In February I wrote an article titled "James Harden is The 2018 NBA MVP" and I wrote that a few days before the NBA All-Star Break. Now four months later and the season being over, I stick by my original statement one hundred percent. If the NBAs Most Valuable Player Award was given out at the very end of the regular season like it's always been until, the NBA decided they needed to have their own award show, then the opinion would be that Harden deserves the award, finally getting the award he's been deserving of for years.
However, because of the playoffs, there's now a greater conversation in favor of giving LeBron James his fifth MVP award because of his outstanding body of work in the playoffs. However, the NBA MVP award is given to the most outstanding player in the REGULAR SEASON and that was James Harden. I gave my reasons why he deserves the award four months ago, and I finished by saying that Harden needed to continue his outstanding work on the court to lock down the award and guess what, he did.
"The Beard" as he is affectionately known as in Houston was an unstoppable offensive juggernaut while leading his Rockets team to the number one seed in the Western Conference (finishing 65-17) and advancing all the way to the Western Conference Finals before falling to the eventual champions and super team, Golden State Warriors. A further look at his dominance this season shows that "The Beard" led the league in scoring, averaging 30.2 points per game, good enough for best in the league as well as best for his career thus far.
Furthermore, despite no longer being the primary ball handler in Houston, Harden still averaged 8.8 assists per game (3rd best in the league) as well as cutting down his turnovers per game average, highlighting his on court effectiveness and efficiency. Harden exemplified his efficiency so well that by looking at the Player Efficiency Rating (PER), Harden's end of season PER was a 30.1 which was good enough for fourth best in the league. As well as his achievements this year, Harden's role of superstar and "face of the franchise" in Houston was undoubtedly set in stone this year.
Despite Houston's addition of "The Point God" Chris Paul and Harden being moved back into the role of shooting guard, Harden was still incredibly good. As well, a way to further illustrate Harden's value to his franchise is the Win Share statistic, a statistic used to divvy up credit for a team's success and James Harden led the league in this statistic. As well another key sign of his importance is that Harden finished the season with the second highest usage rating in the league.
This season James Harden cemented his legacy and proved that "Chef Harden" is the real chef in the league, not Steph Curry. Furthermore, It's now undoubtable that James Harden is "the guy" in Houston. So with all this being said I must rehash my original point, James Harden is this season's NBA MVP and the numbers prove it. This was the year of Harden and the Year to "Fear the Beard."
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