Stephen Curry may not be in the thick of the playoffs right now, but it's always good to talk about the engine that drove the Golden State Warriors dynasty over the last five years.
Talking heads always like to debate about Player this should’ve won the MVP over Player that. This most recent MVP voting, which saw Giannis Antetokounmpo take home the trophy over LeBron James, sparked those chatters once again. Giannis and the Milwaukee Bucks fell short of expectations in the playoffs. Meanwhile, James and the Lakers are six wins away from winning the NBA title. Thus, it's clear at this point that The King is still the best player in the world. And it makes us wonder, just how many MVP's should LeBron have really won throughout his career?
With that in mind, let's take a look at the two-time MVP of Dub Nation and did he really deserve the MVPs that he won? Stephen Curry won the Maurice Podoloff trophy in back-to-back seasons in 2014-15 and unanimously in 2015-16.
There's no need to discuss Curry's MVP win in 2015-16, given just how he dominated that season. Thus, let's just look back at his first MVP campaign in the 2014-15 season.
First of all, I'm going to start of by saying that Stephen Curry definitely deserved to win the MVP that season. People often argue that the award should have gone to Houston Rockets superstar James Harden, who finished second to Curry in MVP voting that year. In fact, the players themselves even gave the nod to Harden in the inaugural National Basketball Players Association awards.
To his credit, The Beard had a magnificent campaign that year. Harden put up MVP type numbers of 27.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 7.0 assists, while leading Houston to the no. 2 seed in the Western Conference. He also led that league in total points that season and finished second in points per game.
Compare those to the Davidson standout's averages of 23.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 7.7 assists, it's not hard to see why some favor Harden's 2014-15 campaign over Curry's. But their per-36 numbers were pretty much identical that season, so that could negate the stats narrative for Harden.
Moreover, though Curry averaged roughly 4 less points than Harden that year, he was the best player on the team which finished with the best record in the NBA. Golden State won 67 games that season, after coming from a tough first round exit in the postseason prior.
Nobody really expected the Warriors to do as great as they did. And with Curry running the show in Oracle and doing so much more than his stat lines suggest, he certainly carried the most value for his team that season. Thus, voters made the right choice to reward the best player on the best team with the trophy that year.
If anything, Curry should actually have three MVP's to his name already. And I'm not talking about another regular season one. The 32-year old should have a Finals MVP to his mantle already.
No disrespect to Andre Iguodala. He did a magnificent job of stepping up in that 2015 Finals series against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He averaged 16.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.0 assists in that series, all while trying to slow down LeBron James on the defensive end. However, Curry definitely deserved to win the Bill Russell MVP in their 4-2 title victory over the Cavs.
Voters gave the Warriors sharpshooter negative points for struggling while being guarded by Matthew Dellavedova in that series. Curry averaged 26.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 6.3 assists in the six-gamer. His efficiency may have dipped a little compared to his regular season marks. But if those numbers indicate “struggling,” that means Curry is just that good.
So, in conclusion, Stephen Curry definitely deserved his two regular season MVPs. But in my books, he should have one from The Finals as well sitting in his trophy case at home.
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