The most disappointing MVP candidates and former MVPs

BySTEVE ILARDI AND JEREMIAS ENGELMANN
February 4, 2016, 6:00 PM

— -- Only eight active players have ever been named league MVP: LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki and Kevin Garnett.

It's an elite group. And Anthony Davis, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook were named as the top preseason favorites to join them in the MVP club.

But not all of these superstars have lived up to our lofty expectations.

Disappointing MVP candidates

The scoring matador: James Harden

Harden, who won the MVP vote among his fellow players last season over Curry, carried the Rockets all the way to the 2015 Western Conference finals.

But while Curry worked over the offseason to elevate his game to giddy new heights of greatness, the Bearded One opted instead to hang out with the Kardashians, and reportedly showed up at training camp in less than optimal condition.

The results have been uninspiring. Harden's Rockets have faltered to a 21-20 start, costing coach Kevin McHale his job in the process.

That's not all on Harden, of course, but it doesn't help that he's shooting only 32.7 percent from 3-point range, a career low. Likewise, he has logged a career-worst turnover rate -- one-sixth (16.5 percent) of his plays end in a turnover -- stopping too many possessions for the Rockets.

What's worse, his defensive effort has resembled that of two seasons ago, when he generated viral YouTube videos with his matador D.

Harden remains an elite player, with a real plus-minus (RPM) of 4.33. That puts him among the league's top 20 players. But among that group, no one else approaches Harden's dismal Defensive RPM impact of -1.66.

Nothing easy in New Orleans: Anthony Davis

Anointed as a preseason MVP favorite by NBA pundits and Vegas oddsmakers alike, Davis entered the 2015-16 campaign with stratospheric expectations. His team, too, was supposed to make a big move toward the upper crust.

But it is looking as if it's a lost season for Davis and the Pelicans.

In 2014-15, his age-21 season, Davis was named first-team All-NBA. Instead of taking the predictable next steps up the ladder, The Brow has stumbled. Last season's jaw-dropping 8.18 RPM -- which put him fourth in the league, behind only Curry, James and Harden -- has sunk to a more pedestrian 2.99, ranking 37th on the RPM leaderboard.

And the Pelicans have been downright awful, owning the NBA's sixth-worst record at 13-26.

New coach Alvin Gentry was brought in to remake the offense around Davis' vast talents. But much of AD's slippage has come on the offensive end.

He's posting career lows in field-goal percentage, effective FG percentage, true shooting percentage and offensive rebounding. In part those stats are evidence of Davis' growing pains as he develops his all-around skills. Taking almost two 3-pointers a game might be good for Davis' long-term development, but it has been deleterious in the here and now.

And his other perimeter skills, while formidable for a big man, have yet to come into full focus. Compared to last season, Davis' turnover rate has skyrocketed and his assist rate has plummeted.

The Pelicans have dealt with myriad early injuries and failed to give Davis much support. But when a superstar's fourth season resembles his rookie season statistically, that's a disappointment.

Disappointing former MVPs

The long goodbye: Kobe Bryant

Bryant has announced his impending retirement, a de facto admission he can no longer play up to his own standards of greatness. And as he takes his farewell tour around the league, we're not here to rain on the well-deserved parade.

Indeed, the Mamba's decline this season has already been well-documented, so we'll add only one more item to the mix. The NBA legend currently sports an RPM of -3.19, putting him in the bottom 10 percent in the league among rotation players.

For perspective, Kobe' RPM is now below replacement level -- the level of play we might expect from a D-League call-up.

If the Lakers' not-so-sneaky plan this season is to keep fans engaged while still losing a massive number of games to retain their top-3-protected draft pick, then playing the ineffective-but-still-entertaining Bryant 30 minutes per game is a brilliant strategy.

The sad decline: Derrick Rose

Rose won the MVP award in 2011, outpacing James, Bryant and Dwight Howard in the voting. Since then, Rose has suffered countless injuries, as Chicago Bulls fans know all too well. Unfortunately, Rose's physical decline has turned the high-flying point guard just another player, even if he's still Chicago's starting PG.

When Rose sits, the Bulls outscore opponents this season by about five points per 100 possessions. When he plays, the Bulls are easily outscored. And RPM rates him as the fourth-worst player in the NBA, with an RPM impact of -5.5.

Rose is now in his third straight season of abysmal shooting: 24.4 percent on 3-pointers and 40.0 overall. He also has seen notable drops this year in rebound rate, assist rate, steal rate and usage rate.

While his offensive decline is obvious, his defense has been even worse. His defensive RPM, at -3.41, is fourth-worst in the league among starters. (Only Kobe, Brandon Knight and Andrew Wiggins have fared worse.)

Sad to say, we agree with Bradford Doolittle's recent assessment: the Bulls have a Derrick Rose problem.

Just flashes of brilliance: Dwyane Wade

While Wade has never won a regular-season MVP award, he was the 2006 NBA Finals MVP and Sports Illustrated's "Sportsman of the Year".

Nearly 34 years old and playing in his 13th NBA season, Wade is Flash no longer. Following multiple knee surgeries, he can no longer create easy separation with superior athleticism. His shooting numbers reflect the change.

D-Wade is registering career lows from the field, with a true shooting percentage (51.2) well below league average. In part, that's because his ability to draw shooting fouls has declined, as well.

Numerous athletic markers -- block rate, steal rate, free throw rate -- are all precipitously below Wade's career average.

The Heat are known for their defense, but they've actually been much better on that end when the aging 2-guard sits. In fact, Wade's -1.66 Defensive RPM rates below replacement level.

It all adds up to a surprisingly average overall RPM for Wade of -0.13. That's an acceptable impact for a rotation player, but it's far from the D-Wade we're used to.