My awards criteria. 1) Player must be in the top 100 in either Minutes Played or Games Played. This gives a pool of 150 players. (Notable players left behind: Lebron James, Joel Embiid, Karl-Anthony Towns, James Harden, Nikola Vucevic, CJ McCollum, Jamal Murray, Kevin Durant, Caris LaVert, Gordon Hayward, Christian Wood, Kelly Oubre, Kristaps Porzingis, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Davis, Marcus Smart, Aaron Gordon, etc.)
2) Players must be in the top 20 in either FGA, 3FGA, 2FGA, FTA, Total Rebounds, Assists, Steals, Blocks, or Points. (Notable players left behind: Kawhi Leonard, Paul George (*), Malcolm Brogdon, Micheal Porter Jr., Dillon Brooks, Darius Garland, Harrison Barnes, Denis Shroder, etc.)
3) This leaves a pool of 81 players. I more or less discarded at least one player per team to create an MVP for each team. (Notable players left behind: Kevin Huerter, Jaylen Brown, Joe Harris, PJ Washington, Andrew Wiggins, Tim Hardaway Jr, Ja Morant, Duncan Robinson, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday, Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett, Enes Kanter, Pascal Siakim, Russell Westbrook, etc.)
4) From the pool of team MVP's, surely we can find the league MVP.
Trae Young (Hawks), Jaysun Tatum (Celtics), Kyrie Irving (Nets), Zach LaVine (Bulls), Terry Rozier (Hornets), Collin Sexton (Cavs), Luka Doncic (Mavs), Nikola Jokic (Nuggets), Jerami Grant (Pistons), Steph Curry (Warriors), Domantas Sabonis (Pacers), Ivaca Zubac (Clipper), Jonas Valenciunas (Grizzlies), Giannis Antetokounpo (Bucks), Anthony Edwards (Wolves), Zion Williamson (Pelicans), Julius Randle (Knicks), Damian Lillard (Blazers), De'Aron Fox (Kings), Fred Van Vleet (Raptors), Rudy Gobert (Jazz), Bradley Beal (Wizards). Lakers, Magic, Rockets, Thunder had no MVP candidate and I couldn't decide on Heat, Sixers, Suns and Spurs. (**)
So....who's the MVP? Well there are some limitations to the above methodology. The Sixers MVP is Joel Embiid, not Simmons or Harris; likewise, the Wolves MVP is Karl-Anthony Towns, not the rookie PG. I'm not sure who the Clipper MVP is but I'm certain it's not Ivaca Zubac. The Laker MVP is....not nobody. I can live with no candidates from Thunder, Rockets and Magic because these three organizations did virtually nothing to win games. But to miss on playoff teams like the Sixers, Clippers and Lakers is clearly awkward. (***)
Okay here's the case for Embiid (though he didn't play enough for my liking): top 15 in Points scored, top 18 in True Shooting Percentage (only Curry, Jokic and Zion scored more Points), #2 in FTA (on 86% shooting), #2 in PER (behind only Jokic), #2 in Usage (behind only Luka), #15 in Total Rebounds, #33 in Steals + Blocks, and was the clear MVP of a #1 seed. Also, he's a fun watch and has even toned down the pointless quick 3's he used to indulge in.
I didn't find anyone else to add back into consideration. (****)
MVP: Nikola Jokic (Nuggets) #1 in PER (31.3), #3 in Points, #6 in Minutes Played, #14 in FTA (87% shooter), #3 in Assists (#5 in Turnovers, though the asst:to is still pretty great), #5 in Total Rebounds, #15 in Steals + Blocks, #15 in True Shooting % (only Curry outscored him) and was the clear MVP of a #2 seed. Nice work. He's been the man all year long.
The rest of my top ten: Steph Curry (Warriors), Joel Embiid (Sixers), Giannis Antetokounpo (Bucks), Julius Randle (Knicks), Kyrie Irving (Nets)(*****), Luka Doncic (Mavs), Zion Williamson (Pelicans), Damien Lillard (Blazers), Rudy Gobert (Jazz)
(*) Did you realize that for the 2020-21 NBA season, Paul George finished in the top 20 of only one counting stat: Turnovers.
(**) Couldn't decide:
(Heat) Bam Adebayo v Jimmy Butler. Adebayo scored more points on more attempts and was in the top 20 in Rebounds (Off, Def and Total) and FTA while playing more minutes in more games; Butler's asst:to ratio is pretty phenomenal and his 2FG% and FT% are excellent; both are top quality in Steals and Blocks with Adebayo having the slight edge on Butler. But Adebayo is turnover prone, while Butler is really bad 3-pt shooter. My gut is to take Adebayo's overall contribution but Butler's presence is clearly commanding and decisive. Hard to choose.
(Sixers) Ben Simmons v Tobias Harris. The Good: Simmons is a good assist man and a great defender; Harris is a good shooter from all over the floor, way more of a scorer than Simmons and he also out rebounded Simmons this season. The Bad: Simmons is a terrible FT shooter (and ought to get to the line a lot more anyway), he's clearly reluctant to shoot and a bit turnover prone; Harris is a solid player on both ends but nothing superlative compared to his peers. (Yeah: the problem here is that neither of these guys is the Sixer MVP this season, but here I'm leaning toward Harris, I think he actually contributes more all around than Simmons)
(Suns) Devin Booker v Chris Paul v Deandre Ayton. Booker is the better scorer (top 20 in 2FGA and FTA, good percentage on both), though he is turnover prone and an overrated 3-pt shooter. Paul (as always) sports a legendary asst:to, his Steals plus Blocks is high level and his scoring is still reliable. Ayton is killing on Rebounds and Blocks, shoots a good percentage and doesn't seem foul prone. The three all played similar minutes in similar games. Booker is the filler upper, Paul is the brains of the operation, but Ayton deserves his share of the credit for being a dependable defensive bedrock (the poor man's Gobert but much better on offense). This team is more a 3-headed monster than most folks notice and picking their MVP is tougher than I would've thought.
(Spurs) Dejounte Murray v DeMar DeRozan. Murray is among the league leaders in Assists, Steals and Defensive Rebounds but is not a particularly good 3-pt shooter and feels like he should be getting more Free Throws. DeRozan is still a good scorer inside the 3-pt line and outpaces Murray by a large margin on FTA and Assists. (Both sport very impressive asst:to) Murray played more minutes in more games but scored far fewer points and while he doesn't do anything badly, his production still lags DeRozan. Similar to Adebayo and Butler, both of these guys perform their tasks well enough that it's hard to see who is actually more valuable.
(***) Also, Nikola Vucevic (Bulls/Magic) had a really good season but no one noticed because it was split between two teams that did nothing this season. Too bad, he's not gonna get any MVP votes this year when he deserves to at least be in the conversation: #3 in Total Rebounds, #11 in Points, #18 in PER, #23 in Usage, #22 in True Shooting %, all while surrounded by non-playoff rosters. Almost certainly the most underappreciated player in the league right now. Bonus: I think this was the sneaky best transaction of the season: we obsess over the worst contract in basketball, but I would submit that Vucevic over the next 3 years is arguably the best contract in the league and the Bulls made a brilliant move snapping him up.
(****) Lebron, I hear you say. Lebron only played 44 games and, of course, he was Lebron. But his team finished 7th and needs a real coming together to look dangerous in the playoffs. So what exactly am I supposed to be putting on my all-NBA team? This guy? Why? Yeah, even upon deeper consideration I can't put Lebron wildly ahead of Jonas Valenciunas--yes, I realize Lebron is a better player but in this particular season his performance was not all that noteworthy. He's not getting on my MVP ballot and I don't see how he had a top 15 season this year, so inclusion on all-NBA team is just some kind of hero worship.
Karl-Anthony Towns has nice stats, he's a nice player. Good shooting percentage at all levels, reliable rebounder, decent defender, decent playmaker, I like his game. But this is Anthony Edwards' team now, you realize that, right? Edwards is still raw but he's enormously promising--don't be shocked if he turns into Giannis....yeah, I said that--and Towns (and Beasley and Russell and this year's draft pick) needs to get himself oriented to the new paradigm. So does Towns deserve to be on my MVP ballot? Nope, not this year. I like him, like his game, think Minnesota is strangely promising, but nothing Towns did this season puts him ahead of Nikola Vucevic on my ballot.
(*****) Kyrie Irving finished in the top 20 in Points without finishing in the top 20 in FGA, 3FGA, 2FGA or FTA. Uh....that doesn't even seem possible...
(******) Next year's MVP candidates to keep an eye on: De'Aaron Fox (Kings), Bam Adebayo (Heat), Dejounte Murray (Spurs), Domantas Sabonis (Pacers), Nikola Vucevic (Bulls), Jaysun Tatum (Celtics)
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