Why not Isaiah Thomas for MVP?

You laid out your arguments well, and to an extent I agree. But here's why at this point I take Harden, with Westbrook an EXTREMELY close second: Harden has been slightly more efficient, and is most likely going to finish the season with more wins that Westbrook's Thunder will. Also, Westbrook and Harden are both below average defenders (we'll forgive them for that), but are much better than Isaiah Thomas. Now much of that is due to his height, but the fact still remains. What he is doing offensively doesn't quite level out his defensive weakness to warrant MVP discussions in my opinion. What he does have going for him is that Boston are pushing for the first seed and he is the most clutch player in fourth quarters this season.

Is that what you're doing, stirring the pot or do you really think Thomas deserves MVP consideration? If you're just stirring the pot, then it's a pointless article and click bait like ESPN, etc., hopefully that isn't it. I think Thomas deserves to be mentioned only so much as someone has to round out the top 10. These 6 guys should all be clearly ahead of him without having to think much: Durant, Curry, Harden, RW, Leonard, and James. Maybe he's next though. But, I would take Wall over him for sure. I'd have DeRozan over him probably.. There's other better players out there but their teams are struggling so much hard to put them in serious MVP consideration like Davis and Giannis. I doubt any GM would pick Thomas over either of them. That's probably it, 10-11 spot.

And I disagree, naming an MVP based on just fourth quarter scoring would be horrible. Especially when you highlight a game that if you only count the time Thomas was on the court they'd have lost by 10 in a laugher. No numbers aren't everything but then you only have very selective numbers to support your case and asked us to look at stats to understand your case. Yes you have to marry up numbers and the eye test. I just don't trust anyone's eye test that says Steph and Thomas are the same level defensively. Or someone who watches a game where a player gets eviscerated and they think "hey he should be in the MVP consideration" Also curry's steal rate whilst still playing to the system did actually contribute to the quality of their D. Curry is a million miles better defensively than Thomas. (last year he was also massively better on offence than where Thomas is today)

Also worth noting which other candidate this season has a -10 +/- games in their highlights.... The celtics got treated like Andy Dufresne in a shower block when he was on the court. I mean you couldn't get a better example to counter your MVP claims

The last real negative on the defensive end to win was Rose. Which has been a widely slammed pick based on narrative. Since then everyone has at least hold their own. Even then there is a gap between bad D and Isaiah Thomas bad D. Isaiah is generally worse than Kyrie Irving and this year do you know where Isaiah Thomas ranks in terms of real defensive +/-? Dead last in the NBA. I mean it’s not saying that he isn’t a two way player it’s saying he makes every other guy in the NBA look like a 2 way player. But Thomas will get votes because if you’re going to be the worst player in the NBA on defence and still convince some people you’re one of the 5 best overall performers that year then it’s 4th quarter scoring that will ring in those type of people’s minds. Now whilst I think that his overall adjustment is a little harsh as +/- adjustments can be too severe when you have a glaring weakness that is a strength of your replacement he is more than -1 behind the 440th ranked defender. The gap between him and harden is the same as Harden and Michael Kidd-Gilchrest. Now Curry was/is nowhere near the defensive sieve you are suggesting he is, he’s at or above breakeven the last 4 years according to adjusted or raw +/- numbers and led the league in steals. Before you say he’s a gambler his +/- is decent because he stays in the system – being able to create turnovers within the system is useful. And playing team defence matters and the world isn’t a binary collection of great or terrible at D there are shades of grey in between and Curry is almost the perfect mix of black and white on that end. What he lacks in strength and outright lateral quickness as an on ball defender he makes up for by making the right rotation, good defensive players can not cover to the level GSW played if someone is playing bad D. The whole shift into less iso ball actually suggests that the value of that lock down defence is being eroded slightly in favour of team D. Also he happened to shoot the ball like he lived open in the corner despite a lead guards useage rate and assist rate. So holding his own at one end and other worldly at the other meant MVP. It was probably a 1.5 times weighting to offence in voters minds at the moment that stopped a guy like green getting considered. And don’t give me the “I watch the games” and he’s getting lit up stuff if you did you’d see a staggering some in Harden this year and two years ago to the “typical” Harden. When he’s kind of engaged he is just a “kind of bad” defender which he makes up for at the other end in spades. When he doesn’t dial in he starts getting towards current Isaiah Thomas levels and no one considers him an MVP candidate then. As for Russ yes he turns the ball over and will kill his own team for some stretches of the game but I’ll take an extra 4 or 5 wasted possessions given what else he brings. I’d personally think that it’s probably between Russ, Harden and James though I think Lowry and Durant should be in there instead of James.

Issue is... they were still outscored in the fourth so they actually won by being better over the first 36 mintues. Thomas is on fire but there seems to be this notion that anyone who is good must be in the discussion for the Best. YEs he racked up 24 points and is an amazing offensive creator but he's jsut too much of a draw back at the other end to be the best guy in the NBA this year.

Curry isn't a defensive stopper but he's denfitely plays good team D and is disruptive enoguh to be a postive on that end taking the seocnd wing/point offensive player.

How is Harden leading MVP candidates? His team doesn't have the best record in the league.

You mention limiting James's minutes. What in his history with Cavs suggests he is going to be on a minute restriction anytime soon? He played 38 minutes when they got blown out by the Warriors early. I am a Thomas guy, and it is nice to see something about someone other than the obvious picks, but it is more hope than a chance at this point.

After performances like today though IT is playing at an elite offensive level.

James Harden is leading the MVP candidates in the most important category: wins. We can say Steph and KD are out of the running purely by sharing the same ball. The Rockets are headed towards a big improvement in win totals and with the Beard leading the assists and points charge he is favoured as of now.

Curry is a solid team defender, just struggles on ball sometimes. IT is not even close to Harden or Westbrook unfortunately, he's a great player but doesn't improve the team around him as much as Harden does.

Curry is still miles ahead of IT for defence, the Celtics are constantly dominated by PG's because of IT's defensive liabilities. IT should still be looked at as more of an MVP (his numbers are similar to Rose's MVP year) but when the other 4-5 guys ahead of him all have at least average defense.