Phoenix Suns: Should Chris Paul be getting more NBA MVP love?
Should Chris Paul be garnering NBA MVP love for the rising Phoenix Suns?
The Phoenix Suns might not be a popular pick to come of the Western Conference this season, but you can’t but consider this team as a dark horse contender at this point. The addition of Chris Paul has catapulted the Suns from a non-playoff team a year ago to a top 3 team in the West.
Currently, at 28-13, the Suns have the second-best record in the West and are just 2.5 games back of the conference-leading Utah Jazz. However, despite their impressive pace, the Suns aren’t getting much notoriety from the national media.
If they continue to win on at their current pace, it’ll be impossible not to give the Suns their proper recognition as a potential threat to win the West in the playoffs. Though, aside from being a dark horse contender in the postseason, you can make a case for Paul to be a bigger MVP candidate than he currently is.
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Paul is averaging 16 points, nine assists, and five rebounds per game on 48 percent shooting from the field and 38 percent shooting from 3-point range. His impact goes well beyond the counting stats, however.
He’s helped to bring valuable veteran experience and guidance to an otherwise exciting young team and has become a mentor for rising star Devin Booker. Last season, the Suns weren’t even a playoff team. This season, with Paul, the Suns will have a chance to finish the regular season with the best record in the Western Conference (and possibly the league as a whole).
With the likes of Joel Embiid and LeBron James fall out of the MVP race, it’ll be interesting to see if Paul could climb his way up the MVP rankings. He, in part, has the Suns playing at a high level – in a way that we haven’t seen since Steve Nash was at the height of his powers.
The Suns have a top 10 offense and a top 5 defense; nearly every advanced stat indicates that the Suns are going to be a real threat come playoff time. Even more so if Paul and Booker continue to play at such a high level.
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If Phoenix rises to the top of the West, it’s going to be hard to argue against Chris Paul for MVP.