But you can't tell me that Dirk's "support cast" isn't much better than, say, LeBRon's. Yeah, LeBron has Z, but that Cavs team wouldn't be anywhere close to the playoffs without him. The Mavs, without Dirk, I think would still be a playoff team, or at least contending for a spot. Consider that when LeBron is off the court for the Cavs, they have been -13.3/100poss, while the Mavs without Dirk have been breaking even at +0.3/100poss.
Z is a 16-8 player, not what I'd consider to be a true all-star. He only made the teams because of his position. Just like Jamal Magloire. Jason Terry is a superior player to Z. If Larry Hughes was healthy you'd have a point, but then the Cavs have a lot more wins.
Kobe EASILY wins the BEST single game performance of the year award. But Kobe is not the MVP. Four candidates deserve the MVP as much or more than Kobe: Nash, Dirk, Lebron and Wade. All four have teams with significantly better records. While it can be argued that Kobe's team has less support, it is an undeniable fact that the MVP has never been given to a players whos team has failed to win atleast 50 games. Needless to say Nash, Dirk and even Billups will garner more MVP consideration than Kobe due to their teams having MUCH better records. Furthermore the other two candidates Wade and Lebron ARE having BETTER seasons than Kobe statistically. Despite the fact that Kobe leads the leauge with a 34.7 scoring avg, Lebron and Wade are better. WHy? How? Simple... Lebron & Wade simply outclass him in Assists, Rebounds and Efficeincy. Leborn avgs 7.2 rbs 6.7 ast fg %48 adj fg % of 513 & 1.36 pps Wade avgs 5.8 rbs 6.8 ast fg %50 adj fg % of 502 & 1.46 pps! Kobes avgs 5.3 rbs 4.6 ast fg %44 adj fg % of 483 & 1.28pps. WHile Lebron avgs 31.4 and Wade avgs *only* 28.1 points a game both also take significantly less shots, especially Wade. Kobes requires 27 shots to score 34.7 Lebron requires 23 shots to score 31.4 Wade requires 19 shots to score 28.1 Wade requires 8 less shots to score 6.6 less points & 19 to score 28 is incredible! Lebron requires 4 less shots to score a mere 3.3 less points. There is one thing kobe still does better than lebron and wade besides scoring And its defense, though it is a debateable issue or atleast not a pronounce one with Wade.
Break the name down. Is Kobe Bryant really the League's Most Valuable Player? I doubt it. I never thought Steve Nash would keep Phoenix this good even without Amare. He's got to be the MVP. If not Nash, it's probably Billups or Nowitzki. I doubt Wade or LeBron is going to get it. Brand isn't getting it. I just don't think their teams are good enough. I think the MVP should almost always be the leader of the (or one of the) best team(s) in the NBA. People say that Tracy McGrady and LeBron James make their teamates better, which they do, but not even near the way Nash does. I don't think Kobe Bryant's one man show cuts it when talking about MVPs. I just don't think Kobe's play is the most valuable in the league. It has to be Steve Nash in that sense. The fact that Kobe is even getting consideration for the award on a team that bad speaks volumes of what he's done, though.
Kobe = scoring champ. Nothing more. Remember when Jordan went for 37ppg? Did he win MVP? The term "Most Valuable Player" has to be taken in context. How valuable is a player to a team if for all his scoring his team staggers into the playoffs? A valuabe player is someone that impacts and raises the team game to a higher level. Kobe can and does do that to a degree, but not to the extent that someone like Nash does. Diaw, Bell, Jones, Barbosa, I mean most people sit up and say wtf are these guys. MAYBE, and thats a big maybe (as inferred by CAPS), if Nash hadn't produced with such a different (from last year) no-name lineup bar Marion, then you could consider Kobe. But even then there are others I would honour before him. Guys like Nowitzki, Marion, James, Wade, Parker. Not in any order. One key to look at is the overall season play. It's MVP for the season, so whoever's done it the longest for the team, with the team, is one way to look at it. Course everyone has their own and different opinion.
this is silly, kobe is way behind nash, lebron, dirk, and probably a couple others. the lakers are barely even above 500; scoring champ does not equal mvp.
the lakers are 5 games above .500, that's a lot better than people predicted and that's not a lot but not barely.
IIRC, the Heat actually won at a higher clip w/o Shaq than with him last year. They were screwed whenever Wade was out. This year, they were 9-10 when he was out nursing his sprained ankle. His being out was certainly a factor, but wasn't SVG's lame duck status and all the messed up personality clashes a part of it too? Kobe is having a spectacular individual season, has to be in the MVP discussion, but I don't think he wins it. It should always come down to: if this guy was yanked from the lineup for the year, how much worse would his team be? My conjectures (current wins, projected wins, guess for wins w/o player): -Billups: 59-->65-->53 -Dirk: 55-->59-->48 -Nash: 49-->54-->39 -Wade: 48-->53-->46 -LeBron: 44-->51-->37 -Brand: 42-->47-->40 -Cassell: 42-->47-->38 -Kobe: 40-->45-->36 Take Billups off the Pistons and you still have a terrifying four, but you lose the key to making their newfound offense hum. He's been unbelievably under-hyped this year considering how well he's directing them on the court. With Dirk, I think the Mavs have the pieces to take up the scoring rebounding and defensive slack if he were out and could get by with more balanced team play. Without Nash (as well as Amare) the Suns would be out of the playoff picture completely. Miami has a ton of weapons, but no one as deadly as Wade at this point and no one else that can break a defense apart. Cavs without LeBron would resemble our McGradyless lineup (if you put bricks in Yao's shoes). Cassell is doing for Brand and the Clips would he did for KG, and unforunately Brand is getting the praise just like KG did. How much worse would the Lakers really be without Kobe? They clearly wouldn't have firepower, but Odom might be allowed to play again and the others wouldn't be subjected to Kobe's wrath for taking a shot once in a while. Never underestimate chemistry. In my opinion, the MVP is Nash followed by Billups. Evan
The Mavs are a 48 win team without Dirk? WOW! That's better than the Grizzlies, Nuggets, Lakers, and Clippers! Terry, Stackhouse, Howard, Van Horn, and Dampier would start, and off the bench they would have Harris, Griffin, Daniels, Powell, and Diop. Those guys are not better than the Grizzlies, Nuggets, Lakers and Clippers, especially considering all the injuries, that is not even a 40 win team, IMO.
Kobe's team won 34 last year, take him out and Lakers won 36? Did you see how they're beaten by a depleted Jazz in the beginning of the season without Kobe? I doubt if they could win 20.
that's a very good analysis but I think we can all agree that the lakers would most likely not be playoff team without kobe. odom may become more effective but you're still talking about smush parker, kwame brown, deavan brown, chris mihm, and luke walton. nash maybe playing without amare, but none of those players are better than shaw marion who is averaging 21-12. and lets be fair, marion was a very good player before nash. none of the lakers were good before kobe, except maybe lamar. lamar could be averaging more points, but would that really help him all-around, he still averages 9 boards and almost 7 assists. so the only thing that may happen is he would be scoring some points that kobe wouldn't be. everyone talks about making teamates better but you have to give a guy some credit for carrying a team. I'm not arguing that kobe should be mvp, but he is in the discussion. of all the other candidates listed, I don't think there is no doubt he has the weakest team around him.
It'll be a travesty if Steve Nash wins the MVP trophy twice. He's the single worst player in league history to ever win it once even. He's had a great few seasons, but his career over-all isn't much to brag about. He's going to have to keep this up for the next five years or so if he's even going to merit hall of fame consideration.
Kobe might be the best scoring machine, but I didn't remember he carried Lakers singlehandedly like you are claiming, how many times we have seen him scored tons but still lost the game when Odom was in a funk. He made the games close but if not Odom and sometimes Parker playing to their expected level, LA would be no better than Rockets this season. I give him the 81pts performance. But MVP shouldn't be determined by just one game and scoring is not everything in basketball imo. He didn't make his teammate better until recently when playoff is getting close.
It's as hard as to make a mediocre team contender, if not harder. Kobe is hands-down the best player in the NBA now. It only depends how MVP is defined. If MVP has to be in a contender, sure Nash wins it. Otherwise Kobe has a stronger case.
if you were more valuable than a guy who elevated a good team to great. furthermore, by that standard, the mvp candidates should really only come from San Antonio, Detroit, and Dallas. Miami is good, but they aren't great, and cleveland isn't either. those teams three teams are head and shoulders above the rest. I don't know who you feel is more worthy, but lebron only has four more wins, and the Heat have eight more wins but a lot more talent.
I'd like to think of it more like, elevating a really crappy team and getting that team into the playoffs in the western conference when everyone said you had no chance when the season started. I still think its hilarious that people think Lamar Odom can do anything. He has all the skills in the world, but he doesn't do much with them and never has. Why else has he been traded so much? He also has no heart & no killer instinct. I have league pass and luckily I have been able to look at more than just stats, i've watched most of the Laker games this year. I'm an insomniac and usually the west coast games are on late while i'm up tossing and turning.
Don't get me wrong, I love Nash. Both Nash and Kobe elevated their team to a much higher level. But at the same time, MVP should stand out as an individual too. Nash has nice stats, but the stats are inflated a bit due to their uptempo game. Plus, he's way often outplayed by elites PG in this league like Billups and Kidd. Kobe on the other hand, may had a bad game from time to time, but it's rarely the opponent SG outplayed him.
