how's wb, melo, pg doin now? how's oladipo, Kanter, and mcdermott doing now? you doubt what Harden could have done with oladipo, kanter, mcd, adams, roberson? harden = win chaser wb = stat padder
How is my claim that westbrook’s stat padding habits hurt his team last year relevant at all to hardens poor defensive production or great offensive production last year? My argument is only relevant to your assertion that westbrooks stat padding mightve not hurt his team. I believe that it did hurt his team and listed some evidence why I hold that view. Connect my argument about westbrook to your argument about harden because there is a huge missing link there and you sound like you are grasping at straws.
Players have come closer to breaking the HR record than averaging a tri-dub. There's been two 58+ HR-seasons in the last 10 years. Besides Oscar, the NBA has seen only one season (Magic '82) where a player was truly near.
Harden averaging 29,11, and 8 last year doesnt qualify as “truly near” to a triple double? Regardless, the point that others are trying to make is that the triple double average isnt highly coveted and sought after by most players and teams. It is rare because people dont chase it, its not rare because it is impossible to achieve. A lot of players can average a triple double if that is the primary focus of the team. Harden has hit rare statistical benchmarks but it didnt have an easy to understand name like “triple double”
Saying this suggests basketball teams can't lose by < 5 points.... which we all know isn't true. Look, we all wished Harden would've won... but let's remain rational.
What I meant is that there is nothing that makes the 10th rebound/assist more valuable than the 9th or the 11th.
This is where the tracking stats really shed light on what was going on out there. http://stats.nba.com/players/hustle...ESTED_SHOTS&dir=1&PlayerPosition=G&CF=G*GE*41 Harden, even with his monster level of output on offense, was still among the top 3 guards in total shots contested (8.2/game). If you go to the middle of the last page, you'll find Westbrook among bench players at 3.6/game
Being 2 full rebounds short? No, he wasn't truly near. If players are near a tri-dub in a game, they will generally try to get it. Most players love and care about their stats. Don't believe their lies saying otherwise. The problem is, most players can't maintain Westbrook's energy level for an entire season.
Westbrook was deserving but not as deserving as Harden. Looking at expected records before the season is a good subject to talk about at the end of the year.
Because no one was ever trying to break that record because it's not a high profile one! People were fascinated by what Oscar did, but players didn't go out trying to get triple doubles every night in the same way they would home runs or rushing yards in the NFL.
Well, what if WB does it again this year. He's closer than Magic. MVP? I mean, he'd have to be MVP again, right? WB doing it again, or even being closer than Magic, is only going to hurt his MVP legacy, especially if his Super Team gets booted in the 1st round, proving not only is it not as impressive as the HR record, but largely inconsequential to Winning and rightfully dragging Oscar's accomplishment on 43 Wins down with him....leading history to finally say Trip Dubs are not MVP-worthy on their own, as Oscar's Trip Dub was a product of a silly era of stats and Westbrook manufactured his. Of course, if the media turns on WB having another Trip Dub year, he will just stop getting them, on purpose....you know I'm right about that.
I have never seen an mvp like westbrook where when he makes a pass.. he flagrantly yells, "SHOOT THE BALL!" Melo is getting tired of his ****, but pg13 is still hanging in there mentally
But the fancy name, Triple-Double, makes it high profile !!!!! That's what most posters have been arguing. The problem with averaging them is, if you start slowing early, you're mathematically disqualified.
After this streak I have to imagine Cleveland starts resting Lebron some games. They were struggling to start the season and required Herculean efforts from him, but with them solidly at 2nd seed they don't need to run him so hard unless he's specifically gunning for MVP. And if Lebron does keep this up I have no problem with him winning MVP. Yeah, it sucks that Harden would be runner up again when he's been so deserving, but at least he would lose to a worthy opponent instead of the sham it was last year.
Last year was a gimmick. I had no problem with steph winning it over harden when dubs won 67 games and currys numbers were very good. I rooted for harden but didnt feel like he was robbed. It will be the same way for me if he loses to lebron this year. Losing to a 6th seeded box score stat stuffer was ridiculous though. He shouldve been no 4 behind harden, kawhi, lebron IMO. The theme of that entire team from the beginning of the season was “lets make westbrook the mvp” Its not being a homer or being irrational to recognize that westbrook was extremely undeserving as an mvp candidate @Houstunna . If that was the case then Id say harden got robbed by curry too.
Depends on OKC's record. Remember, I'm saying he wouldn't have won last season if 43-39. This season, Russy would be judged more harshly because of his SuperTeam... 55 wins wouldn't be enough. Last year, Staton had 59 HRs (2 away from Maris) and his team wasn't even in the playoff race.
That is not the problem. The "problem", if that is what you wish to call it, is that these other players are not afforded the opportunity to have a 42% usage rate and a 57% assist rate at the same time. On top of that, you have Westbrook sliding in to the top 100 greatest defensive rebounding seasons off all time. https://www.basketball-reference.com/leaders/drb_pct_season.html He is the only player that's not a C or PF that even makes it into the top 250. Are we really supposed to believe that Westbrook is a better rebounder than every small forward to ever play? These two factors together demonstrate that there was no effort to play any sort of team basketball, they are extreme outliers even in the era of combo guards and point forwards we're in right now.
