Harrison Barnes is funny.
Or overly loyal.
Or completely crazy.
Or…most definitely on to something.
The Golden State Warriors forward made an appearance on ESPN’s NBA Countdown on Wednesday, and as it turns out, he has some lofty expectations for teammate Stephen Curry:
"I think Steph is probably on his way to become first MVP & most improved at same time." @hbarnes on NBA Countdown. pic.twitter.com/WFVkV0TcJn
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) November 19, 2015
OK, wow. He had to be kidding, right? I didn’t see the live broadcast, but he had to be kidding.
Counterpoint: Maybe he wasn’t.
Curry most definitely has to be considered the favorite to win Most Valuable Player. Right now, the folks at Basketball-Reference are using a predictive model that gives him a 95 percent chance of repeating as the league’s MVP.
Most Improved Player honors are a different story.
Curry is playing through his sixth season. He’s already a superstar. He’s won MVP. He’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Can he really be recognized as the Most Improved Player?
Answer in the form of a question: Why not?
While Curry is pretty much doing everything he’s always done, he’s doing it better. He’s scoring more. Shooting better…somehow. Rebounding more.
Playing even better defense.
Churning out even more highlights.
Dominating the game at a level we haven’t quite seen, with a skill set that hasn’t always been synonymous with superstardom.
So yes, it’s possible, if only because, when it comes to Curry, nothing is impossible.
Will he actually win? That’s a different matter entirely, and one that will be left to the voters. He probably won’t win, to be honest. Even if he actually is the NBA’s most improved player, and he may not be, it probably hurts him that he’s also an MVP favorite.
Something tells me, though, that he’ll get over such discriminatory perspectives and be just fine.
