Five Reasons Why Kawhi Leonard will win the 2016-17 MVP.

I think Kawhi Leonard could be the obvious choice for MVP this season in the NBA. And here are my five reasons:

1) He finished 2nd in voting last year.

2) I think he is better offensively this year than he was last year.

3) With Tim Duncan retired and Kawhi separating himself from Aldridge as "the man", Kawhi has become the main guy on a Gregg Popovich team.

4) This Spurs team will surely be a top 3 seed in the West and most likely top 2. The MVP is almost always on a top 2 seeded team. You have to be on a good team to win MVP in the NBA

5) No one else is set up as good as him. Other candidates: LeBron is done getting votes from "fatigued" voters and he also is in "chill mode" too often in the regular season. KD/Curry will hurt each other being on same team. Same with Blake and CP3 like always. And Lillard, Westbrook, Davis, and Harden's teams probably won't get top 3 or 4 seeds, which will greatly hurt their chances even if they have great stats.

Tim Duncan won back to back MVPs in 2001-2003 when he was the main man for Greg Popovich. Kawhi has established himself as the man now in San Antonio. As long and the Spurs finish top 2 seed, I believe Kawhi (who got a lot of love last year, again, finishing 2nd in the MVP race) will be the front runner for the award.

Fun Fact - Tim Duncan won his two MVPs with the Spurs when he was in his 5th and 6th season. This is Leonard's 6th season.

Best NBA Player Per Season

In honor of 2016-17 NBA opening night, I have compiled the greatest NBA players of all time; per nba season. (Starting with Bill Russell.)

Bill Russell was great from day one. In his first season (1956-57), Russell lead the league in rebounding and brought defense unlike the NBA had ever seen. Defensive stats like blocks and steals were not recorded at the time so one can only imagine what stats Bill might have had. He lead his team to 12 finals, winning 11 of them in his 13 year career. Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain came on strong not long after Russell. The three players won 10 of the 11 MVP awards from 1957-1968. In the 60's, Oscar and Wilt had some of the best statisticals season of all time (LINK), including being the only player to average a triple double (Oscar while also averaging 30+ PPG) and averaging 50.4 PPG (Wilt).

The 70's had Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who won six MVP awards, and (eventually) six rings, ten finals appearances, and the all time leader in total points. Moses Malone's prime started mid-70s and ended mid-80s. He is perhaps the most forgotten about great. Moses won three MVP awards but only ended up winning one championship in two appearances. Moses often lead the league in rebounding while also being a good scorer and defender.

The 80's were dominated by the entertaining players Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. Between 1983-1990, Magic and Bird won six of the seven MVPs (Three each) (Michael Jordan winning one in 1988). And between 1980-1989, the finals always had at least one of the two teams lead by Magic or Larry.

Michael Jordan was one of the best players in the NBA since the late 1980s. And in the 90's, he won six rings, had six finals appearances, and ended up with five MVP awards. Jordan also broke some of Wilt Chamberlain's scoring records like total scoring titles (10) and highest career PPG average (30.12). Hakeem Olajuwon capitalized on Michael's year and a half retirement, having his best two seasons, making the finals his only two times, and winning both of them.

Shaquille O'neal and Tim Duncan dominated the early 2000's. From 1999-2005, either Duncan lead or Shaq lead teams were in the finals all seven times and they won six of them. O'neal ended up with only one MVP, four championships, three finals MVP awards, and six finals appearances. Duncan ended with two MVPs, five championships, and six finals. Once Shaq and Duncan weren't so dominate, Kobe Bryant had some of his best seasons and LeBron James was taking the NBA by storm. Kobe ended up with one MVP award, five championships, two finals MVP awards, and seven appearances.

LeBron James, to me, looks a lot like Oscar Robertson but without Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain competing against him. LeBron James every season finishes in the top 5 of PPG. In fact, finished in the top four in PPG from 2005-2016 (LINK) (Last year he broke that streak when he finished 5th in PPG). Like Oscar Robertson, scoring isn't the only thing he does well. LeBron rebounds well, has good passing and court vision, a good basketball IQ, and plays great defense. James has won four MVP awards, three championships, three finals MVP awards, and seven final appearances so far.





(LINK) - "LeBron has been the best player in the best player in the league since 2007 not even close" "You can make an argument Kobe Bryant was never the best player in the league."


(LINK) - A great article on Bleacher Report:

"Ranking the 10 Greatest Individual Seasons in NBA History"

"1. Shaquille O'neal (1999-2000)

2. Wilt Chamberlain (1966-1967)

3. Michael Jordan (1990-91)
4. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1970-71)

5. Tim Duncan (2002-2003)

6. Hakeem Olajuwon (1993-94)

7. LeBron James (2011-12)

8.Wilt Chamberlain (1961-62)

9. Magic Johnson (1986-87)

10. Michael Jordan (1987-88)

Honorable Mentions

Larry Bird 1985-86

Lebron James 2008-09

Oscar Robertson 1961-62"