I think it comes down to tonight's game. The Lakers (2nd place as of right now) will play N.O. (1st place). Whoever wins this game probably wins the MVP.

I remember when Shaq got his *** bounced out of playoff after playoff while he was in LA too, before phil came. And Lakers are like 1/2 game out in probably the hardest conference that I have seen since I have been paying attention to basketball. Hard to do better. My .002

You wasted your time to read all the responses, and that was all you could come up with? Hmmmm? Let me think about it...okay...no! Hahahaha...

 

Considering where the Cavs would be without him, middle of the pack is still MVP area. One game they had a total of like 6 people dressed. They made that huge trade this year and most of the starting rotation has been hurt for many games through the year. They've been on a slide as of late, but they were on pace to easily win 50 games until the last two weeks.[&:]

Remember, MVP doesn't have to come from the best team. In fact, the MVP shouldn't come from the best team because the best team has a way better supporting cast to improve the win %

 

With that last statement you are basically saying the New Orleans Hornets have the best supporting cast in the West? How is that true. James is a good player but he is definently not having an MVP year.

 

KG.

 

[size="2"]Why Kobe won't win the MVP
By Scoop Jackson
Updated: April 7, 2008,

Last week, my partner in crime wrote a column about how uncomfortable she will be when Kobe Bryant receives the 2008 MVP award. Well, no disrespect to Jemele (Ms. Hill to those of us who know her), but Kobe Bryant will not win the MVP this year. And if recent history proves consistent, he might finish behind Alonzo Mourning in the voting.

Kobe Bryant is to the MVP what Ralph Nader is to the presidency.
Truth is Kobe Bryant will never win the MVP of the league. He is hated too much. Hated by those who cast votes. Hated too much by those he plays against. And the two All-Star Game MVPs he's won, well, they don't count in this scenario. Voting Kobe as the best basketball player in the world for a day is one thing, honoring him with that same title for an entire season … in the infamous words of Bobby Brown's ex-wife: "Oh, hell to the No!"
Writers won't honor Kobe like that, not even when in good consciousness they want to or would like to. As one writer said to me when the subject was brought up in conversation, very apropos for an election year, "Kobe's electability quotient is zero." In other words, he's Ralph Nader.

How is hate justified? Easy, by being consistent. Which is why this year will be no different than the past two. Because if we are honest (and this goes to Jemele's point), if we look at what Kobe Bryant has done in the past two seasons without winning the MVP, there should be no way he can win it this year. Which leads us back to the hate: A man averages 35.4 ppg, the eighth-highest average in the history of the league; he gives you 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.8 steals; he has 27 games of 40-plus points, has one month where he averages 43.4 ppg, scores 81 in one game and outscores an entire team in another (the 62-point game against Dallas where he sat out the fourth quarter); he is on the all-defensive first team (something not one of the other players in the MVP running is included on); and he leads a CBA-built team to the playoffs. The man has a season that no one is likely to see for another generation and he comes in fourth in the MVP voting that year.

That same man, the very next year, averages 31.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.4 steals for the "fedora trick"; he has 10 games of 50-plus points, only the second person in NBA history to do so in a single season (including a four-in-a-row stretch that hadn't been seen in more than 20 years); he makes the all-defensive first team again; and this time he takes a YBA-built squad to the playoffs. In a season that many claim is more "complete" than the season before, the man this time comes in third in the MVP voting.

How bad is it for Kobe? In a 2004-05 season in which Kobe averaged 27.6 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.0 assists, P.J. Brown -- yes, you read right -- received more MVP votes than he did, and Brown received only one vote. How many games did the Hornets win that year? 18.

(And it's not just the sportswriters. In that never-to-be-seen-again 2005-06 season, the GMs around the league, who have their own MVP voting, had Bryant fifth on their ballots.)

And nothing is going to make this season any different.


Kobe Bryant finished behind P.J. Brown in the 2004-05 MVP voting. Yes, you read that correctly.
So yes, there is an "earned the right" clause that goes on in all MVP voting, just as there is that same "clause" that exists in all professions and walks of life. But it will not apply to Kobe Bryant. Not this year or any other year. He's not Denzel, and this isn't "Training Day." And although there are those who say that Kobe is in a different place now, that the world does not "resent" him the way that it did, that the Colorado incident is behind him and that the Kobe who wears No. 24 is different than the one who wore No. 8, their delusion will only make the situation worse. For it brings false hope. In sticki

 

Eww...Lebron? puhhleaze. Kobe ftw. You can argue all you want, but in the end, he's the best player right now in the NBA. Don't really like him too much as a person, but he is the "most valuable player" as far as bball skills and talent goes. Go Lakers!

 

^ Being the best player does not make him the most valuable. I think if they had not gotten Gasol, and they had the same record as now he would be a shoe in.

 

even without gasol, i think kobes elevated his game to a level where he still would've taken his team to a playoff spot in the west

 

What level would he have to elevate to? The lakers should have made the playoffs with or without Gasol which means they had a good team already. That means that Kobe really hasnt done anything that wasnt expected of him. I will guarantee that CP3 wins because of two factors.

1. The Hornets were displaced from there home because of hurricane Katrina for almost 2 seasons, and are basically a team of destiny.
2. CP3 is the franchise, just like MJ was the franchise. Without those players neither team gets to where they are.

Kobe still hasnt won a championship on his own, just like Pippen couldnt without MJ. Lebron had a good team last year and so far this season has not made his team better from last year. KG wont get the nod just because of the other members on the Boston squad.

 

lakers had adecent team before gasol, but thats all it was...adecent team...in a HIGHLY competitive west, the only thing that wouldve gotten the lakers to the playoffs without gasol is kobe playing like he is right now...he's learned (and i think it shows especially this year) how to make his teamates better (im not referring to gasol at all in this, im talking about the laker "scrubs" if you will) and if the lakers by your words had a great team before gasol, its only cuz kobe made them that way