James Harden's 2018-19 season is a historic season! Probably the best offensive season of all time! Harden's 36.1 PPG is only behind Wilt and Jordan, but he did it with much better efficiency. Among the top 10 PPG seasons, Harden's 2019 ranks #1 in TS%, eFG%, and assists. He did this in #1 in least minutes, and #2 in least field goal attempts. Harden's points per 100 possessions is the BEST of all time! His 48.2 mark destroyed Jordan's previous record 46.4 by 1.8 points. Harden is also the first player in NBA history with 35+ points and 6+ assists season. Previously the closest was Wilt's 1963-64 season 36.9 points 5.0 assists. We are just witness greatness happening right in front of our eyes! http://bkref.com/tiny/RKwqD http://bkref.com/tiny/ZYQ10 http://bkref.com/tiny/rpBkP
I still cannot believe Harden won't win MVP with such a historic season. The media should be stripped with their voting power with such blatant bias.
There is no shortage of completely unnecessary Harden complaints around here. And every time I see it I ask myself.... Why are y’all like this? Stop it.
Harden looks like an intelligent player who will continue to improve his game going into his 30s, and I think he is committed to Houston because his legacy will be best built here instead of chasing unguaranteed success elsewhere. He is also durable like hell, and I think his game will age very well. That trade in 2012 summer was the best thing ever happened to this franchise outside of those 2 rings, and I am grateful for that.
The NBA is the only league where how you look and what shoe company you are signed too afftects how you win mvp of that said league. If Harden was still with Nike, Harden would have 2 mvps at the miniminum
The people who don't support Harden for MVP this season have been living in a parallel universe where Giannis is the one putting up Harden numbers. Either that or they've gone blind from the all the hating. Can we also appreciate how he continues to improve his game? LIke introducing and being one of the best this season in floaters after Spurs series? This is after he already won an MVP. I need some of his motivation in my life.
It is shocking that Harden have improved so much this season compared to his last MVP season. The numbers are astonishing. He is +5.7 in PPG. That alone should get him into most improved players conversation. Advanced stats all huge gains: +0.8 in PERs, +0.8 in BPM, and +1.6 in VORP. His usage rate shot up from 36.1% to 40.5%, while his efficiency (eFG%, TS%) remains unchanged.
The publicly available advanced metrics haven't really shown huge improvement. If anything, it is incremental. Let's not get carried away with PPG and think that equates to how good a player is. By the win shares metric, it's down a bit from last year. There is a small improvement in PER and BPM. Keep in mind that BPM (by the nature of the way the model is constructed) can get out of whack for players putting up outlier stats -- Westbrook two seasons ago had a BPM of +15.6, which almost certainly overrated his true impact. VORP essentially extends BPM by crediting playing time, so those aren't really distinct stats: Some other metrics that are out there: Real Plus Minus (RPM) is up +6.71 last year and +7.51 this year. Player Impact Plus Minus (PIPM) is +5.91 last year and +5.56 this year. Player Impact Estimate (PIE) is 19.4 last year and 20.1 this year. Giannis actually has a better case for Most Improved Player than Harden (Harden was at an MVP level last year, so that's not a knock on him): PER: 27.3 to 30.9 WS/48: .207 to .294 BPM: +5.8 to +10.8 RPM: +4.23 to +6.65 PIPM: +3.99 to +7.5 PIE: 18.6 to 21.8
