2017-18 NBA Awards Watch: Final picks for MVP, ROY and more

Most Valuable Player: James Harden

Final ballot:

1. James Harden (Houston Rockets)
2. LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers)
3. Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans)
4. Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers)
5. Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks)

The MVP field is pretty stacked this year. Aside from our top five above, you could make a case for the following fringe candidates:

• LaMarcus Aldridge: Carried a lackluster Spurs team to 47 wins in the West with Kawhi Leonard playing only nine games while averaging 23.1 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game on 51 percent shooting.
• Victor Oladipo: Was the best two-way player on a surprising Pacers squad that won 48 games, totally fell apart whenever he was sat and earned the 5-seed in the East behind his 23.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
• Russell Westbrook: Averaged a triple-double for a second straight season, posting 25.4 points, 10.3 assists and 10.1 rebounds per game for a 47-win Oklahoma City Thunder team.
• DeMar DeRozan: Led the Toronto Raptors to 59 wins and the 1-seed in the East in a franchise-best year, averaging 23.0 points, 5.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game and shooting a more respectable 31 percent from deep.
• Stephen Curry/Jimmy Butler/Joel Embiid/Kyrie Irving/Kevin Durant: Posted elite numbers for winning teams, but have to be taken out of the conversation for missing too many games.

Factoring in missed games, team success and the fact that there were simply five players who were a cut above the rest, we can narrow the MVP field down to James Harden, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Damian Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

No one was more on board with an M-V-Greek campaign that yours truly heading into the season, but his numbers fell off from the early, eye-popping levels as the year went on, and the Milwaukee Bucks finished with only the 7-seed and 44 wins — a mere increase of two wins from last year.

Unless you average absolutely gargantuan numbers (read: a triple-double), that’s not enough to get you MVP without team success, even with averages of 26.9 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.4 blocks per game on 52.9 percent shooting.

Lillard was incendiary in his typical post-All-Star break revenge tour, leading the Portland Trail Blazers to 49 wins and the 3-seed in the West. From February on, he scorched opponents with 29.4 points, 6.7 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game.

Dame averaged 26.9 points, 6.6 assists and 4.5 boards per game on the season, but his first few months weren’t MVP-caliber, and even that second-half surge to claim the 3-seed doesn’t overshadow good-but-not-great shooting splits. Dame deserves First Team All-NBA, but not MVP.

Anthony Davis has narrative on his side, picking up a demoralized New Orleans Pelicans team like Atlas after DeMarcus Cousins went down for the season, averaging a stat line that screams “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds” in the process: 30.2 points, 11.9 rebounds, 3.2 blocks, 2.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game on .514/.337/.835 shooting splits.

The Pellies went 21-12 in that span, securing their first playoff berth since 2015.

On the year, AD averaged 28.1 points (second in the NBA), 11.1 rebounds (seventh), 2.6 blocks (first), 2.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game, reminding everyone the Unicorn conversation starts and ends with him. Unfortunately, finishing sixth in the conference standings limits the Brow’s case.

Then there’s good ol’ LeBron James, who is having one of the finest seasons of his legendary career in Year 15. Aside from the nightly, baffling highlight plays and posterizing dunks, King James is posting a gargantuan 27.5 points (third in the NBA), 9.1 assists (second) and 8.6 rebounds per game (20th) on .542/.367/.731 shooting splits.

He played 82 games for the first time in his career at age 33, is posting career highs in assists and rebounds, and has carried a Cleveland Cavaliers team burdened with an inconsistent, injured and constantly shifting supporting cast.

However, LeBron’s poor defense has descended well past the levels of even Damian Lillard and James Harden. In fact, it’s been the gasoline fueling Cleveland’s dumpster fire of a defense, which ranks 29th in the association. In fact, all the way up until March, the Cavs were actually a net negative with him on the floor.

Cleveland’s offense has become all-powerful with Kevin Love back, and his absence clearly held this team back from its fullest potential this year. However, people marveling at the King’s royal finish to the season must have forgetten how bad this team looked through its first half, which prompted that dramatic roster overhaul at the trade deadline.

LeBron almost always deserves MVP consideration, and not just for the crowd believing this award should honor the league’s consensus best player rather than reward whoever has the best season. But that’s not what the award is about, and James has not had the best season in the NBA this year.

The Cavs lack the team success as the No. 4 team in the East. Even with a 50-win season, don’t forget that before Russell Westbrook’s unforgettable triple-double season, no MVP winner had played for a team seeded outside the top-three in his respective conference since Moses Malone in 1982. That alone isn’t the determining factor, but it’s about damn time James Harden gets his due.

This isn’t about the Beard being “snubbed” twice as the MVP; in fact, I would’ve voted for Stephen Curry in 2015 and I waffled back and forth between Harden and Russell Westbrook in 2017. No, this is about acknowledging that Harden has had all the essential elements to an MVP campaign this year.

In the best season of his career, Harden led the league in scoring with a career-high 30.4 points per game. He finished fourth in the league with 8.8 assists per game, which is even more impressive when you remember he plays alongside one of the NBA’s all-time great point guards in Chris Paul.

As if this weren’t enough, he peppered in 5.4 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game, leading the Rockets in the latter. He posted efficient .449/.367/.858 shooting splits, which become even deadlier when you consider he led the league in made and attempted 3-pointers, as well as made and attempted free throws. Simply put, he was the NBA’s most unstoppable offensive weapon.

His step-back 3-pointers and ability to bend defenses to his will by zipping passes all over the court to open shooters has made him more dangerous than Steve Nash in his prime. He’s a walking cheat code who also just so happened to lead the NBA in Player Efficiency Rating, usage percentage, win shares and Box Plus-Minus.

He ranked ahead of LeBron James in assist percentage too, with Value Over Replacement Player being one of the only advanced stats where the King holds the edge. As if that weren’t enough, and even if we ignore Harden’s four triple-doubles and league-high 11 40-point games, he also had more memorable games — and moments — than anyone this season.

Remember back in November when he dropped 48 points on the poor Suns (including 33 in the first half) as the Rockets exploded for 90 first half points? Maybe not. Or how about when he tied his career-high with 17 assists in a narrow win over the Pelicans in December? Yeah, probably not.

What about a 35-13-11 triple-double in a big November win over the Cavaliers? That’s probably too far back. We could recall a 56-point detonation on the Jazz back in early November? Still too far back. Back-to-back 51-point games against the Lakers and Clippers in mid-December? Maybe that rings a bell, but it’s still probably too far back.

If you’re looking for the most historic game of the 2017-18 NBA season though, his 60-point triple-double is a good place to start.

With a career-high and season league-high 60 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, Harden not only became the first player in NBA history with a 60-point triple-double, but he also broke the Rockets’ single-game scoring record once held by Calvin Murphy‘s 57-point game.

This marked the ninth time Harden topped 50 points in his career, and even better, his team got the win.

Still not satisfied? We could also mention the time he buried Portland’s 13-game win streak in late March with 42 points and a pair of backbreaking 3-pointers late in the game while playing on the road. The point is, take a look at any given month this season and Harden had at least 2-3 games that would serve as most other players’ signature performance.

The highlight plays are too many to list, but no one will ever forget what he did to poor Wesley Johnson in perhaps the most memorable play of the 2017-18 season…or how he LICKED HIS LIPS BEFORE HE FINISHED THE JOB.

Throw in the Rockets’ league best record, league-best point differential and top-five offense in NBA history, not to mention Harden’s vastly improved defense and the way he’s seamlessly meshed with CP3, plus the fact that he’s already finished second in MVP voting twice? This really shouldn’t be close.

Next: The 50 greatest NBA players of all time (updated, 2016-17)

Give the Beard his due, because it’s finally time that man added an Maurice Podoloff Trophy to his mantle.