I'm amused and he is a sick talent but don't reward him for acting like a punk and making his team worse so he could go out and become the biggest gunner in history

if your team sucks be bernard king but if your team is good don't ruin it so you can then go out and be bernard king - know what i mean?

I dont see how Lebron doesnt get it this year. He really makes his team way better that what kobe does for LA.

I'm a cavs fan, and I hate to say this, but Kobe is MVP. I agree with Keith, he made his team worse by wanting to be the man, but the voters won't take that in to consideration. He carried a sh*tty lakers team to the playoffs by himself, unfortunately by design. Best Basketball player on the planet, too bad he's an azzhole.

LeBron will win the award for the next 10 years anyway, Kobe can have one

Yeah, he sure torched the Suns last night. Good effort by him, getting to the foul line on a whim whenever he wanted because the refs called a horrible game. (And it certainly helped that the Suns were missing 4/5 of their starting lineup.) But that's okay, we want to face the Lakers in the first round anyway.

Kobe for MVP? He's the best player on that team without a question, and one of the best players in the league, but he's not indispensible. You could replace him with a healthy Tracy McGrady and the Lakers would probably be in a similar position going into the playoffs as a low-end seed. It's not necessarily that he does anything particularly special -- he just has more opportunities (to the tune of 30+ shots a game) to show off his talent.

My vote's to Lebron. As much as I love Nash, his defense -- although improved -- is still horrific, and he was torched by a series of PGs (Billups, Kidd, Davis) in a row toward the end of the season, which is going to kill his chance of a repeat. Lebron has taken his play to a new level this season to offset the absence of Hughes, and the kid is still ridiculously young to be doing it.

It's really close for MVP bewteen Kobe and LeBron. If either of the two won the award, I would be happy. I would personally vote for Kobe for MVP since he's a much better defensive player.

My top 5 for MVP would be:
1. Kobe
2. LeBron
3. Wade
4. Nash
5. Nowitzki

FYP

I would vote Kobe, Nowitzki, Lebron.

The true MVP is Elton Brand. The guy has been the rock the Clippers have leaned on all season to be where they are, a team to be dealt with in the playoffs. Something they have not been for long time.

Kobe's rebounds and assists are down from previous years... ballhogs shouldn't get MVP. LeBron is improved, but up until the last few weeks he was about the weakest 4th quarter preformer in the league. He might be over that hump now, but for body of work for the entire season Nash and Brand should be the top 2 names for MVP.

No way. It's Nash all the way...

He won it last year, and generally speaking, his numbers are better this year.

MVP does not always equal best player or best scorer. I think you need to take into account the record of their team and who they have around them. I can't say that Kobe is the MVP on a team that barely made the playoffs.

In my mind names like Nash, Dirk, Duncan, Lebron and Billups come to mind before any others.

I like Kobe, but just because you can score basically score at will, doesn't make you the MVP...it just makes you the scoring champ

Man the mvp vote is so tough this year. Serriously if I had to choose I think i would have to go with Kobe, espessially with the way the lakers have been playing this past couple weeks. I called nash getting it last year midway through the season, but i dont think he deserves it this year. People fail to realize how good of a season shawn marion has had this year and i believe he too has much of an impact on the team as nash does. Nash has no defensive talent either so he loses points for that too. With that said I can't really give the mvp to b-b-billups cause all those players on the team are too important. Personally it would have to be between kobe and lebron, either one of them win it i wouldnt be disapointed.

I don't know who is the MVP of the entire year.....but for the second half of the year, it's been Ron Artest. Laugh if you want...but Sacrament was dead before he got there, and now they are going to scare the Spurs in the 1st round, and I give them a 10% chance for the upset.

As for the entire year....I say Nash..but the Suns have been struggling a little bit recently.....so that might push Kobe or Lebron ahead.

Here is my Top 5.

1. Nash
2. Kobe
3. Nowitzki
4. Lebron.
5. Brand

We all know the real MVP of the league is Gilbert Arenas. Especially now that we know he plays online poker at halftime to stay sharp.

KK, have you forgotten about Billups? I don't really like the guy, but him and Nash are definitely the co-front runners for MVP, followed by Kobe, Lebron, and Nowitzki. I think they'll give it to Billups this year because Nash got it the season before. Similar to Nash beating Shaq out last year because Shaq had been MVP before and no one thought Nash could duplicate his amazing season, so why not give it to the Canadian Kid.
And btw, Suns had best record in the league last year, Pistons this year. Who is the leader of each team? I see a trend for this MVP thingy.

I like Billups, but he really isnt a MVP candidate. The list this year is really shorter than a lot of people realize (the list is always short). Sure a lot of guys are having great years and some are very important to their teams success, but the MVP award goes way farther than that.

I'm just picking on Billups, but someone asked just above and I've heard this discussed alot. Here's how I guage the MVP:

If you were given the chance to start a team that would exist only for one year and you had a choice of any player in the league for your foundation (judging solely on last season), who would you take?

When you think about it, that pretty much sums it up. I want a player thats a beast. Someone who's dominant on offense and defense. He rebounds, scores, shuts people down, teammates feed off him. He's basically all over the place and unstoppable. He's the leader of the team and refuses to lose. No matter who you have on you team, this guy won't let you lose. In the case you actually have talent on the team, this will be guy your team looks for to carry the them in crunch time. He can win with anyone whether it be guys from the local YMCA or the biggest group of head cases (so guys who didnt lead their teams to the playoffs are automatically out). He's going to have to be pratically indestructable, impervious to injury, and play major minutes (I cant win if he's not playing). Believe me, this guy would be VALUABLE. This player can do it ALL.

When you look at it in those terms, very few people fit the bill. I can think of 5 players I would easily take over Billups just off the top of my head. Therefore no MVP for him (and a lot of other guys as well).

I do like your definition of MVP much better, but the fact is this isn't what the NBA used to pick their MVP. All I'm saying is that even though Billups doesn't have nearly the talent of the other guys you're talking about, he still has a good shot to be elected MVP of the NBA because of how the voting works.

The difference here is that the Suns absolutely sucked the year before and missed the playoffs. They went from missing the playoffs to the best record in the L, which is incredibly remarkable. I can't really see Billups winning it, not to say he is undeserving, I think he is, but there are many other players who are probably more so.

Personally, I'm going with Steve Nash. A little hometown bias, but he simply makes that team go and without him, I don't think Phoenix is a playoff team. With him, they're one of the best teams in the L. He's made like 7 guys on that team have career years because of his presence(D'Antoni's coaching style too), he makes everybody on that team better and that's what the MVP award is supposed to be about.

My next pick would be Lebron, he's had an amazing yr and surprisingly hasn't received crazy press, probably because he plays in Cleveland. There's no way that team makes the playoffs without him and he's helped turn them into a good team pretty much single handedly.

a team that has a starting point guard named "Smush" shouldn't make the playoffs.

Die.

I think Kobe deserves the MVP. I understand that he is selfish and shoots too much and doesn't make his team better. The issue is that Phil Jackson asks him to be selfish.

Why do you ask?

Well, have you watched the Lakers when Kobe does share the ball? Nobody can make a shot. It's really embarrassing to watch sometimes.

There really isn't a question that Kobe is the best player in the NBA. And by "best" I mean he's the guy that you would pick to be on your team if you were playing pickup and you could choose from all NBA players. He is the guy with the most determination and with a better killer instinct than I have ever seen in any NBA player.

The MVP is between Nash and Kobe. Please don't bring Lebron or Dirk in the picture. Kobe is a much better player than either. Nash is a different type of player.

It comes down to what your definition of MVP is. A guy who makes his team better, or a guy that can dominate anybody.

My vote goes to Kobe.

Uhh... what?

LeBron is pretty much the same player as Kobe but less selfish (and less clutch) and has his team in a better spot playoff wise, even more impressive when his backcourt mate was injured all year. Dirk lead the Mavericks once again in pretty much everything to one of thier best seasons ever after losing Nash and their 2nd leading scorer Finley. The lineup in Dallas keeps changing, and his preformace keeps that team moving forward.

Sorry, there are a lot of players you could put on the Lakers, have them take the number of shots Kobe does and have them put up 35 a game, they probably would do it with better rebounds and assists too. He didn't do anything special this year other than put up a bunch of points. Can you blame his teammates for missing shots? They only get to shoot once a quarter if they are lucky, kind of hard to stay warm when your not getting shots.

Without Cassel Brand is the same guy he has always been.

Kobe is a better player than Dirk......but I'm not so sure about Lebron. He's a better pure scorer....but I don't think he's NEAR as good of a passer (Lebron has more assists AND less turnovers) or rebounder (Lebron has more boards).....and I really don't know about defense quite frankly.....Kobe has more steals..Lebron has more blocks.....just because Kobe scores a ton of points every game because he doesn't have much help doesn't automatically make him a better player than Lebron, who at least somewhat works with his teammates on the offensive side of the ball...at the expense of his numbers perhaps. As an overall basketball player, I'd give the nod to Lebron.

And don't bring up the rings Kobe has with Shaq....I could be the second option to Shaq in his prime and take home three rings. (of course..not really...but you get the idea. Lebron would do the exact same thing...and perhaps not be so selfish and drive Shaq away and maybe get even more than three rings??)

I think Brand did improve this season, but I agree. Sam Cassell, as much as I've never really liked the guy, was the perfect fit for this team at PG and gave them a kind of swagger they didn't have with Jaric at the 1 spot.

I hate Kobe, but even I can say that he deserves the MVP. What more could he have done this season? This Lakers team has no business being in the playoffs yet there they are.

Kobe kills it on defence compared to Lebron.

Still no idea who I'd pick for MVP though.

Without Kobe, the Lakers would absolutely stink. Without Lebron, the Cavs would absolutely stink. That being said, both teams have similar records, and are both losing first round of the playoffs. They may be the two best individual players in the league, but I'll give anyone even money that neither of them will be MVP. It's going to be Nash or Billups(teams with good records), with an outside shot of Nowitzki

I think when it's all said and done, Lebron will have one of the best careers of any NBA player ever. Personally, I think he can reach the level which Jordan has reached, as long as he can win some championships. He is the most physically gifted basketball player I've ever seen. Freakish athleticism and a high basketball IQ just usually don't go together, but it does with Lebron.

Once Lebron gets a consistent jumpshot, he will dominate in the NBA. That's the only chink in his armor right now, but it's already getting a lot better.

You mean he is one of the least recognised big men in the game.

Brands league rankings...

24.7 ppg (11th)
10.0 rpg (7th)
2.54 bpg (5th)
52.6 fg% (7th)

I call that a model of consistancy that most teams would love (except the Bulls) to be able to build a team around. Sure an experienced PG helps, they help any team. When was the last time the Clippers were favored to get out of the first round, something neither Lebron or Kobe's teams are likely to do?

Sure Kobe lead the league in scoring as is in the top 10 in steals, he is also 2nd in technical fouls and also had more turovers per game than steals, kind of negates his defensive value that people seem to love to harp on.

You are wrong...He is way better than most in the clutch. Getting a teammate an open shot by drawing a double team and dishing it is just as effective as taking the shot yourself. It's actually better than forcing up a shot over a double team.





Koop, I agree with you for the most part, but you have to look away from the numbers to compare Kobe and Lebron's defensive abilities. If you watch the games, Kobe is a far superior on the ball defender, meaning he alters more shots and is better at preventing his counterpart from scoring. I think that is the big difference between the two when it comes to defense.

Look at the cavs playoff game Lebron dominates in the first quarter scoring at will and then when they start trapping and double teaming he starts hitting the open man

Kobe would keep shooting

the above is me

That's because he has NO ONE to pass to. Did you see Donyell Marshall in the first playoff game. Please, let's not even pretend that the Cavs would be as bad as the Lakers without Kobe and Lebron, Kobe has carried a team in which he starts with 4 bench players on any other team (except for MAYBE Odom, on some teams).

Odum starts for most teams in the league except maybe the pistons and spurs, he is a nightmare matchup for any defender it's just they (meaning Kobe) never gives him the ball.

Kobe certainly had an MVP-esque outing tonight. The Lakers didn't do anything without him. And he completely dominated the same Raja Bell he dismissed as being unimportant a couple months ago.

...Oh, wait.

point taken although i really think Kobe defangs odom with his game - if odom gets to handle the ball he's an all star

Funny how when all the Lakers startes get in double digits they have thier best game agaisnt the Suns.

I would be fine with Lebron getting MVP, but I really think Kobe should get it. Everyone's definition of MVP differs, which makes the award sort of a crapshoot (Nash should NOT have won it last year, he cannot play defense at all, like you have said). I disagree with you, however about Kobe not being indispensible. He is by far the most indispensable player in the league. If you replace him with an average player at his position, Lakers win less than 20 games. Really, their team is not good. Replacing T-Mac with him is kind of meaningless, since you're putting in a star for another star, although I think Lakers barely miss playoffs in this scenario, because T-Mac doesn't play D like Kobe. But replace Kobe with an average shooting guard and they give the Knicks a run for their money for the number one pick.
By the way, using the same logic for Lebron, I really don't mind Lebron for MVP. His team is really, really bad if you replace Lebron with an average small forward as well. The same cannot be said for other MVP candidates. Pistons still win their division if Chauncey is replaced, Mavericks are still a solid team if Dirk is replaced, same for Heat and Wade. Suns probably take a bid drop without Nash, but I still can't give the award to someone that is so bad at defense.

Without Nash, and even with a healthy Stoudemire, the Suns miss the playoffs this year. And I still wouldn't give him the MVP. There are too many other solid condidates, and his defense compared to theirs cripples his grip on the award this season.

The Lakers are not a good team, but they're also not as horrible as they're made out to be, particularly with the progression Kwame Brown has made this year -- a situation only created because of Mihm's injury. Odom, Walton and Mihm are solid, and Parker would make a great complimentary player, just not a good starting PG.

Being by far the best player on a horrible team shouldn't be enough to win the MVP. If it was, Kevin Garnett would have won last year and could win again this year despite them not making the playoffs.

For the record, I think Nash deserved the MVP last season. It's not like Shaq plays much defense either, he just exists. And his existence in the middle of the paint warrants him a couple blocks and changed shots every game.

No way. I told all y'all it's going to be Nash.

Check this article:
http://www.tsn.ca/nba/news_story/?ID=163920&hubname=



If he was good enough to win last year, he's pretty much got to win this year given his career best season!

That's saying that what everybody else does doesn't matter. There are a lot more worthy candidates this year. And he really wasn't good enough to win last year because of the whole no defense thing.

Yeah! Saw that article this morning too!

I agree that there are many good candidates this year, although I think Kobe and Lebron are most worthy (after Nash).

I was even surprised they gave it to him last year, so twice in a row would really REALLY surprise me. Still, there is no doubt he's deserving. He makes that team click.

He might be weak on D, but the suns don't play D anyway!

I hope he gets it now, otherwise that article is quite the tease.

Lol to whoever said the Lakers would win 20 without Kobe and he means much more to his team than Lebron. Without James, the Cavs win 16 games. First game of the series vs the Wizards he absolutely dominates, and I admit the Cavs did pretty much blow the Wizards out. Second game he comes back to earth with 10 tos and Wiz prevail to even the series. The Lakers have a pretty darn good player in Lamar Odom, as well as a solid bench, and some ok players in Smush and Devean George, plus they have a MUCH better coach in Phil Jackson. They would probably win 27 games without Kobe, yes exactly 27. It would be nice if we knew the respective teams' plus/minus without their superstars. But we all know Lebron is more important to his team(especially since he gets mad assists) than Kobe is to the Lakers. Kobe will not get the MVP this year unless the Lakers can somehow magically beat the Suns.

Well I disagree. I think Lebron has more help in Cleveland than Kobe has in LA (although I definately agree that Kobe has the better coach).

Sure Kobe has Odom, but Lebron does have Ilgauskas who is probably the 5th best center in the league. If you look at Ilgauskas stats they're practically a wash with Odom. I would actually rate Ilgauskas as being more important since he plays center and is only really outmatched by 3 other centerss in the league (Shaq, Yao, and Wallace).

The big difference is in the rest of the team. Here's how they compare

Lakers
Smush Parker
Kwame
Walton
Cook
George
Vujacic
Mihm (injured)

Cavs
Hughes (who was injured)
Gooden
Marshall
Jones
Snow
Varejao
Murray (acquired in trade)

Neither group looks great, but I like the Cavs group a lot better, and in general the Cavs group has better career numbers. The Lakers group are all bench guys at best, and Walton is really the only guy I would want.

It's still hard to evaluate those players because they are left open all game long. Kobe demands double teams and Odom has to be covered. The same applies to Lebron and Big Z. This makes it real hard to evaluate a guy like Smush Parker. I still dont think he's that good. There's a reason he's on his 4th team in 3 years.

And when comapring the Lakers to the Cavs, you have to take into account that the Lakers played in a tougher conference. In the East, the Bucks made the playoffs despite being below .500 and the Pacers and Bulls each had exactly a .500 record. The 8th seed in the West had a better record than the bottom 4 seeds in the East. Thats significant.

I would not assume that if roles were reversed, Lebron could lead the Lakers to the playoffs in the West, but I think Kobe would still lead the Cavs to the playoffs in the East.

Nash over Kobe for MVP? What a joke
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DIME Magazine / Dime Magazine
Posted: 26 minutes ago

I stole this from Fox Sports. Couldn't have said it any better.


Word leaked Wednesday morning that Steve Nash will be named this year's MVP. While it won't be officially announced for some time, it looks like it's a done deal. And we think it's absurd.


The fact that Steve Nash is going to win the award isn't the problem. The problem is that Kobe Bryant didn't. Honestly, what more could Kobe have done this season to win the MVP? It's a joke. And what makes the whole thing even more outrageous is that his losing out is clearly personal. To be blunt, he didn't win it because the people with the votes just don't like him. And that's a shame.
Heading into this season, if someone asked you to make a list of what Kobe would have to do in the 2005-06 NBA season to win the MVP, what would you have said? Something like that Kobe would have to show that he's the best player in the NBA and he would have to take that god-awful Lakers team to the playoffs — not an easy thing to do in the Western Conference.

So what did Kobe do? Here are three numbers: 81, 62 and 35.4. The 81-point explosion against the Raptors in January completely eclipsed the fact that he gave the Mavericks 62 in just three quarters a few weeks prior. His 35.4 points per game, easily enough to secure him the league's scoring title, was the eighth-highest single-season scoring average in league history and the most since MJ put up 37.1 points per game back in '87. No. 8 put together two separate streaks this season where he scored 40 or more points in four straight games.

Let's be blunt: Kobe Bryant is clearly the best basketball player in the world.

We've said it so many times: Steve Nash's supporting cast includes Shawn Marion (a guy who should have received some MVP attention) and Boris Diaw (potentially the NBA's Most Improved Player).

But if you substituted any other elite NBA shooting guard for Kobe Bryant and kept that same Lakers supporting cast, L.A.'s season would have been very, very different. Is there any doubt that Los Angeles would have finished with a record that was just as abysmal as that of the Knicks, Raptors or Trail Blazers?

Kobe didn't barely get the Lakers to the playoffs, just scraping out the eighth seed. They finished seventh, were firmly entrenched in the playoff picture for much of the year, and their 45-game win total in the West was more than all but four teams in the Eastern Conference. With complimentary pieces like Chris Mihm, Devean George, Brian Cook and Sasha Vujacic surrounding Kobe, 45 wins in the Western Conference is nothing short of a miracle.

So why no love for Kobe? Like we said earlier, it's strictly personal. There's no other explanation. The writers with the votes just don't like him. They're blurring their feelings about Kobe as a person with how they view him as a basketball player.

We've been hearing all year that Kobe shouldn't win the MVP because he "doesn't make the players around him better." We don't necessarily agree, but if that's what we're basing this on, then by all means, give Steve Nash the "Makes Those Around Him Better Award" and be done with it.

Kobe perfectly fits the two criteria that voters traditionally use when deciding on an MVP: he's the best player in the league and he's invaluable to his team.

Kobe Bryant is the NBA's Most Valuable Player.

It's not even close.

First Duncan over Kidd in 2002, then Nash over Shaq last year, and now this. The NBA MVP award is starting to become a joke to me.

People keep arguing that Nash won it last year ans he's playing better this year, but they fail to realize that last year was a really weak year in the MVP race. James and Wade were only in their second year and Kobe had an off year (mostly by his own actions). All three of those players have made huge improvements this year. I still think Shaq should've had it last year, but it was close.

I was watching the game tonight and they posted all the back-to-back MVP winners. I'm not ready to put Nash in that class of players.

Yea, cause under his leadership 7 players on that team had career years this year and his numbers are up from last year. He is a horrible choice

The MVP is not for the best player in the league. Kobe loses Shaq, they miss the playoffs. Suns lose Amare and they win the division, see the difference.

Being the best player on the 7th best team in the conference doesn't make you the MVP.

Apparently the people who voted disagree.

Jadaki is owning in this thread. Well done.

Nash is the MVP..and he should be. Kobe is the better SCORER. That is it. That's like giving the MVP in baseball just to the person who has the most RBI. Doesn't work that way.

Bah! Who gives a crap about regular season hardware anyway. The Suns can take home MVP. Last year all of their awards and 50 cents got them a coke at the end of the day. This year isn't looking much better.

--RuffRidr

That's a lot more than 28 other teams in the NBA got.

If success were based solely on winning a championship every year, Avery Johnson wouldn't have won Coach of the Year because he would already have been fired.