NBA MVP

Ok. The season isn’t over yet, but the NBA MVP candidates have separated themselves from the pack. Let’s be clear what’s in my criteria: Great individual talent, Great ability to make the team better, and Great representative of the game. There are really only 6 possibilities (sorry Chauncy, Pierce, Timmy and Tony Parker, but you aren’t in it):

Kobe Bryant: Robo-Bryant is, and I hate to say this, the best individual player in the game right now. Good for 35 points a night, a handful of assists and rebounds, and simply annoying the hell out of whoever he is defending. However, there are some fatal flaws in his game that no one seems to notice. Obviously he ignores his teammates, but he also takes a lot of stupid, stupid shots. This is a guy who has the speed and skill to shoot 60% from the field, but instead forces up crappy shots all game long. Anybody who can’t make his teammates better (and he has a lot more to work with than anyone acknowledges) and can’t choose his spots, is out. Plus this guy is a terrible ambassador for the game.

Dwayne Wade: The emerging super-candidate. In fact, I can’t really find any fault with his game. He’s a lethal scorer who doesn’t forget about his teammates, in fact he’s almost unwilling to take over games unless he needs to do so. He’s a decent defender. He is, without a doubt, the best player out of the LeBron draft. The Heat are winning games and he’s the reason. And as a representative of the game you couldn’t do any better. He is likeable, friendly, and he approaches the game the way football players do (which seems to be popular). My only complaint is that he hasn’t been this good all year, he’s emerging. But he’s young.

Dirk Nowitzki: With the decline of Shaq, Dirk has become the most difficult player to guard in the league. Other than Bruce Bowen, you can’t guard him with a little guy. Other than Robert Horry, you can’t guard him with a big. He helps his teammates and he’s aggressive (if incompetent) on defense. Plus his team wins big. Still, his defensive incompetence is colossal, his attitude towards Dampier and Terry in last year’s playoffs was pretty astounding, and he has yet to carry the team in a big way during the playoffs.

LeBron: Ok, so he’s good. Let’s be clear here. But I’m not convinced he’s Kevin Garnett’s equal, let alone the equal of Timmy, MJ or Shaq. He’s not a silky smooth player. If the three point line didn’t exist, I think he’d be a better PF. I watch him play and I get the feeling that this is what Elton Brand would look like if people had suggested he become a guard at a young age. Having said all that, he’s the young gun with the most potential. If he can develop a little more polish to his game, and get better on D, then I think he has the potential to be a modern-day Larry Bird or a scoring Scottie Pippen. Right now though, he isn’t as good as Dwayne Wade and he isn’t as clutch as Carmelo Anthony. And his teammates aren’t really any better because of him. If anything Drew Gooden is worse.

Elton Brand: Really good player, good guy, great ambassador, makes his teammates better, but he’s not that good yet. He’s a second tier talent (just below the Duncan and Shaqs of the world). He’s good but not that good.

Steve Nash: Makes his teammates better (see Boris Diaw, James Jones, Tim Thomas, Quentin Richardson, etc.), is an amazing offensive player (see Dallas series last year), and is a great ambassador of the game. The role of Nash in improving Amare Stoudamire’s game is grossly underreported. The question Bill Simmons asked was something like “If last year the Spurs could have picked one player on the Suns that couldn’t play during the series, do you really think it would have been Nash?” Of course he asked this after Amare had averaged something like 32 and 10 against the Spurs in the first couple of games. The reality is that Amare didn’t have a post game! Take Amare away from the Suns and they lose their best scoring presence, take Nash away from the Suns and nobody can score!

The real travesty here is that the Suns aren’t bringing Amare back this year. Nash is an old point guard. He is playing the best basketball of his career, and he’s not going to be able to do this for much longer. The Suns are throwing away what is probably one of 3-4 chances to win a title with Nash because they don’t want to risk the potential of Amare turning into a Tim Duncan level player. If I were the Suns I’d not just be working my ass off to get Amare back on the team, if he didn’t look like he was going to make it, I’d consider trading for someone who could help now! Why not swap Amare for KG at the trading deadline last week? Wouldn’t a KG-Marion-Diaw-Bell-Nash team win the whole freaking thing? This Suns team has another year after this, then the Nash effect will probably fade. He might still be a good point guard, but he’s only going to be able to play like this for another year (maybe 2). You’ve got to exploit those opportunities when they arrive. There’s a 20-30% chance that Amare isn’t coming back at full strength, but there’s an 80% chance he isn’t ever going to be as good as Duncan or Shaq.

Although, of course, I just found out that Amare is in fact coming back this year…so nevermind.

So who do I think is the MVP?

I said there were only 6 possibilities. Unless something changes drastically over the next couple of weeks of the season, the real race is between Steve Nash and Dwayne Wade. I’m leaning towards Nash, but part of that is because he’s come back so strong after winning it all last year. Dwayne Wade is probably a better player, but his early season play makes me hesitate.

At this point the answer has got to be Nash, but the season’s not over yet.