Rockets GM Daryl Morey suggests eliminating NBA postseason awards after James Harden’s MVP snub

Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey isn’t happy with the results of the 2017 NBA MVP award race that saw his player, James Harden, lose to Russell Westbrook. The award is voted for by 100 media members, and Westbrook received 69 first-place votes, while Harden only received 22.

Westbrook and Harden both had incredibly good seasons, but Harden’s came on a better team. That’s the root of Morey’s beef, and in an interview with Sports Illustrated, he even brought up eliminating the award altogether.

“The [awards] that are decided by players or executives or media,” Morey told SI, “they all have their strengths and weaknesses. I honestly don’t think there’s a good process.”

“You could argue for eliminating the awards altogether,” Morey said. “I don’t really see a good way to do it that doesn’t have major issues. I like clean answers. If there’s not going to be a set criteria and there’s going to be issues with how it’s structured, for me it might be better to not have it.”

The criteria of the award has never really been clear, but Morey seems to believe winning should be one of the most important aspects in picking an MVP.

The Rockets won eight more games than Westbrook’s Thunder last season, and though the two players’ numbers were comparable, Westbrook boasted an unprecedented triple-double. That mattered more to voters than the win-loss column this time around, and Morey doesn’t think that’s fair.

Morey has tweeted in the past about basketball losing its focus on winning:

“We thought James was the MVP but there were a bunch of very good, deserving candidates,” Morey said. Then he took a shot at Westbrook’s selection.

“I didn’t like how a different MVP criteria was used this year, compared to the last 55 years, to fit more of a marketing slogan. People thought a different criteria for selecting the MVP this year was the way to go.”

Morey also mentioned that the addition of Chris Paul likely won’t help Harden win next season’s award either. “Given that the criteria seems to be shifting away from winning, I would guess that [adding Paul] probably doesn’t help anyone’s chances on our team.”

Paul’s former teammate, Blake Griffin, was sparked by the piece, taking to Twitter to make fun of it.