Westbrook's Season Deserving of MVP Honor

Westbrook has led OKC in Durant's absence

The argument at the beginning of the season consisted of LeBron James' quest for a fifth MVP while the talented Stephen Curry exploded into the race right off the bat. Rising star Anthony Davis entered the conversation for much of the first half of the season before injuries sidelined him for a handful of games. Now here we are at the end of the season, and the top three candidates for the league's most prestigious individual award are Curry, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook. The majority of people, both analysts and fans, believe that Curry and Harden are the only true contenders, which shows that Westbrook's phenomenal season has been severely under-appreciated.

Let's get something straight before people get all bent out of shape: Stephen Curry and James Harden have put together astounding seasons. Curry has broken records and has lit up the highlight reels with his improved ball handling while Harden has put up insane numbers in his own right. Both of these players are in the race for a reason, and they deserve every bit of consideration. Yet if you look at Russell Westbrook's season and the team he has had to work with for the majority of this year, it's hard to say that he is not the most deserving for the MVP award.

Curry has led the Warriors to the one seed

Last night I was in Bankers Life Fieldhouse and witnessed Westbrook's 54 points (which was a career high might I add), 9 rebounds, and 8 assists against the Pacers. Yes, he took 43 shots, that's the common argument against Westbrook. "He shoots too much". "He doesn't shoot a high percentage". "He's selfish". Had those arguments been posed in previous years, I would have wholeheartedly agreed because he would have been hoisting ill-advised shots when Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka were on the floor. However, neither Durant or Ibaka are going to be any help for this season and have both missed countless games. This team has become Westbrook's to lead even after Durant and Ibaka return and he is dragging Oklahoma City to the playoffs. He no longer has an MVP to pass to. He no longer has Ibaka's 14 points per game to feed. It's Westbrook's show to run and if he's not leading the league in scoring and posting triple doubles on almost a nightly basis then OKC is not even sniffing the playoff race they are currently in.

Harden is currently second in the NBA in scoring

Does Westbrook shoot a lot? Yes. There's no way around it, he averages 22 field goal attempts a game. While Harden averages 18 shots per game and Curry averages 16, it's out of line to call Westbrook selfish when he's averaging 8.6 assists as opposed to Hardens 6.9 and Curry's 7.7. Throw that in with the fact that Rockets and Warriors both have exceptionally better supporting casts than the Thunder currently does and it's easy to see that Westbrook is doing more with less.

While the offensive numbers are gaudy and always get the most attention, Westbrook's influence on the defensive side of the ball contributes just as much as his influence on offense. He forces more turnovers (he averages over two steals a game) and grabs more defensive rebounds (5.3 per game compared to Hardens 4.7 and Curry's 3.6) than the other two candidates. For Curry, he has improved his on-ball defense greatly this season, but he's not the defensive force that Westbrook is. Harden, on the other hand, struggles to understand what playing defense means (See "James Harden defensive juggernaut" on YouTube).

The bottom line is that you can take Harden away from the Rockets and still watch Houston in the playoffs. You can take Curry away from the Warriors and still see a top four team in the West. But if you take Westbrook away from the Thunder with the shape they are currently in then they are dwelling near the bottom of the conference. Not only has Westbrook been impressive, he's been historic this year. He has posted numbers that only Michael Jordan and Oscar Robertson have put up. Sure, Curry has broken a couple records of his own, but in terms of total domination of a game, Westbrook reigns supreme. Again, Harden and Curry have been fun to watch and they have played great basketball all year, but if you look at the value of each individual player in terms of where their team would be without them, Westbrook affects the Thunder's success more than Curry affects the Warriors or Harden affects the Rockets.