re: How did Lebron not finish as an MVP finalist?

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Considering that was the factual case, it's essentially the only logical conclusion considering who votes on these awards

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The word logical does not mean what you appear to think it means, then. I'll use non-actual numbers, because the exact total of voters is somewhat incidental to the effect being described.

Player A gets 250 out of 250 possible votes for 1st Team All NBA.

Player B gets 249 of 250 possible votes for 1st Team All NBA

When someone misses a unanimous All-NBA pick by a single vote, it is indicative of a single voter saying 'Nope'-- not that the 249 people who agree that both were 1st Team All NBA value player A over player B automatically.

There has been pretty extensive monitoring of the people who do vote for MVP; its pretty well determined that Westbrook will win the MVP, not unanimously, but reasonably decisively.

Think of it this way; that petty sportswriter who leaves a candidate from another region off of his Heisman ballot isn't going to keep them from winning the Heisman trophy, if every other voter has them in an appropriate place.