Kobe Bryant Is Still My MVP

        

I agree that Kobe has a slim shot at winning this thing.  Not only is he unpopular in media circles.....most won't vote for a guy on a 7th or 8th place team. 

 

But, and I said this on record on the radio [Sports Bloggers Live], to me there is no denying that Kobe Bryant is the most valuable player to his team.  Bar none.  Do the ol' "take the guy off the floor" trick and you'd see.  What would this Lakers' team accomplish without Kobe??? 

 

It would be a vagabond [Parker], a reluctant star [Odom], a bust [Kwame], and a slew of role players who aren't the greatest role guys [Walton, George, Vujacic, Cook, etc] and that team would struggle to win 12 games in this league. 

 

Not only has Kobe lifted that team up....one of the golden franchises in the NBA....into a near assured playoff berth, but he's done so with the best scoring season in TWO DECADES....some of the unreal scoring nights he's had all year.....and has been one of the best defenders in the league.  Not to mention he's done it from start to finish.  Despite ALL the minutes he plays and ALL the tough guards he defends and ALL the shots he attempts and IN THE THICK of a playoff race....dude can still drop 51 pts on 19-of-33 shooting in his 75th game of the season.  Freakin' amazing!

 

I mean, dude scored 81 pts in a game....and while he shouldn't win any award soley based on that.....it does show what kind of team he plays on.  I mean, he had to score at least 70 for the Lakers to have won that night!!! 

 

And if it was all that easy, why won't Ray Allen be in the playoffs??  Why won't Kevin Garnett be in the playoffs??  Why won't Paul Pierce be in the playoffs??  Iverson may not be in the playoffs.  And all those high paid stars on the Knicks probably won't even win 25 games.  Of course, this is what Iverson fans have said for several years....but that team struggles to make the playoffs in a weak bottom half of the East. 

 

It would be different if there was a clear cut choice to take the award.  If some guy on an elite team was having an excellent season just a notch below.  But I don't see any.  The only one that comes close to me is LeBron...and the Cavs aren't much better than the Lakers [just 5 games]. 

Sure, Steve Nash, Elton Brand and the rest of the frontrunners have had great seasons too.  But none has had a better season than Bryant.

 

If I had a vote, it would be Kobe.  There is nothing anyone can say that would trump the fact that you take him off his team and that would do more damage than taking anyone else off their team.