2008 NBA MVP Opinion

[Qbins Missile Crisis]

April 16th 2008 - Two Valuable

It will be settled by a vote of 125 media types in the States and in Canada, but how they will decide is the league's MVP is the tougher questio...

...because there are two perfect choices.

The Case for Kobe

Perhaps the most incredible thing about Kobe Bryant's NBA career, considering that overall he's been the best player in the NBA for about a decade now is, he's never won the Most Valuable Player Award.

This year there should be no denying him because while, once again, he was the league's best player during the regular season, he was also the most instrumental in getting the Lakers to change from a good to a great team while playing in the toughest conference in professional sports.

They won the West despite going into the season as a long-shot pick to even get to the post-season. The Los Angles summer was a circus after Bryant demanded to be traded and it was expected to become a season long distraction. Instead, team owner Jerry Buss refused to move him and forgoing any sulking, Bryant decided to shock everyone by playing team ball.

Averaging more than 28 points, he could also be counted on to take in nearly 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals a game. Sharing the ball with his teammates resulted in a jump from two games over .500 the previous season to 31 over for this one. Individually, while he had the ball he remained virtually impossible to stop anywhere from 30 ft in and he was also the leagues top defender when he did not.

Besides his great play, he also demonstrated leadership when he was forced to carry his team not once but twice. First when the Lakers lost center Andrew Bynum, who missed the last 45 games of the season with a knee injury. Then when trading deadline acquisition Pau Gasol went down, right at crunch time, resulting in his missing nine of the final games due to a sprained ankle.

Kobe on the other hand, or rather using the other hand, managed to play 81% of the time in all 81 of the Lakers' games despite suffering a torn ligament in his finger that will require surgery in the off-season.

As a person, Kobe is far from perfect, as demonstrated by his off-season hissy fit and the disrespect he showed Buss - who has only paid him close to $200-million to bounce a ball.

However, in 2007-08, it is almost impossible to argue that anybody did it better.

Unless you can make...

The Case for Chris

Despite all the histrionics in LA, going in the Lakers were at least considered long shots. Conversely, the New Orleans Hornets were considered by most everyone as no-shots.

Instead, they confounded everyone by winning the West's Southwest division and falling just behind the Lakers for the Conference title.

Mostly because of their third-year point guard, and MVP candidate, Chris Paul.

Showing the greatest overall improvement in the league, (behind Boston who added not one but two superstars and play in the depleted east), the Hornets remarkable transformation was due to Paul's ball handling, high percentage scoring, low turnover ratio and his ability to make a team of underperformers play not just well, but amazing.

While scoring 21.1 points per game, he led the league in both assists (11.6) and steals (2.7), and turned perennial disappointments David West and Tyson Chandler into double-digit a night players.

Don't forget, these are Hornets we're talking about. The season before Paul arrived they won only 19 games. This season, they were just about the best in the West in the most competitive year ever for that Conference.

So - who will it be? Kobe, who elevated a struggling team to the top? Or Paul, who took a team from the perennial basement to the Promised Land?

If this award was decided by who was the best player in the league, this would have been Kobe's what, 10th trophy?

However it's not. It's who is Most Valuable to his team.

And if that's the case, hands down, it's Paul's to lose.

Cheers - Gavin McDougald - AKA Couch

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