We are a long way away from voters deciding who the NBA League MVP will be, but the discussion will continue.
The players who came into the season as favorites are Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards and Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry. One player that needed to be added to the discussion from the beginning of the season is Boston Celtics guard/forward Jayson Tatum.
Some NBA analysts are starting to acknowledge their ignorance of not having Tatum in the MVP conversation earlier.
On Wednesday, ESPN NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins was among the analysts have hard on Tatum before and after the Celtics’ latest title. Perkins acknowledged Tatum’s special season, so far, and is changing his mind for Tatum as an MVP frontrunner on NBA Today.
“Jason Tatum, I apologize, because we should mention your name more often when it comes to the three letters of MVP. We talk about everybody else, but we don’t talk about this man, who constantly comes in, night in and night out is flirting 30-point triple-doubles.
There are a few simple reasons why a player is a serious MVP candidate. The first is that the stars belong to a legit playoff team. The Celtics are currently second in the Eastern Conference with an overall record of 12-3. They are only behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (15-1) in the conference standings.
The Celtics have, however, defeated the Cavaliers on Tuesday night 120-117 at home. Tatum had a monster game against the Cavaliers by scoring 33 points shooting 11-of-22 in field goals, 6-of-10 from the three-point arc and 5-of-7 at the free-throw line. He also accounted for 12 rebounds, seven assists and two steals.
“I think we take away from him the simple fact that’s around him, but the way he’s been taking over games, we know that he’s a walking bucket, we know that he’s improved his three-point shooting and his form, which helped his three-point shooting. On top of that, it’s the rebounding for me, it’s the double-figure rebounds he’s getting.”
Another big reason a player gets named league MVP is based on their high stats building and overall consistency throughout the court. Players like Jokic, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, Russell Westbrook and James Harden all padded their shooting, rebounding and assist stats in order to separate themselves from fellow players.
In 15 games played, Tatum is averaging 29.9 points per game shooting a field-goal percentage of 46.4% and a three-point shooting percentage of 39.4%. He is also averaging 8.1 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 0.5 blocks and 1.4 steals per game. These are easily some of the best season-average statistics in his career so far.
Related Posts
