http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/nb...lt=AujlvlKMDvtvij6pV7Swbnu8vLYF?urn=nba,69681 Why ... Kobe Bryant is not your MVP By Kelly Dwyer Monday, Mar 3, 2008 2:20 pm EST Let's start with the obvious, a line of predictable reasoning that (for some reason) we need to be reminded of from time to time: Kobe Bryant is freakin' awesome. He probably should have been the MVP in 2005-06, though Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James were all justifiable winners (I still can't believe Steve Nash, my second favorite player since high school, won that thing). Bryant shouldn't have been punished for having to do his damage on an otherwise crummy team. Kobe faltered a bit last season, but you'd probably lose your mind sharing a backcourt with Smush Parker or having to run screen-and-roll plays with Kwame Brown. This year, the man has been fantastic, running one of the NBA's most devastating offenses while regaining the defensive edge that he appeared to have lost last season. He put on a brilliant performance on national TV yesterday, registering 52 points (30 in the fourth quarter and overtime alone) and 11 rebounds while carrying the Lakers offensively in a win over Dallas. When Bryant went to the free throw line, the Staples Center crowd chanted, "M-V-P! M-V-P!" And they should stop it. Actually, they can chant whatever they want. Chant it for Sasha Vujacic, see if he has a Slovenian sense of humor. My issue is in the incessant (in El Lay and on the national airwaves) proclamations of Kobe Bryant as the NBA's best player. He isn't. Sorry, but he isn't. He's awesome, but he's not the game's best player. He has the best chance of any NBA talent at dropping 75 points on your ass, and that's impressive, but Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony and Wade (when he's healthy) aren't far behind. And "best scorer" doesn't always mean "best player." And, while we're at it, Kobe's not even the best scorer any more. James is. And, in this case, "best scorer" means "best player." And, to anyone who takes the game seriously, "best player" should mean "M-V-P!" It's not a huge edge, but it's decisive enough: James has Bryant licked in scoring per game (30.3 to 28.2), assists (7.5 to 5.4), rebounds (8.1 to 6.0) and shooting percentage (48.6 to 46.6). Bryant shoots better from long range (35 percent to 30), and has James' number from the line, but so does Kyle Korver. Otherwise, they're even on steals and turnovers, and James blocks nearly twice as many shots. James may play two more minutes per game, but he still owns a decisive edge in the per-minute numbers, and has to do his damage on a slow-down team (20th in the NBA in possessions). Kobe has a chance to pad his stats (not that he is, kindly read that carefully) with about five more possessions per game on the Lakers. That's significant. But that's a mere nuance to national TV types and multi-sport columnists who want to hand the mantle over to Kobe just because his team is winning more. Bryant was working his tail off for years just trying to get a sorry bunch of Lakers up around the .500 mark, and he shouldn't be handed an MVP just because Andrew Bynum can ball now and the Grizzlies decided to hand the Lakers Pau Gasol. Meanwhile, James is just destroying people in Cleveland. Pulling in more rebounds on a team that owns the boards even without him (there's not a lot of stray rebounds to go around) and racking up assists on a team that can't shoot straight (44.1 percent, 24th in the NBA). His defense isn't on par with Kobe's, but it's not far off, and it's still pretty damn good. Certainly not bad enough for Bryant to overcome being outscored, outassisted and outrebounded by LBJ. And while both are studs in the clutch, LeBron is better. He significantly outscores, outassists and outrebounds Kobe when it matters. Worse, James is going to get burned by voters who will credit him for MVPs likely won from 2009-2019 and hand it to Kobe just because he's playing "unselfish" basketball." No, Kobe's playing the same brand of competitive basketball he always has, just for a championship-level team. If he wasn't "selfish" in 2005-06 and 2006-07 then the Lakers win 30 games. Replacing a Chris Mihm with a Gasol shouldn't mean James should be denied. It stinks, but you watch the groundswell: The "best player in the game" bit will start to become accepted as fact, and voters just make up their mind based on what sounds right instead of doing their due diligence. Then I'm stuck in the unenviable position of having to denigrate one of the best players of my generation, if only to open people's eyes in regards to the sort of -- MVP, mind you -- season LeBron James is having. ----------------------------------------------- I usually like your blogs, Kelly, but I didn't like this at all. Saying LeBron is better than Kobe is one thing since that's your opinion. Saying it in a it's-so-obvious-guys! way is another thing entirely. You bring up all these stats that supposedly prove LeBron's better. Well, as proved many times before, stats don't tell the whole story. Just because LeBron is forced to do everything on his team doesn't mean he's better than Kobe. Kobe doesn't have to score as much, hence the lower ppg stats. The Lakers have been blowing people out more this year, hence the lower 4th quarter point totals. It's puzzling how you annoint LeBron as not only the better scorer AND player, but better clutch player as well! You act as if Kobe all of a sudden isn't as good as he was before just because he's not putting up the same gaudy numbers as last year. Well, that's what having a better team will do to you. His teammates have been helping him out a lot more (see Chris Wallace), so he doesn't have to carry the Lakers on his back as often. Kobe's been doing the same thing in the exponentially tougher WC and hasn't been recognized for it. Why should LeBron (who's NOT a better scorer than Kobe, by the way), get the award for doing a poorer job in a weak ass conference?
Lousy article. Ask every coach in the league that there's 5 seconds left in a game 7. Who do you want to have the ball. Lebron James or Kobe Bryant. All but one will say Kobe Bryant. I can't stand the damn Lebron hype. I already dislike him more than Kobe.
I dont understand the kobe a$$ licking on this board too! James is a better player than Kobe THIS season. Is not matter who gonna shoot the ball in last 2 seconds!
Kobe is awesome but LBJ is the MVP this season. It's very debatable and I can't blame anyone for choosing Kobe. This is the season where LeBron has stepped up and replaced Kobe as best player in the NBA.
James is not as good as kobe, this season, or ever before. He's just padding stats by hogging the ball more
Lebron has the most 4th quarter points of any player period and it is by a pretty wide margin. Lebron took a pretty ****ty cavs team to the finals. Lebron is no.1 in my book.
Lebron is the best player in the NBA. Kobe is maybe better in 1 possession (but then again Lebron is better about getting a wide open shot for a teammate in crunch time), but Lebron is without a doubt the better player over the course of a 48 minute game. Lebron also has just as good a case for being jobbed out of previous MVPs as Kobe as well. That said I think Lebron needs to get his team to the 3rd seed and the Lakers need to not be the #1 seed in the West for Lebron to probably get it. Too many people think Kobe is owed, plus he is near hollywood. If his team is significantly better in their conference standings, I suspect Kobe will get it.
lmao evidence my butt, kobe is the best player in the league this season and probably will be for another couple seasons before LBJ learns that he's not a point guard and he should play some defense now and then, not to mention LBJ heavily relies on his physical strength while his skills still lag behind kobe by a large margin
kobe is the best player in the game right now. period. this writer is on crack. LBJ is younger and more of a brute, but kobe wants victory. while it is a close margin, if you had to pick one guy to help you win one game, who would it be? kobe. LBJ is awesome, but before i can say i take him in one game over kobe, i'm gonna have to see kobe skills fade. and that hasn't happened yet.
Yeah the best player in the world couldn't take his team past the 1st round. Lebron beat a pretty good pistons team pretty much by himself.
or maybe he should've been eliminated by wizard if not for the help from refs at critical moments, and again, not much competition in the East, Kobe faced the suns at their peak, and almost won the first year if he had any help from his team. although LBJ did not have great supporting cast, they were certainly better than the laker cast before this year, Smush who? kwame? r u kidding me?
The argument that LeBron is only doing more because he's on a worse team and therefore he isn't as valuable doesn't fly. The more valuable player, by definition, is the one who's doing more for his team. Not the player who's capable of doing more for his team. The MVP should be given out based on realized performance, not inner ability. One player, this season, stands above all else in terms of carrying his team on his back. Kudos to Kobe for finally getting a great team around him. But he hasn't elevated his level of play beyond what he was doing the last couple seasons. LeBron, on the other hand, has taken his game to a whole other level. He's just a force of nature right now. All that said ... either would be a fine choice for MVP. They are clearly the front runners right now.
That LBJ "take his team to Final" thing is just so overhyped. In the east last season you only need to beat one strong team, ie. Detroit, to achieve that. In the west a team needs to fight thru 3 brutal series and the Cav would have been destroyed somewhere if they relocated here. LBJ is like an anti-Yao from refs' perspective. You breathe on him and that's a foul, and he can't make FTs well. I also hate giving MVP to a player who cant' play good D.
What? Kobe couldn't even beat a team that plays almost no defense (Phoenix). The Pistons were clearly as good as or better than the Suns last year and the year before. Kobe wouldn't have gotten squat if he were in the east, he would have met the Pistons and it would have been over. Kwame brown blah blah blah, Lebron's team wasn't that great either. Kobe had Odom, an all-star level talent and failed to make him better. And Kobe should be the last person to complain about phantom fouls, remember the 27 fouls that he got in the Mavs game? Yeah.
