“Durant feels less likely than Booker to win MVP support even though Durant remains a more impactful player (in my mind, at least).” Yeah, could say the same about LeBron. It’s just shiny-and-new bias. (With a big exception for Jokic, I guess because he remains unique.) KD got three second-place finishes before he won, and then he fell off. LeBron’s dropped down the charts since he went to the Lakers. While you could make excuses for any given season, it feels like you get penalized for being so good you can adjust your game to your teammates without losing a beat, something I would consider very Valuable.
Interesting that only 2 of the 20 have last names starting in the second half of the alphabet. I got to M for Morant and was confused about being nearly done reading. I wouldn't have expected early alphabet bias from someone in the Z crowd...
Damn, you're right. With an emphasis on J's - Jordan, James, Johnson. Bird and Abdul-Jabbar. Duncan and Bryant. Bill Russell might be the only back-half candidate in the top 10, depending on how you rank. And sure, Wemby will help even things out, but Jokic, Curry, Doncic, Antetekoumpo. (I'm starting to wonder if this is actually just normal statistics for surnames...45 seconds of googling top athletes in other sports suggests the NBA is a bit unique in this regard, but maybe not a huge outlier)
I like the list, and the exercise. Not to be the “what about _____” guy, but I do think Jaylen Brown has a strong case for being mentioned at least in the all-too-long long list after a season where he was the 16th highest All-NBA vote recipient, Eastern Conference Finals MVP, and Finals MVP. I don’t legitimately think he would win one before Tatum, and the same issues will affect his candidacy as those that affect Tatum’s. If we’re mentioning the Cade Cunninghams and Josh Giddeys of the world, it feels silly to ignore Brown’s candidacy.
No one on the secondary list seems capable of winning that award. Your first 20 were good enough (with the only possible exception of the mentioned-in-the-comments Brown). In fact, several of the 20 are unlikely: KD, LeBron....
Jaylen Brown isn't even on the just missed the cut list? Dude was the best player in the playoffs and could easily do the same during the regular season.
Jokic is going to get more Denver players involved this year -- Mike! Mike!, Braun, Strawther and Westbrook -- so his points will go down, but watch out for the averaging of the triple double and him not answering Silver's calls about accepting the MVP.
Embiid on the other hand may fight Maxey and George to get his.
Josh Giddey? In this economy?
“Durant feels less likely than Booker to win MVP support even though Durant remains a more impactful player (in my mind, at least).” Yeah, could say the same about LeBron. It’s just shiny-and-new bias. (With a big exception for Jokic, I guess because he remains unique.) KD got three second-place finishes before he won, and then he fell off. LeBron’s dropped down the charts since he went to the Lakers. While you could make excuses for any given season, it feels like you get penalized for being so good you can adjust your game to your teammates without losing a beat, something I would consider very Valuable.
Interesting that only 2 of the 20 have last names starting in the second half of the alphabet. I got to M for Morant and was confused about being nearly done reading. I wouldn't have expected early alphabet bias from someone in the Z crowd...
This struck me too. But look at the list of all-time greats -- a huge bias toward the early part of the alphabet! Only Victor can save us.
Damn, you're right. With an emphasis on J's - Jordan, James, Johnson. Bird and Abdul-Jabbar. Duncan and Bryant. Bill Russell might be the only back-half candidate in the top 10, depending on how you rank. And sure, Wemby will help even things out, but Jokic, Curry, Doncic, Antetekoumpo. (I'm starting to wonder if this is actually just normal statistics for surnames...45 seconds of googling top athletes in other sports suggests the NBA is a bit unique in this regard, but maybe not a huge outlier)
Thy tyranny of alphabetical order once again rears its ugly head.
I like the list, and the exercise. Not to be the “what about _____” guy, but I do think Jaylen Brown has a strong case for being mentioned at least in the all-too-long long list after a season where he was the 16th highest All-NBA vote recipient, Eastern Conference Finals MVP, and Finals MVP. I don’t legitimately think he would win one before Tatum, and the same issues will affect his candidacy as those that affect Tatum’s. If we’re mentioning the Cade Cunninghams and Josh Giddeys of the world, it feels silly to ignore Brown’s candidacy.
No one on the secondary list seems capable of winning that award. Your first 20 were good enough (with the only possible exception of the mentioned-in-the-comments Brown). In fact, several of the 20 are unlikely: KD, LeBron....
Jaylen Brown isn't even on the just missed the cut list? Dude was the best player in the playoffs and could easily do the same during the regular season.
Jokic is going to get more Denver players involved this year -- Mike! Mike!, Braun, Strawther and Westbrook -- so his points will go down, but watch out for the averaging of the triple double and him not answering Silver's calls about accepting the MVP.
Embiid on the other hand may fight Maxey and George to get his.
Russ will clank a thousand shots to keep Jokic from getting doubles in assists to keep his own legendary season of triple-doubles special.
Missing on purpose? Impossible to say in this case.