In an age where the difference between opinion and fact is particularly blurred, the race to the NBA MVP title also becomes a matter of opinions and preferences and less of facts and analyzes.
LeBron James.
The difference between opinion and fact is particularly blurred
Photo:
IPI
The NBA's MVP is the most prestigious individual award in American team sports.
Therefore, the ranking of the race to the MVP, which newspapers and websites publish in the US every week now, is one of the most intriguing plot lines throughout the season.
True, since voting for an MVP is done by human beings and not by statistical models, the choice of this title has always been influenced by the "spirit of the time."
Today it is called a "narrative".
This was true when voters gave the award to Carl Malone in 1997 to pardon a surprisingly advanced season, instead of Michael Jordan, who won a year earlier, and when Steve Nash won in 2005 with a team success story that caught everyone unprepared.
Any LeBron James fan will also tell you that this is a joke that he has only four wins (and how could it be that we then gave the award to Derrick Rose and not him), and there are many more examples.
The story is probably the most important thing here.
And in the age of social media, where the difference between opinion and fact is particularly blurred, the power of the story in determining the winner of this award is only getting stronger.
However, even within the boundaries of this sector there are some "rules".
One is that the winner must come from a team that has finished at least in the top 3 in its area.
Throughout history there have been few exceptions, the latter being particularly memorable: Russell Westbrook was the 2017 MVP, even though his Oklahoma City finished only sixth in the West.
How did it happen?
You know: the story.
It was the season that Kevin Durant "ran away" from O'Keefe to Golden State, and Russ responded in a historic and crazy triple-double season.
But even a big story alone is not enough, need statistical backing.
And really, a look at the advanced statistics reveals to us that whoever is high in the top of the season in the four main advanced categories, and also plays in a team with a positive balance, will always be a senior candidate for MVP.
And the more successful his team is, the closer it gets to the title.
Telling stories
Nash was ranked just 15.5 on average in the winning season, and it is truly considered controversial.
Westbrook, on the other hand, at least finished 2017 with an average ranking of 2 in these four categories - the highest in the league, slightly better than the average 3 of Harden and Kwai, who finished in 2nd and 3rd places in the voting (with Houston and San Antonio, who finished 3rd and 2 in the west respectively - much higher than the ocean).
But despite all this, in the MVP race rankings published in recent days in the US, a trend has been going on for several weeks, and it is he who is undoubtedly leading right now is LeBron James. Go through all the big sites - some a little more careful, others determined Very, but what is clear is that according to everyone LeBron "opened a gap" in this race.But how and why?
Statistically?
LeBron’s average ranking in the four advanced categories is currently 9.25 with eight players ahead of him.
a story?
Well, is the fact that the Lakers champion - with two superstars, which got stronger in the summer - ranked second in the West, more impressive than the Clippers' third place (she has a Kwai game with an average rating of 7.5)?
More than Utah's run for first place in the West?
More than second place for the Hunts (with Harden, average rating of 8.25)?
And we have not yet mentioned Philadelphia - first place in the East, in whose ranks Joel Ambide gives a great season (average rating of 2.75, second place in the league).
And of course one must single out and sanctify Nikola Jukic, who carries Denver (slightly disappointing in seventh place in the West) while giving a historic season and an average rating of 1.25 (first in the league in three categories and second only to Ambide in the remaining category).
There are so many legitimate and even better candidates this season than LeBron, that even the excuse that narrative voices often use, and that is that there is no other particularly prominent candidate and therefore go with some different or surprising choice (as might be said in 2005 or 2017) - Not catching right now.
So how is it that everyone still puts LeBron first anyway?
Well, that's the beauty with a narrative.
Even more than numbers and statistics, it is the easiest in the world to reshape each time, and according to your personal preferences.
