So as we go into the last week of the season managers will start to key in who their MVP is on the season. I have tried to keep the Power Rankings as unbias as possible and I'm going to do the same here, just note that my name might pop up in the post but I'm going to be presenting everything by the facts of the season so far, I'm not going to be giving my opinion on who I think should win MVP at this point, I'm going to let you make your own choice. So here's why @VenomOnFire should not be the clear front runner for MVP at this point in the season (I'm not saying that he shouldn't win the award all I'm saying is that it shouldn't be as obvious as it looks). Venom has won 10 of his 11 games this season against teams with negative records (this is excluding the Clippers, as they have a positive record but for reasons stated in the power rankings are not a top team imo). He has played these top lines one time each which makes things easier. Another thing to keep in mind when looking at all of this is that Venom joined the league week 2, giving him 4 less potential games to play. Against the top 4 teams in the league (excluding the Suns) he is 1-3 against their first lines, so lets break it down a bit. His one win came against the Nuggets first line, he went an impressive 12-18 dropping 33 and 8 assists, an MVP like performance. Next are the losses, the closest were two 12 point losses to the Raptors and the Heat. He dropped 14 on the Raptors shooting 5-11 and had 1 assist and 3 steals. The next game against the Heat last night, in a better game he dropped 20 points on 8-13 shooting with 10 assists and 1 steal in that 12 point loss. The last loss came against the Knicks, he dropped 12 points on 5-11 shooting with 3 assists and 1 steal, they lost the game by 21. So those are the 3 losses on his 11-3 record, hes averaging 27.1 ppg and 4.8 assists on the season, so in games against top lineups hes averaging 19.8 ppg with 5.5 assists and 1.5 steals. So to recap 28% of his games this season have been against top lines, not a bad number but just something to keep in mind as other players names start to be brought up. If record is one of the main categories that should be brought up in terms of MVP alongside stats @Coach Denham & @Im Tom have two of the best win % in the league among week in and week out starters with 15-2 (88%) & 16-3 (84%). But if you compare stats of these two players with Venom it just doesn't come close. Tom, who plays the same position averages 18.2 ppg and 7.6 assists which clearly give the advantage to Venom stats wise. While Denham, who might be the best C in the league this year averages 10.2 ppg 12.7 reb and 5.5 assists, again no where near Venom's numbers. But if we compare the amount of top lines they've played this season the story looks a little bit different. Denham, who has the better record, has played 7 games this season against top lineups (39%) in those games he has averaged 14.5 ppg 11.4 reb and 3.1 assists, but he has a 5-2 (his only 2 losses) record in these games. Numbers illustrating that in big games against top lineups in the league he scores more, and keeps relatively the same numbers in the other two main categories. Tom on the other hand has a little bit of a different look, 8 of his 19 games this season (42%) have come against top lineups. In these games he has averaged 16.4 ppg 6 assists, with a 5-3 record against these teams his points and assists dip a bit in these games but they're still relatively close to his season average. It does show though how top teams will prioritize stopping the PG in big games, one of the reasons that Venom doesn't average the same stats. Lastly I'm going to throw two more names into the mix who should be brought up when the MVP conversation is had (in no particular order) @D Andoo99 & @Sam F N STACKS. I'll quickly throw up the same stats and numbers for each player against top lineups. D Andoo- 6/18 games (33%) 4-2 record, 18.3 ppg 4.8 apg (numbers all down just slightly) Sam- 8/20 games (40%) 3-5 record, 19.5 ppg 3.3 apg (points up) Other names that can be brought into the conversation include @RiCo505 , @NetsOnFire , @BiG Cruz25 & @ll Bandana ll This whole scheme could change in the coming week as the Suns play the Raptors, Nuggets and Knicks if any of those players mentioned end up playing against top lines. (also please keep in mind that I don't have the stats for the Friday night Suns vs Nuggets game, though because Venom and Andoo were not scheduled for the game I'm not going to count it) Once again I'd really like to emphasize that I'm not trying to say who should win the MVP, I'm not trying to say that Venom shouldn't win it, I'm simply presenting stats that may shine a different light on the race as the final week kicks off. I'm not trying to hate on anyone, just trying to keep things interesting.
If you actually read through the whole thing, thanks. Drop a like if you enjoyed it and drop a comment if I'm out of my mind.
Just laying out the facts my guy, kick some ass this coming week and show us why you deserve the MVP @VenomOnFire
If you’re an MVP candidate and need to get switched off someone defensively you don’t deserve to be in the conversation for MVP. Lotta kids are being called top players for averaging 20 ppg but a lot of them are letting up 25+
