Why Isaiah Thomas Deserves MVP Recognition
I am aware of how crazy that title is to say. When you have someone averaging a triple double with 30 points a game (Russell Westbrook), and with a phenomenal season from James Harden who is playing a new position this season at point guard and making an even bigger impact than his previous seasons in Houston. But what about the next top guard this season in Isaiah Thomas? Many fans are hesitant to call him the next man up, but if you think about it any other guard with 29.7 PPG 2.7 RPG and 6.4 APG (According to Basketball-Reference) in a season is MVP candidate. If we compare Isaiah to former point guard MVP award winners, Derrick Rose in the 2010-2011 season averaged 25 PPG 4.1 RPG 7.7 APG (via Basketball-Reference). Another season to take into perspective is 2014-2015 Stephen Curry season. Curry averaged 23.8 PPG 4.3 RPG and 7.7 APG (via Basketball-Reference). Thomas clearly compares since his stats are identical except he is just under 30 points per game. Also something not to forget is Thomas' Field Goal Percentage is 46.8% which is higher than both Westbrook and Harden's percentage. With also Thomas' impressive 3 point percentage of 38.6% which is also higher than both Westbrook and Harden. Another important efficiency stat to compare the three in is turnovers a game. While Westbrook and Harden average merely 6 turnovers a game (Harden with 5.9 and Westbrook with 5.5), Isaiah only averages 2.6 turnovers a game. Isaiah is not the one averaging a double-double or even a triple-double but he is more efficient on the offensive end with better shooting percentages and less turnovers a game. Regardless of all offensive stats another extremely huge factor in the Most Valuable Player race is your team success. Players like Rose and Curry had had team success. The Bulls were first place in the Eastern Conference, and the Warriors were also first place in their conference. Currently the Celtics are currently 2.5 games out of first place in the Eastern Conference. If the team success can boost up and end up in first place, it can only help Thomas' MVP case. Harden's team success has also been astounding with more wins than the Celtics but only in third place in the Western Conference. The Thunder on the other hand lack team success which will hurt him in the MVP race. The Thunder are currently in 7th place. If they end up with the 8th seed or even not in the playoffs he could lose even more votes towards his MVP case. But with Isaiah's statistics and his team success compared to the other MVP candidates, I really think Thomas deserves MVP recognition, its still early to say he should be the award winner but if he keeps playing red hot like he is, he can very much be the Most Valuable Player of the 2016-2017 season.
