After James Harden MVP snub, Daryl Morey says NBA might be better without awards

Russell Westbrook winning the MVP award over James Harden has Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey wondering whether the NBA should just eliminate awards.

Morey told The Crossover in a telephone interview that he has questions about the method of voting the league uses to name its award winners. Morey made his comments on Saturday but they weren't published by the website until Monday.

"I don't know if this is a good process," Morey told 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."

Westbrook, who averaged a triple-double this season for the Oklahoma City Thunder, had888 points in the MVP voting, while Harden had 753.

Morey's comments drew a sarcastic response from LA Clippers forward Blake Griffin on Twitter.

At issue for Morey is the reasoning presented to him in 2015 when Stephen Curry edged Harden for the MVP nod -- that the Warriors' record (67-15) was superior to the Rockets' mark (56-26).

If the same criteria were used this year, Harden should have won the award instead of Westbrook because the Rockets (55-27) won more than the Thunder (47-35) this season.

"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 told The Crossover.

Morey said that since "the criteria seems to be shifting away from winning," the Rockets' acquisition of Chris Paul this offseason "probably doesn't help anyone's chances on our team."

He added, "But we've moved on since the award isn't focused on winning anymore. Let's just win and not worry about it."