2018-19 NBA MVP Prediction
On Monday morning Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman both predicted, on their show First Take, who is going to win the 2018-19 NBA Most Valuable Player of the Year award. I don't know how much thought that both Smith and Kellerman had to put into to think of who was going to win MVP next year but they both had answers when the host of the show First Take Molly Qeirm asked both of them that question.
Stephen A. Smith predicted Kyrie Irving would win the MVP award next year while Max Kellerman predicted Anthony Davis would win the MVP award next year. So after I listened to that segment on the show I thought to myself who do I think will win the MVP award next year. After a little bit of thinking I decided that the player that I think will win MVP next year is the center for the Minnesota Timberwolves, Karl-Anthony Towns. The last time a center won the NBA's most valuable player of the year award was in the 1999-2000 NBA season when Shaquille O'Neal won the award as a player for the Los Angeles Lakers. In the past when the NBA first started there was a lot of centers that won the award. But in today's age there seems to be a lot of small forwards, point guards and shooting guards winning the award.
Also, Stephen A. and Max both agreed that in a couple years that Anthony Davis will be the best player in basketball. As of right now, statistically, Davis is better than Towns but I think Towns will have a monster year next season and the Timberwolves will be ranked higher than eighth once the regular season ends next year. What I like about Towns a lot is that this man does not miss games meaning he does not get injured. In his first three seasons in the league he has not missed a game and has started every game for the Timberwolves in the last three years including the 2018 NBA postseason. In his first two seasons with the Timberwolves Towns didn't really know how to play with other good NBA players because he was not playing with many good players except for Andrew Wiggins but both Wiggins and Towns were just getting used to playing at the NBA level.
In Towns' rookie season in 2015-16 Towns was playing with Ricky Rubio and Kevin Garnett. And let me tell you that Garnett and Rubio were not effective and producing much that season. Everyone else on that roster was basically useless except for Andrew Wiggins. But this past season Towns was starting to play with other players that can play basketball and players that the media has heard of. The T-Wolves this season had Jimmy Butler, Jeff Teague, Jamal Crawford, Taj Gibson and a very good head coach in Tom Thibodeau. If Butler did not suffer an injury in his right ankle, on February 23rd against the Houston Rockets, the T-Wolves would have not had been in the eighth seed and would have had a higher seed once the regular season had ended. Butler is a big play maker on the team and will only continue to be a better player on this team. Besides Towns, I was even thinking if Jimmy Butler could win MVP next year. There is a chance no doubt about it. It's just that I think Towns has more to prove to the NBA and the T-Wolves of how much of a good player he is because he is still young unlike Jimmy Butler who we all know proved to the NBA that he is a dominant force when he was in Chicago.
As long as Towns continues to stay healthy I don't see how he could not be named MVP next season. Towns will probably play more minutes and each year is percentage of shooting three point shots has increased once he got in the league and I think his 42 percent three point shooting he had last season will go up next season as well. Towns also has become a better free throw shooter each year which is good and I think Towns will continue to rebound the ball good next year. Towns and the whole Timberwolves squad knows what their role is for next season. So, now that their whole team has had a year of experience playing with each other there is no excuse for them doing bad unless injuries happen a lot throughout the whole season. The T-Wolves record last year was 47-35 which is pretty impressive especially being 31-51 the year before. The T-Wolves have a lot to prove and next year is the year they will make a deep postseason run as Towns will be one of the leaders in charge. Towns knows he has the capability to be one of the best players in the league and I think he will be able to prove why he is the best to the whole league next year as I know and believed ever since he entered the league that he is one of the most dominant players in the league.