We have one game left in this NBA regular season and I’m ready to cast my MVP vote regardless of what happens tomorrow afternoon in Houston between the Denver Nuggets and the Houston Rockets.
Please keep this in mind, I’m not even really an OKC Thunder fan all that much anymore. I don’t hate the Thunder, but they fall in a group of five or six teams I watch with regularity. Those being Denver, Golden State, OKC, LA Lakers (Austin Reaves), and the Boston Celtics. And maybe to a slightly lesser degree the Minnesota Timberwolves.
In the West…the No. 4 thru No. 7 seeds are still in flux heading into this final week-end of the season. The Thunder however are going to finish 68-14 unless an earthquake or some other Black Swan event occurs between now and their scheduled final game against the feeble New Orleans Pelicans.
The Thunder are also going to have homecourt advantage all the way thru the NBA Finals if they emerge as the Western Conference Champion.
So… How would my ballot look for this NBA regular season MVP award?
With great thought and deliberation …I would go 1 Shai, 2 Jokic, 3 Anthony Edwards, and 4 Cade Cunningham. I would add I think all this angst over what the NBA will look like following LeBron, KD, and Steph’s collective exits are in a way overrated. All four of my finalists still have a great deal of NBA basketball in front of them.
What Adam Silver and the NBA in general needs to be focused on is how tanking and load management have weakened their game day product for the person either attending or watching NBA regular season games on television. You know…the television rankings have dipped even with LeBron, Steph, and KD still playing in their golden years. And in reality…only LeBron is on a team which made my Top Six NBA Teams This Season with a chance to win the O’Brien Trophy. Golden State with Steph and Jimmy Butler is No. 7 on my list and Jokic by himself is No. 8.
I still don’t know what I think about the Houson Rockets. I’ll put them No. 9 with the thought the way they offensive rebound the ball could be of a potential concern to the Thunder. No. 10 would be the Clippers or Indiana Pacers.
I will write this about Joikic before I love on Shai, statistically…Jokic should be winning his 4th MVP this season for what he just accomplished. At this point he is only the third player in NBA history to record a season average triple double. His numbers are daunting…29.8-12.8 rebs-10.3 ast. Plus, he had career bests in 3-point shots made and 3-point percentage. And for good measure he had his second best career year in rebounds.
BTW…the other two players are Oscar Robertson who in ’61-’62 did the triple double average. Of course, our own mecurial Russell Westbrook accomplished this feat four times in his never boring NBA career. Russ did it three times with OKC and once with Scott Brooks in Washington.
One last thing in regards to Jokic’s season. He did all this with Jamal Murray and Aaron Godon because of injury issues not even remotely pulling their chains on their team link. Jokic, in effect was playing without his second and third best players on the court with him at their peak level much of the season.
Shai’s numbers this regular season are 33ppg, 5rbs- and 6.2 asts, plus he usually adds a couple of steals and deflections every game. I have to give it up to Sam Presti on Shai and JDub in that the Thunder GM went yard and beyond with the trade acquisition of Shai from the Clippers and the drafting of JDub from Santa Clara.
Shai’s team never flinched when Chet H went down for the second regular season in his three year NBA career. Plus, Caruso missed a lot of games as well. Yeah, Hartenstein was a great addition, but it was Shai who carried this team to within two games of a historic 70-12 season.
But for me, as a discerning NBA fan…Shai means so much more. This young man exemplifies total class in both representing his franchise, the NBA in general, and Oklahoma City. Here is a young black man from Canada playing in a city which in all honesty is by far the most radical right city in the entire NBA. Shai showed everyone who watches the NBA there might be hope for Oklahoma to grow up at some point. The collective NBA fandom thought of OKC will now be of Shai’s dignity, grace, and class…. and not of angry white people still booing Kevin Durant for leaving Oklahoma.
Could the state of Oklahoma have a better ambassador of good faith?
What parent or grandparent out there wouldn’t want their son or grandson to show the total class Shai exudes every game in which he plays wearing an OKC Thunder jersey?
Shai Gligeous-Alexander, buddy…you’re my NBA Regular Season MVP and it wouldn’t upset me a bit if you win a ring to go along with your MVP season. Maybe…if you guys did win it all you could go to the White House and pull Commander Fuckwit aside and explain some things to him about life in general.
Best wishes, Mike J