Personal Column: James Harden’s case for MVP

If you ask me, James Harden is the MVP of the league. His play up to the all-star break has been fantastic. He has stepped up this season to become the clear leader of this Rockets team and has embraced the role, thriving with high production. But don’t just take it from me. Let’s take a look at the numbers.

Harden has averaged a league best 27.4 points per game, also a career best. This means, up to the all-star break, on average, Harden has scored more points than anyone else has in the entire NBA in 53 games. He has gotten to the line to shoot an average of 9.3 free throws a game and has hit them at a high clip of 87%. To go with all of his buckets, Harden has averaged 6.8 assists per game as well. He has grabbed 5.7 rebounds a game and has pilfered 2.0 steals per game. His numbers have culminated in a player efficiency rating of 27.39, the highest rating of all shooting guards in the league. (Player efficiency rating is an invention of John Hollinger’s that takes all of a player’s stats and contributions and puts them all together in one value.)

The numbers certainly do not lie. But night in and night out simply watching this man play has been extraordinary as well. Harden’s offensive game is an enigma. He appears to move a gear slower than everyone else but still gets to all the spots he needs to get to. The way he moves on the court has been termed an “old man game.” Defenders around the league cannot figure him out and can only foul him.

Sure, it gets a little dull watching Harden shoot as many free throws as he does, but it is not dull to see the win column grow larger and larger for the Rockets. And Harden makes up for stoppages of play with exciting transition finishes, filthy stepbacks and flashy dimes.

While Harden is having a great season of his own, there are plenty of other stars around the league that deserve their own accolades. What separates Harden from Stephen Curry or Lebron James?

The thing that few people understand is that Harden’s value to his team trumps that of any other player’s value to their team. The MVP award is not the award for the best player in the league. It goes to the player who is the most valuable to his team, although the two descriptions are not necessarily mutually exclusive.

The fact of the matter is if you replace Harden with one of the other marquee players from around the NBA, I guarantee the Rockets would be worse off. With Dwight Howard not at 100%, it has been Harden who straps the team on his back each game to lift the Rockets to victory.

Harden does not have a running mate (Klay Thompson) capable of scoring 37 in a quarter. But Stephen Curry does. Harden does not play with an all-star caliber point guard (Kyrie Irving) who gives him nights off by dropping 40. Lebron does. Harden also doesn’t have a multi-skilled big man who spaces the floor and throws ridiculous outlet passes (Kevin Love). Lebron, again, does.

This is not to say the rest of the Rockets are inferior. Harden makes his teammates better by being on the floor with them and he makes it work with the team he has. Currently, Harden has recorded the most 30+ point games this season and has accounted for an average of 44.3 points a game with his passing ability, much to the delight of his team.

Senior Narain Reddy, a lover of all things basketball, also had an opinion on Harden’s case for MVP.

“It would be an injustice for Harden to not be named MVP,” Reddy said.

This Houston squad will go as far as Harden will take them. He is the catalyst, and the rest of the team is a scrappy bunch that will fight tooth and nail following the lead of their MVP.

Statistics and photo courtesy of ESPN