So we’re finally here. The MVP. The one that really matters. Since there’s a lot to talk about here, I’m gonna divide it in 3 parts.

 

 

1) Who WILL win it.

 

Kobe. Don’t even ask why - it’s a lifetime achievement award. He’s gonna receive it because of the (incorrect) perception that he was somehow slighted 2 years ago, so voters don’t feel bad they voted against him in previous years. Thing is, he didn’t deserve it 2 seasons ago either. I agree Nash shouldn’t have won it, but it wasn’t Kobe’s either. But I suppose the voters felt somehow weird to give the award to someone who was barely 21 years old. And YES, I am talking about Lebron James.

 

But this season ? He doesn’t have the best stats: Lebron (29.23) and Chris Paul (28.39) lead the league in PER while Kobe (24.31) is only 8th. His team doesn’t have the best record: the Celtics do and were 9 games better, and the Pistons are 2nd. And if you gonna deny Garnett cause he plays with Pierce and Ray Allen, then how can you give it to Kobe, who plays with Gasol and Odom ?

 

It’s been getting on my nerves how people always claim Kobe had a worse supporting cast than Lebron a couple of years ago, and that is just not true. Everybody seems to forget what Odom is capable of doing. Lakers fans label him as trash in an attempt to make Kobe look better, but Odom is anything but trash. He proved it recently by putting up monster stats and playing the role of glue guy perfectly. Lebron’s best role-player was Boobie Gibson. Nuff said.

 

And let’s not forget that Kobe has benefited from playing for the best coach alive. Phil Jackson is underrated at this moment. He’s one of the few coaches that can run a good offensive system while also improving the team’s defense. Most coaches, even really good ones, are only strong on offense or defense, but not both. Amongst examples: Larry Brown (defense), Rick Adelman (offense), Mike D’Antoni (offense), Jeff van Gundy (defense), Nellie (offense).

 

 

2) Who SHOULD win it

 

If we’re using the “best player on best team provided he doesn’t have a star filled supporting cast” criteria - the one that eliminates Garnett and should also eliminate Kobe - then the obvious choice is Chris Paul. He is the one and only undisputed superstar of his team. David West may have made the All Star Game, but had he not played with Chris Paul, nobody would know his name now.

 

If the award was given strictly for this season, making complete abstraction of the previous seasons, there is no way Chris Paul doesn’t win it. And had the voters been able to see how he dismantled the Mavs in the first 2 games of the series, he would have probably won in a landslide.

 

 

3) Who is the best player in the league

 

So they say the MVP is not necessarily the best player in the league. And I keep hearing and reading how Kobe is that best player. Which is just not true. Kobe might be the best scorer, but the best scorer is not the best player. The best player in the league at this moment wears #23, not #24. His stats blow Kobe’s out of the water. He is more efficient, he involves his teammates more, he rebounds better, and this season he’s been defending better than Kobe.

 

Lebron was also the best player in the league during the 2005-06 season, when he put up 31.4 points on 48% FG, 7 reb, 6.6 ast, 1.6 stl and 0.8 blk. And that was a slight DROP in his stats  (except for scoring) compared to the previous season, when he put up 27.2 points on 47.2% FG, 7.4 reb, 7.2 ast, 2.2 stl and 0.6 blk. In 2006-07 he seemed to coast a little bit, but this season he’s been nothing short of amazing. His 30 points on 48.4% FG, 7.9 reb, 7.2 ast, 1.8 stl and 1.1 blk are comparable to Michael Jordan’s 32.5 points, 8 reb, 8 ast in perhaps his best overall season in 1988-89. It doesn’t get much better than this.

 

Stats aside, Lebron does everything a superstar should do. And then some. He makes his teammates better, this season he improved his defense by leaps and bounds, last season he was accused of coasting so this season he played out of his mind all season long. He became a leader, he keeps his emotions under control, not allowing them to negatively affect his game or the team. He’s incredibly mature, too, for 23 year old who’s a superstar.

 

Lebron even started to talk a little trash, which, for superstars, is a weapon. Jordan, Bird and many others knew when to say and what to say to demoralize their opponents. In last year’s playoffs Lebron whispered something to Arenas and Arenas missed 2 crucial free throws. Then during this season, after Bosh’s cousin and girlfriend (2 separate persons, just to be clear) heckled him, he went berzerk in the 4th quarter and destroyed the Raptors, after which he turned to her and said “This is your fault”. And now is on his way to making DeShawn Stevenson his biatch. Stevenson is about to become the gimp (Pulp Fiction style) that Lebron keeps locked in a box somewhere in a small storage room in his huge mansion.

 

Put all these together and you have the best player in the league hands down. The only thing that really stays between Lebron and a bunch of titles is his crappy team, which was assembled by his even crappier GM. Let’s just hope he will have more luck than Garnett over the first 10 years of his career.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 3:56 am and is filed under Awards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.