Patrick Beverley has high expectations for James Harden.
Really high.
From Basketball Insiders’ Oliver Maroney:
When asked what he expects from Harden in the upcoming season, Beverley told Basketball Insiders: “MVP and leading us to the Finals. Simple.”
No pressure though, James.
Getting to the NBA Finals will be tough for the Houston Rockets. They have all the trimmings for a ridiculously great offense after signing Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon and bringing in Mike D’Antoni to coach, but the top half of the West is stacked. All three of the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs could prove to be well out of reach.
And if you’re not going to emerge as a Finals favorite, it’s equally difficult for your best player to win an MVP award. Honorees typically come from the top teams in the league, not squads who exist somewhere in the middle.
That’s why Russell Westbrook’s chances of earning the nod, even if he goes bonkers, aren’t as great as others make them out to be. The Oklahoma City Thunder, in all likelihood, won’t be good enough to guarantee him consideration over the likes of LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, etc. Harden must clear that same obstacle with the Rockets.
If there was ever a season during which voters might change how they select the league MVP, it could be this one. Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green will all take votes away from each other. Same goes for Blake Griffin and Chris Paul, as always. And LeBron James is still subject to voter’s fatigue after all these years.
This could be the season, then, in which lone superstar wolfs, like Harden, Anthony Davis and Westbrook, among others, start to gain MVP traction. But that shift in voter perception isn’t guaranteed. It’s unlikely at best, impossible at worst.
So if Harden wants to make good on Beverley’s faith in him, he’ll have to hope his MVP-level accolades are enough to render Houston one of the NBA’s biggest overachievers.
