Selecting the NBA Most Valuable Player was not without controversy last season, when Russell Westbrook of the Thunder took home the hardware.
Westbrook was a one-man wrecking crew for a team recovering from Kevin Durant's departure, and OKC won 47 games -- sparking debate about winning vs. individual performance. Rockets general manager Daryl Morey -- whose guy, James Harden, finished second -- says the process may be broken.
"I don't know if this is a good process," Morey told Sports Illustrated's The Crossover. "The ones that are decided by players or executives or media, 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. 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."
While Westbrook averaged a triple-double (for only second time; Oscar Robertson was the first in 1961-62), his resume vs. Harden's and Kawhi Leonard's was less impressive if wins were the deciding factor. Harden led Houston to 55 wins, and Leonard led the Spurs to 61 in the regular season. It's why Morey feels there's been a shift in criteria for voting.
"Given that the criteria seems to be shifting away from winning, I would guess that [adding Chris Paul] probably doesn't help anyone's chances on our team," Morey continued. "That said, I don't think anybody really cares [going forward]. James definitely cared and I think we all cared [about the 2017 MVP]. But we've moved on since the award isn't focused on winning any more. Let's just win and not worry about it."
