SGA for President

A more accurate title for this post would have been "Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for MVP".  But "SGA for President" sounds better.

The thing about the MVP Award is that you can't have the same person winning year in and year out, even if they do deserve it.  This is something I learned back during the Jordan Era.

From 1991 to 1998, except for those a couple of seasons he more or less took off, there was no question that MJ was literally "the most-valuable player", not only in the NBA but sports in general.  But one of those years, the league gave it to Charles Barkley and during another, to Karl Malone.

I'm not going to sit here and try to imply that the "Round Mound of Rebound" and "the Mailman" didn't earn it.  But the point is that, there's politics behind these awards.  The type of players who perform at an MVP level tend to do so perennially.  So sometimes, instead of giving it to the same person, decisions have to be made based on other criteria, i.e. in the name of not appearing as if you're dickridin.

That's why I'm advocating SGA as MVP.  I'm not doing so not based on the argument that he's actually better Nikola Jokic or any of the other one or two top candidates this season.  The Thunder are a pretty talented team and would probably make the playoffs even without SGA.  And I knew it was only a matter of time before one of these really young squads transforms into a contender, considering how they're more energetic, and recent champions are aging.  I thought the Grizzlies' would reach that level before OKC, but things didn't quite turn out like that.

But even with phenoms like Giddey, Dort, Williams and I would say Holmgren especially in terms of pushing this team over the top, SGA is the alpha and the one who has proven that he can win games when need be.  And honestly, I think most of us were expecting the Thunder to gradually become better, not anticipating that they would conclude the season with the number one seed, even over the defending champions, in the highly-competitive West.

SGA has already been in the MVP conversation for a couple of seasons, so might as well give him his flowers.  Like, you can't take sh*t for granted.  A couple of seasons ago, when Jokic won his first MVP, the award should've rather gone to Chris Paul.  And since then, CP3's game has never been quite the same.

The funny thing is, given Embiid's injuries, there probably really isn't anyone else really in the MVP conversation, outside of SAG and Jokic, besides for maybe Luka, Brunson or, if you really want to go there, AD.  The Celtics have become so well balanced that even though they have the best record and will likely take the East, it's hard to single out Tatum as the league's MVP.  So this season definitely doesn't feel like others in recent memory, where you'd may have five or even more viable MVP candidates.

CONCLUSION\

The Thunder are one of my favorite teams to watch.  I like Josh Giddey, because he's a pretty Whiteboy who looks like he should be on a fashion runway or album cover rather than leading fastbreaks.  I like Chet Holmgren, because he's dumb tall, visibly so even, but also multi-faceted and an impactual rookie.  I like Lu Dort, because on TV he looks too short and stocky to be in the NBA.  But most of all, I like SGA. 

I still remember when he was a rookie.  Shai was a number 11 pick, not someone you'd expect to one day be an MVP.  He wasn't one of the players who people were talking about going into that draft.  So it's like, give props where props are due.

Jokic, who by the way wasn't drafted until the second round(!), has too many accomplishments to still be considered a cinderella (lol).  The other usual suspects, like Lebron, Giannis and Steph, didn't represent like that this year.  So now, it's time to finally move on to the next big story, either SGA or Luka.  And with the Thunder having secured the number one seed, the decision is sort of a no-brainer.