Who out of these media cats that have podcasts actually get a vote? I can tell you right now Jokic’s name hasn’t been brought up anymore than other candidates in podcasts, in proportion. Embiid has been the name I’ve heard the most throughout the season. Giannis, CP3 and DeRozan have been other names that were in rotation too.
All you’re doing is associating who you think make podcasts (‘geeky white stat guys’) with analytics, and putting two and two together and thinking they all have been campaigning for Jokic, who you believe is the face of analytics. Which is ridiculous in its own right because if you actually listened to podcasts you’d know there isn’t a consensus, as there’s been a handful of names thrown out there for all different types of reasons, not all related to stats. It’s even more ridiculous how you’ve constantly been trying to undervalue Jokic for years now because of all these random ass analytics that paint him in a good light (that aren’t afforded to other players in relation) when he literally has the best box score stats out of all the candidates, that casuals like yourself use as the definitive scale.
Give me some names of voters who’ve been loud about his case for MVP, who also haven’t argued cases for other candidates depending on what narrative takes their fancy from week-to/week.
In this context, the better record thing is inconsequential. Giannis/Bucks and Embiid/76ers have both won 46 games, and Jokic/Nuggets have won 43 games. The difference is minimal, and it actually favors Jokic given the fact he’s had considerably less help in carrying his team to a similar amount of wins. Both the Bucks and 76ers are literally a few wins from dropping to the bottom half of the playoff seeding; the Nuggets are literally a few wins from rising to the top half of the playoff seeding.
If wins truly mattered in the manner you’re holding then to, then you should be arguing for a player on the Suns or Memphis.
You’ve been trying to force this Giannis shyt every step of the season, even when other players were on teams with substantially better records (that you’re now conveniently using against Jokic) and even when the Bucks were languishing just above the play-in teams. The Bucks haven’t been a dominant team this season, at all; you have Jrue who’s having an All-NBA caliber season, and Khris who’s averaging 20+ ppg. Giannis has two guys that he has had help in carrying the load this season, and yet the Bucks have the same/similar record to Embiid’s and Jokic’s respective teams, who have had considerably less help, and you seem to think Giannis should be “running away with the vote”?
Make it make sense.
Having the league’s crown doesn’t give him any greater weight in the MVP race because whatever achievements won last season has never been something that has always been used in one’s narrative, nor should it be the expectation it has any great relevance either.
The Nuggets are the 6th seed and have won three fewer games than the Bucks. Don’t short change Jokic and make out he’s on a team with a considerably weaker record.
It was less Giannis’ playoff failure as a reason why he wasn’t considered as the MVP last season, and more to do with the fact the Bucks had the best record in the entire league in 2020, and then the following season fell to the 7th-best record in the league in 2021. That in combination with voter fatigue had more influence than whatever you think his ‘playoff failure’ did.
Harden won the MVP in 2018 even after utterly embarrassing himself in the playoffs the previous season - who can forget the old ass Spurs blowing out the Rockets in their own building, all without Kawhi in the close out game. Harden was getting dragged everywhere following that series loss. But everybody forgot about that shyt the following season when it came to awarding him the MVP.
