1.8 (7th)<\/p>\n

BPG: 2.0 (6th)<\/p>\n

PER: 27.9 (6th)<\/p>\n

Third Tier<\/b><\/h3>\n

Stephen Curry<\/a>:<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

Even in what\u2019s considered a down year for Stephen Curry<\/strong>, he\u2019s still possibly the most important point guard in the league. His explosiveness could inevitably make-or-break the Warriors<\/strong> season. A lot of what Curry has done this season hasn’t really shown up in the box scores, it\u2019s been his ability to take over games with his dynamic scoring.<\/p>\n

Notable NBA Ranks:<\/p>\n

PPG: 24.6 (12th)<\/p>\n

SPG: 1.8 (9th)<\/p>\n

3PM: 170 (1st)<\/p>\n

Jimmy Butler<\/a>:<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

One of the few bright spots for the Chicago Bulls<\/strong> this season, Jimmy Butler<\/strong> has continued his yearly development. Butler is averaging career high\u2019s in scoring and rebounding without taking a drop in efficiency or assists. He has certainly proven to be a reliable star that Chicago could build around.<\/p>\n

Notable NBA Ranks:<\/p>\n

PPG: 24.7 (11th)<\/p>\n

SPG: 1.7 (12th)<\/p>\n

PER: 25.8 (12th)<\/p>\n

Anthony Davis<\/a>:<\/i><\/b><\/h4>\n

It feels criminal to leave Anthony Davis<\/strong> this low, as we all know what the New Orleans Pelicans<\/strong> are without him. Davis had just as hot of a start as anyone else, but a couple of minor injuries have hindered him recently. The fact that he\u2019s keeping this Pelican\u2019s team afloat is remarkable, but it\u2019s not quite enough to make him a front runner for MVP.<\/p>\n

Notable NBA Ranks:<\/p>\n

PPG: 28.6 (4th)<\/p>\n

RPG: 12.0 (7th)<\/p>\n

BPG: 2.4 (3rd)<\/p>\n

PER: 28.4 (3rd)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

James Harden Houston Rockets (Photo by Mark Downey Lucid Images\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NBA\u00a0MVP Race so far this season has surprisingly been much more competitive than most people expected prior to opening night. Due to many players having career years, a lot of these guys have put their teams on their backs. I\u2019m going to breakdown my current MVP rankings a little bit differently. On top of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1847,"featured_media":1897,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,2],"tags":[240,306,171,444,142,168,69,38,564,53,48],"class_list":["post-3885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-featured","tag-anthony-davis","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-isaiah-thomas","tag-james-harden","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-kevin-durant","tag-lebron-james","tag-nba-mvp","tag-russell-westbrook","tag-stephen-curry"],"modified_by":"Harrison Marcus","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1847"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}