The Outsiders: Making the MVP cases for Anthony Davis and Chris Paul

In a different season, one without so many deserving candidates, Anthony Davis would offer a litmus test for what voters look for in an MVP.

There's a case to be made that no player has been as individually impressive as Davis this season. He's become a frighteningly complete offensive player, capable of burning opposing bigs off the dribble, absorbing contact and finishing on rolls to the hoop, making savvy passes out of double teams, and consistently knocking down mid-range jumpers. You can throw just about any four semi-competent NBA players around him and craft a functional offense. 

Throw in his preposterous reach and excellent timing and you've also got a monstrous rebounder and shot-disruptor. Davis finished with 24.4 points per game, 10.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.5 steals, 2.9 blocks and a PER of 30.9. Only three players in NBA history have finished with an efficiency rating that high: Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Wilt Chamberlain. 

Alas, Davis' Pelicans went just 45-37, and only twice has the MVP been awarded to a player on a team that weak: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975-76 and Bob Pettit in 1955-56 - the first year the award was given out. 

Precedent is a powerful factor in any voting process, but Davis could scarcely have done more in dragging a misfit Pelicans team into the playoffs in a hellacious Western Conference. And it should matter that his team outscored opponents by 5.6 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor while getting outscored by 5.7 with him on the bench (basically the difference between the Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic). 

Dismissing his MVP candidacy because his team hasn't won enough is as silly as dismissing Steph Curry's because his Warriors might still have won a bunch of games without him. Which is to say, very silly. 

The biggest thing working against Chris Paul's candidacy might be the fact that he plays the same position as Curry and Russell Westbrook, both of whom have at least been more noticeable this season - Curry as the best player on one of the most dominant (and magnetic) regular-season teams ever, Westbrook as a careening, single-minded wrecking ball whose stat lines have led some to compare him favorably to Oscar Robertson. 

Quietly, Paul has kept the Los Angeles Clippers humming, nabbing the third seed in the West with the NBA's top-ranked offense, despite losing Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford for long stretches. 

Have a gander at that roster, at that preposterously thin bench and patchwork wing rotation, and try figuring out how many guys are actually capable of creating offense. Or just consider the numbers: The Clippers score 95.9 points per 100 possessions when Paul is on the bench, which, in case you're curious, would be the worst mark for any team that hasn't been getting play calls from Joel Embiid this season. 

The discrepancy between that atrocity and the Clippers' sterling 115.1 rating when Paul's on the floor is the NBA's widest by a pretty significant margin. And that doesn't even take into account all the canny work Paul does at the defensive end, where he consistently manages to pick pockets and disrupt passes without gambling himself out of position. 

Paul doesn't have Curry's range (not a soul currently living does), but his ability to get off and knock down shots off the bounce - especially from the elbows - is on a level, and he's a better distributor. His hesitation dribble remains the best in the business, and his herky-jerky, change-of-direction dribble consistently cracks open space in what would otherwise be a congested offense. 

Paul has assisted on 47.4 percent of his teammate's field goals when he's on the floor, the best mark in the league, per Basketball-Reference. Combine that with a staggeringly low turnover rate and Paul's Nowitzki-an shooting splits (.485/.398/.900), and you can absolutely argue that he's been the best player in the league this season.