Curry shouldn't just be NBA MVP, he needs to be unanimous MVP
No player has ever won the NBA MVP award in a unanimous vote, but if there has ever been a season when it should happen, it is this year and Stephen Curry.
At this point, going through the numbers of a season of historic proportions is almost moot. But to remind us of what we have witnessed, let's do it anyways in the most point-form way possible. Here are statistical categories Curry leads the league in in 2015-16 going into the Golden State Warriors' final regular season game on Wednesday.
- Field goals
- 3-point field goals (NBA record)
- Total steals
- Total points
- Points per game
- Steals per game
- Player Efficiency Rating
- True shooting percentage
- Win shares
- Win shares per 48 minutes
- Box Plus/Minus
- Value Over Replacement Player
For much of the season, Curry rolled along with a PER over 32, which would be an NBA record in its own right. In terms of categories he's not leading the league in, there's 3-point percentage (2nd), free throw percentage (2nd) and ESPN's Real Plus/Minus (2nd).
If he can push his points per game over 30 in the season finale while capturing his first scoring title, he will become the first player in NBA history to average 30 points in less than 35 minutes a night. That's right, the Warriors were so good that he has sat for 18 full fourth quarters this season.
Then there's the truly unconscious stats: Curry is 46-for-87 this season (almost 53 percent) from 28 to 45 feet out. To put things in perspective, that's a decent field goal percentage for a big man who operates mostly around the rim. Here is another graphic detailing Curry's season:
Curry's case this year is helped by the fact that he hasn't had any close competition for the Maurice Podoloff Trophy. When he won the award last season, counter arguments could be made for the likes of James Harden, Russell Westbrook, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis. Westbrook is the only one, who for lack of a better term, didn't regress this year.
Kawhi Leonard has been spectacular for the San Antonio Spurs, but even with his two-way excellence, he's just not at Curry's level.
A combination of legitimate competition and contrarian takes has denied two superstars from unanimous MVP choices (voted on by select media) in the past: James himself in 2012-13 when Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe gave his first-place vote to Carmelo Anthony, and in 2000, when then-CNN anchor Fred Hickman chose Allen Iverson over Shaquille O'Neal.
There will always be debate over the meaning of the term "Most Valuable Player" however, as well as opposing takes.
Several weeks ago, I drank beer as someone shouted at me about how the "Curry effect" was destroying the NBA, turning the sport into a positionless blur and a video game-like abyss of 35-foot treys. There isn't a ton of love for basketball and a fair amount of "get off my lawn" in this individual's DNA anyways, so I wasn't really even paying attention as he ranted away.
Yet there's something at the base of what he said that is accurate: The Warriors have revolutionized the game, and Curry is the catalyst. Whether you are a fan of it or not, or if you prefer the long ago-dead era of the Detroit Pistons trying to beat Michael Jordan to a pulp, the Warriors have already been legitimized with one championship. Another will only secure that further.
That remains to be seen however. In the meantime, give Steph his unanimous MVP.