Why LeBron James Should Be the 2017-18 MVP

We start with the basic concept that "Most Valuable Player" implies that your team, without you, would not nearly be as good.


Now, I cannot even imagine the groups of guys that Cleveland has trotted out this year playing a full season without LeBron James.  LeBron has 12.9 WS.  The next closest Cav?  Kevin Love at 5.7.  Thereafter?  Kyle Korver 3.3 WS, Jeff Green 3.2 WS.


Guys the Cavs acquired as good rotation players (hoped to be good rotation players) contributed little (Dwyane Wade 1.2 WS) or actually were a detriment to the team:


-- Isaiah Thomas (the key to the Kyrie Irving trade) -- negative 0.1 WS, 98 Offensive Rating, 116 Defensive rating


-- Derrick Rose (holding down the fort while Isaiah got healthy) negative 0.1 WS, 97/117.




By contrast, Harden has had Chris Paul (will get 10-11 WS), Clint Capella, (10-11 WS) and will get 5 WS each out of Trevor Ariza, Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon.


What has been MOST remarkable about LeBron's season is that he, literally, has demonstrated that my theory is correct - you can put LeBron on one team of average players and he will make it a playoff team, then switch him over to another set of average players and he will make them a playoff team.  That has literally occurred this year.  Similarly, the theory that it does not matter one iota who "coaches" LeBron has been proved yet again.  LeBron has won with Paul Silas, Mike Brown, Erik Spoelstra, David Blatt, and Ty Lue.  None of these coaches has ever done much sans LeBron.  Now Larry Drew is the interim coach.  Larry Drew isn't going to set the world afire with his coaching (career 143-169), but he'll win games with LeBron in Lue's absence.


Harden has the edge on LeBron in WS, WS/48. and PER.  LeBron has a superior VORP. 


if you break down game-by-game and evaluate which player has had the most "good games" you can review Game Score on each man's 2017-18 Game Log.


Above 15 Game Score?  LeBron 64 Harden 56


Above 22.5 Game Score?  LeBron 47, Harden 34


Above 30 Game Score?  Harden 17, LeBron 14


Game Scores 10-15 (so-so games) -- Harden 8, LeBron 7


Game Scores Under 10 -- LeBron 4, Harden 2.


Harden has missed 7 games, LeBron none.


Therefore, if you look at Cleveland's 75 games, LeBron has a breakdown of


"Was Excellent" - 22.7%
"Was At Least Very Good" -- 62.7%
Was At Least Good -- 85.33%
"Was At Least OK" - 94.7%
Sucked or Didn't Show Up -- 5.3%




Harden's Breakdown, Counting the 66 Games he played and the 7 he did not


Was Excellent - 23.3%
Was At Least Very Good -- 46.6%
Was At Least Good -- 76.7%
Was At Least OK -- 87.7%
Sucked or Didn't Show Up -- 12.3%




 The ONLY criteria which James Harden does better than LeBron James on a game-by-game basis is he has more huge "excellent" games (17 versus 14).  LeBron has 13 more 22.5+ games, 8 more 15+ games, and while Harden has let him team down 12% of the time, LeBron has let his team down only 5% of the time.


So, who is more valuable?  It seems that Harden gets credit for adding a 10-11 Win Share player (Chris Paul) while LeBron lost a 9 WS player (Kyrie) and got virtually nothing back.  Is this really deserving of credit?


And consider the decision to award Russell Westbrook with the MVP last year over Harden.  Harden's team was better, he had more WS and better WS/48.  Westbrook has superior raw numbers, but he achieved them while shooting a very mediocre percentage and registering an enormous Usage Rate of 41.7!!!!!!!!  This shattered Kobe's 38.7% Usage Rate record, a record I was certain no one would ever break - Westbrook went up to 108% of maximum Kobe ball-hoggery.


Anyone who voted for Westbrook last year will certainly have a lot of explaining to do if they suddenly decide to vote against LeBron on a similar setup to last year. (EXCEPT LeBron's TS% is much higher than Russ's and LeBron's Usage is FAR lower than Russ's.)


While I know Harden probably will win b/c he has been screwed at least twice, I think the better argument, the thinking man's argument, is that LeBron should be the 2017-18 MVP.