Picking the best player on one of the league's top few teams is usually the simplest way to go about voting for the NBA's Most Valuable Player, yet as we saw this past season with the 47-win Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook, winning might not be enough anymore.
That frustrates Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, so much so that he would be open to abolishing MVP and all other awards because of it.
"I don't know if this is a good process," Morey told The Crossover's Ben Golliver. "The ones that are decided by players or executives or media, they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I honestly don't think there's a good process. You could argue for eliminating the awards altogether. I don't really see a good way to do it that doesn't have major issues. I like clean answers. If there's not going to be a set criteria and there's going to be issues with how it's structured, for me it might be better to not have it."
Westbrook's claim to fame in 2016-17 was tallying 42 triple-doubles, beating the previous and once untouchable record of 41 held by Oscar Robertson. The Thunder only won 47 games, though, making him the first MVP on a sub-50-win team since 1982. Even Robertson wasn't named MVP in 1961-62 during his triple-double tear, as it was won by Bill Russell.
Rockets guard James Harden's numbers were just as worthy of MVP consideration as Westbrook's, and his team had eight more victories than Oklahoma City, yet he finished with 47 fewer first-place votes than his former teammate.
"We thought James was the MVP but there were a bunch of very good, deserving candidates," added Morey. "I didn't like how a different MVP criteria was used this year, compared to the last 55 years, to fit more of a marketing slogan. People thought a different criteria for selecting the MVP this year was the way to go."
With Chris Paul now in the fold, it's hard to imagine Harden bouncing back to win the award in 2018, as CP3's presence may split votes, as was the case with the Golden State Warriors when Kevin Durant joined previous back-to-back MVP Stephen Curry. As Morey points out, Harden was disappointed he didn't receive the honor in 2016-17, but heading into next season and beyond, he and the rest of the organization won't concern themselves with awards nearly as much.
“Given that the criteria seems to be shifting away from winning, I would guess that (adding Paul) probably doesn't help anyone's chances on our team," Morey acknowledged. "That said, I don't think anybody really cares (going forward). James definitely cared and I think we all cared (about the 2017 MVP). But we've moved on since the award isn't focused on winning any more. Let's just win and not worry about it."
