West Coast Connection Forum
Lifestyle => Sports & Entertainment => Topic started by: GangstaBoogy on March 23, 2007, 07:39:20 PM
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Kobe for MVP (http://slamonline.com/online/2007/03/kobe-for-mvp/), by Lang Whitaker
When the game ended, I texted Marcus and said, “Kobe went for 60!”
Marcus wrote back and said, “Again. What! And Steve Nash will get the MVP again. Hmm. What’s that about?”
Consider this: Kobe Bryant is a three-time NBA Champ, a nine-time All-Star, an eight-time All-NBA Selection, a six-time All-Defensive Selection and two-time NBA All-Star Game MVP. But he’s never won an MVP award.
The obvious question is, Why not?
At some point over the last few years, the NBA’s MVP award seems to have become about rewarding the best player on the most exciting team. The name of the award is the Most Valuable Player award, which would seem to intimate, at least to me, that it should go to the player who is the most valuable to his team. You can’t really assign numbers to this—unless you’re John "Chimpy" Hollinger—which makes it so much fun to argue about.
I understand Nash winning the award two seasons ago. Last season, not so much.
Throughout this season, I think Kobe’s value is becoming more and more obvious every day, with every pass that bounces off of Kwame Brown’s hands, with every game Lamar Odom sits on the bench battling an injury, with every brain fart from Andrew Bynum, with every jump shot that Smush Parker clangs off the rim.
This year, to me, the most valuable player in the NBA is Kobe Bryant.
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I think it's obvious to everyone who knows the game who the MVP has been for some time now...Does it really matter though? They're not gunna give it to him. If he gets one or two when his career is all said and done, which he MIGHT, even that would be a complete disgrace. Sadly enough, it would actually surprise me if he EVER gets one...
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I think it's obvious to everyone who knows the game who the MVP has been for some time now...Does it really matter though? They're not gunna give it to him. If he gets one or two when his career is all said and done, which he MIGHT, even that would be a complete disgrace. Sadly enough, it would actually surprise me if he EVER gets one...
it will be his next year... if he keeps it up... if not this year..
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He should be the MVP this year. Just like he should have been last year. But of course they're no gonna give it to him.
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i think he deserves consideration but IMO Dirk is the MVP all laker bias aside
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the whole pb is that the MVP is given the best player on one of the top 3 records team in the league.. not to the MVP of the whole league... I think it's time they rename it ... anyway that's BS
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people have been saying that for years though, through out the jordan era as a matter of fact he was obviously the best player in the league for quite some time. but are you going to deny magic johnson even though his stats wern't as high as jordan's but his team is more impressive. same with barkley, malone, bird , ect.
as much shit as i give kobe , i have no problem saying he's the best, however i'm in favor of how they give out the MVP award. i like kobe more than i dirk, but he's playing at such a high level right now and it's resulted in his team having probably the second or third best record in nba history. IMO Kobe should've been MVP last year looking at the rubric of how MVP's are judged kobe was that person. but, even though this year his performance has been better, you have dirk a few hundred miles away leading a team to hisory. To me that's the MVP. kobe can score 100 points next game and get the win but the fact of the matter is his team is in 6th place and have given up more than 100 points in close wins to mediocre teams.
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My friend Marcus is a huge fan of the New York Knicks. I am not sure why, exactly, although Marcus was born in Africa and raised in Europe, so maybe he just doesn’t know any better.
:laugh:
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^^^^ Kobe doesn't have the supporting cast Dirk has... replace Dirk by Kobe at Dallas and they will be champs without a single doubt.. when LAL will have less wins with Dirk... a great player can involve player and make them better til a certain extent... as great as was Jordan Bulls didn't do shit in the playoffs til they have solid players and Pippen around him...
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that's unfair to say per se because the mavs have been built around dirk, you can't say add kobe and minus dirk dallas= champs. by that logic the nuggets should be winning every game
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^^^^ that wasn't really what I wanted to say.. I mean the fact Dallas is a better team than us isn't based on the fact Dirk is better than Kobe... Cuban has added very good pieces around Dirk.. when Kobe doesn't have the pieces yet... it's obvious that when some players will have more Xperience, plus some solid players added in the mix, we'll be contenders.. one of the better teams and Kobe will have a shot to win the award.. what I mean is when I read sth like Dirk or Steve have led their teams to better records than Kobe team as a result they deserve the award more.. this doesn't make sense or just rename the award as I said before..
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but see that's the thing, no one is saying that dirk is the best player in the league. no one. they're just saying that he's the most valued player on the "best" team. it's like the superbowl...the MVP is going to be the most valuable player on the winning team in THAT game(unless you're a cowboys ha ha 8) ) same with the NBA. It's not a "best player of the year" award necessarily
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I think the MVP should go to the best player in the league. In order for a player to be the best in the league then he obviously has to be the best player on his team...which would make him the most valuable player of the team. The Lakers won 45 games last year...take Kobe off the team and see how many games what win. But all that aside: if the Lakers had a winning record and Kobe had 62 points (in 3 quarters) and an 81 point outburst - you give him the MVP. I don't give a fuck about how many games the Mavs won or how well Nash did without Stoudemire. It's a shame that Nash has 2 MVPs while Kobe only has 2 and they're both from All-Star games.
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. It's not a "best player of the year" award necessarily
that's why this award makes no sense.... every word has a meaning and the interpretation of these words made by the medias is wrong... even if it's like that since the existence of this award ... but we can argue all day long, nothing ain't gonna change
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but see that's the thing, no one is saying that dirk is the best player in the league. no one. they're just saying that he's the most valued player on the "best" team. it's like the superbowl...the MVP is going to be the most valuable player on the winning team in THAT game(unless you're a cowboys ha ha 8) ) same with the NBA. It's not a "best player of the year" award necessarily
This argument really makes no sense. An MVP award is for the best player who does the most for his team...The best player on the best team is what the Finals MVP award is for...PeACe
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^ and that's exactly why the powers that be that vote for the nba's mvp won't vote for kobe
they'll view kobe's 50 point plus games as him doing the most for kobe as apposed to doing the most for the lakers. some peple were on espn talking about 'do the lakers need kobe to score that much to win?" ......now wether or not they do is another topic entirely, however, many of those analysts get that snow ball going about him scoring that much is more for selfish gain than team benefit, they'll point to the 3-1 laker lead over the suns in the playoffs as proof for their argument, which no doubt WILL effet the votes.
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Lakers just had a 7 game loss streak, in the middle of the season, with Kobe playing. They've got the 6th seed and won't get the 5th. Imo the team of the MVP should do better than that.
One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy. Imo it's the trait of a young player to just score like crazy. A more mature player will know that taking 50 posessions a game will not take the team to another level, no matter how good he is.
Believe what you want but nobody, not even Kobe is good enough to score enough points by himself to get the W on a consistant basis. There has to be something that you can call a team there to make noise down the stretch of the season. Other players have to get their shots to get their hands hot etc.
Kobe is the best individual player in the NBA, but to me that doesn't justify him getting the MVP award for the reasons above.
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I don't get it. Let's take the best SG's in the League ordered by points made.
Kobe Bryant 5.5 assist per game
D-Wade 7.9 assist
Michael Redd 2.4 assist
Ray Allen 4.1 assists
Joe Johnson 4.4 assists
Vince Carter 4.6 assists
Tracy McGrady 6.3 assists
Ben Gordon 3.6 assists
Kevin Martin 2.2 assists
Rip Hamilton 4.0 assists
Luol Deng 2.4 assists
Kobe is the 3rd best assist-man between the SG's who are in the top30 for scoring.
What i mean is that people looks obsessed by the number of his assists more than about the points he scored to help the team to get the win.
But i've NEVER heard people talking bad about Redd, Allen, Johnson, Carter, Gordon, Martin, Hamilton, Deng etc.. because of their lack of assists per game.
So what's the deal?
It looks like pure hate to me.
P.S. I know, some of the guys listed ain't pure SG's, but i added them in the mix anyway.
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Lakers just had a 7 game loss streak, in the middle of the season, with Kobe playing. They've got the 6th seed and won't get the 5th. Imo the team of the MVP should do better than that.
One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy. Imo it's the trait of a young player to just score like crazy. A more mature player will know that taking 50 posessions a game will not take the team to another level, no matter how good he is.
Believe what you want but nobody, not even Kobe is good enough to score enough points by himself to get the W on a consistant basis. There has to be something that you can call a team there to make noise down the stretch of the season. Other players have to get their shots to get their hands hot etc.
Kobe is the best individual player in the NBA, but to me that doesn't justify him getting the MVP award for the reasons above.
Try another excuse.
Kobe Bryant 28 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 29 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 30 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 31 years old = injured
Michael Jordan 32 years old = 25.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 33 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 34 years old = 24.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 38 years old = 23.0 shots per game (he wasn't a starter no more)
Michael Jodan 39 years old = 19.2 shots per game
He shot less, yeah. When he was 39 years old, but just because he drastically reduced his minutes per game.
Once again it looks like pure hate to me.
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One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy.
Yeah when we HAD the full roster... things are we've lost so many players that we started to seriously fall down in the standing... it was time for Kobe to takeover... but I guess people would still prefer a Kobe dropping 30--7-7 and the Lakers still losing games ::)... I ain't even waste time to argue no more..
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One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy.
Yeah when we HAD the full roster... things are we've lost so many players that we started to seriously fall down in the standing... it was time for Kobe to takeover... but I guess people would still prefer a Kobe dropping 30--7-7 and the Lakers still losing games ::)... I ain't even waste time to argue no more..
Man actually that proves the arguments about Kobe deserving the MVP. I mean when we had the full roster and people who were able to play basketball, he was averaging 6+ assists per game (at one point he had 6.6 assist per game, with games with 10, 11, 13 assists..) and sharing the ball. He was defending BETTER than any other big star in the NBA and he was winning. When the team got destroyed by injures and the team was falling down, he took it over his shoulders and Lakers now have a 4-wins-in-a-row-streak, the 2nd longest winning streak of the NBA at the moment.
People just hate Kobe AND the Lakers.
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One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy.
People just hate Kobe AND the Lakers.
Yeah and/or they don't watch Lakers game ... they just say what they heard or read by BSPN and others biased medias ... Kobe makes it look so easy that there is a lot of jealousy
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Lakers just had a 7 game loss streak, in the middle of the season, with Kobe playing. They've got the 6th seed and won't get the 5th. Imo the team of the MVP should do better than that.
One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy. Imo it's the trait of a young player to just score like crazy. A more mature player will know that taking 50 posessions a game will not take the team to another level, no matter how good he is.
Believe what you want but nobody, not even Kobe is good enough to score enough points by himself to get the W on a consistant basis. There has to be something that you can call a team there to make noise down the stretch of the season. Other players have to get their shots to get their hands hot etc.
Kobe is the best individual player in the NBA, but to me that doesn't justify him getting the MVP award for the reasons above.
Try another excuse.
Kobe Bryant 28 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 29 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 30 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 31 years old = injured
Michael Jordan 32 years old = 25.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 33 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 34 years old = 24.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 38 years old = 23.0 shots per game (he wasn't a starter no more)
Michael Jodan 39 years old = 19.2 shots per game
He shot less, yeah. When he was 39 years old, but just because he drastically reduced his minutes per game.
Once again it looks like pure hate to me.
Overall Kobe takes a right amount of shots this year. I'm just saying that his last games, no matter how outstanding and great they were, don't give him a major boost towards being MVP in my book.
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Man he took 34 shots in 47 minutes in the last game. Not 50. It's just 7 shots more than his average. But he made 50 points, and the team won.
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Yeah holmes, but you can count most of them FT as possessions as well. Kobe is a very great player, one should just not call him the MVP suddenly, just because of 4 great scoring games, that's all I'm "hating".
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He is the MVP from at least 2 seasons.
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^ and that's exactly why the powers that be that vote for the nba's mvp won't vote for kobe
they'll view kobe's 50 point plus games as him doing the most for kobe as apposed to doing the most for the lakers. some peple were on espn talking about 'do the lakers need kobe to score that much to win?" ......now wether or not they do is another topic entirely, however, many of those analysts get that snow ball going about him scoring that much is more for selfish gain than team benefit, they'll point to the 3-1 laker lead over the suns in the playoffs as proof for their argument, which no doubt WILL effet the votes.
Well, then that's just moronic on their behalf...If they can't see that Kobe is willing his team to victories, and they choose to hate on that, then they don't even deserve to be journalists to begin with. Not that most journalists do anyways... :-\
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Lakers just had a 7 game loss streak, in the middle of the season, with Kobe playing. They've got the 6th seed and won't get the 5th. Imo the team of the MVP should do better than that.
One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy. Imo it's the trait of a young player to just score like crazy. A more mature player will know that taking 50 posessions a game will not take the team to another level, no matter how good he is.
Believe what you want but nobody, not even Kobe is good enough to score enough points by himself to get the W on a consistant basis. There has to be something that you can call a team there to make noise down the stretch of the season. Other players have to get their shots to get their hands hot etc.
Kobe is the best individual player in the NBA, but to me that doesn't justify him getting the MVP award for the reasons above.
Dude, come on now...Lakers went on that losing streak with 3 of their starters out. It's no coincidence that Kobe went on this spurt exactly when Luke and Odom returned...They're both looking great as the co-stars... 8)
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Lakers just had a 7 game loss streak, in the middle of the season, with Kobe playing. They've got the 6th seed and won't get the 5th. Imo the team of the MVP should do better than that.
One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy. Imo it's the trait of a young player to just score like crazy. A more mature player will know that taking 50 posessions a game will not take the team to another level, no matter how good he is.
Believe what you want but nobody, not even Kobe is good enough to score enough points by himself to get the W on a consistant basis. There has to be something that you can call a team there to make noise down the stretch of the season. Other players have to get their shots to get their hands hot etc.
Kobe is the best individual player in the NBA, but to me that doesn't justify him getting the MVP award for the reasons above.
Try another excuse.
Kobe Bryant 28 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 29 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 30 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 31 years old = injured
Michael Jordan 32 years old = 25.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 33 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 34 years old = 24.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 38 years old = 23.0 shots per game (he wasn't a starter no more)
Michael Jodan 39 years old = 19.2 shots per game
He shot less, yeah. When he was 39 years old, but just because he drastically reduced his minutes per game.
Once again it looks like pure hate to me.
Lol THANK YOU! I love how people think Jordan was the best scorer, rebounder, passer, 3 point shooter, dunker, shot blocker, and everything else just cuz he's retired. He was a top 5 player not doubt, but I don't see a big difference in his style of play and Kobe's style of play.
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Lakers just had a 7 game loss streak, in the middle of the season, with Kobe playing. They've got the 6th seed and won't get the 5th. Imo the team of the MVP should do better than that.
One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy. Imo it's the trait of a young player to just score like crazy. A more mature player will know that taking 50 posessions a game will not take the team to another level, no matter how good he is.
Believe what you want but nobody, not even Kobe is good enough to score enough points by himself to get the W on a consistant basis. There has to be something that you can call a team there to make noise down the stretch of the season. Other players have to get their shots to get their hands hot etc.
Kobe is the best individual player in the NBA, but to me that doesn't justify him getting the MVP award for the reasons above.
Try another excuse.
Kobe Bryant 28 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 29 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 30 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 31 years old = injured
Michael Jordan 32 years old = 25.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 33 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 34 years old = 24.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 38 years old = 23.0 shots per game (he wasn't a starter no more)
Michael Jodan 39 years old = 19.2 shots per game
He shot less, yeah. When he was 39 years old, but just because he drastically reduced his minutes per game.
Once again it looks like pure hate to me.
Lol THANK YOU! I love how people think Jordan was the best scorer, rebounder, passer, 3 point shooter, dunker, shot blocker, and everything else just cuz he's retired. He was a top 5 player not doubt, but I don't see a big difference in his style of play and Kobe's style of play.
I see a difference...Kobe has RANGE. ;D
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Lakers just had a 7 game loss streak, in the middle of the season, with Kobe playing. They've got the 6th seed and won't get the 5th. Imo the team of the MVP should do better than that.
One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy. Imo it's the trait of a young player to just score like crazy. A more mature player will know that taking 50 posessions a game will not take the team to another level, no matter how good he is.
Believe what you want but nobody, not even Kobe is good enough to score enough points by himself to get the W on a consistant basis. There has to be something that you can call a team there to make noise down the stretch of the season. Other players have to get their shots to get their hands hot etc.
Kobe is the best individual player in the NBA, but to me that doesn't justify him getting the MVP award for the reasons above.
Try another excuse.
Kobe Bryant 28 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 29 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 30 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 31 years old = injured
Michael Jordan 32 years old = 25.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 33 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 34 years old = 24.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 38 years old = 23.0 shots per game (he wasn't a starter no more)
Michael Jodan 39 years old = 19.2 shots per game
He shot less, yeah. When he was 39 years old, but just because he drastically reduced his minutes per game.
Once again it looks like pure hate to me.
Lol THANK YOU! I love how people think Jordan was the best scorer, rebounder, passer, 3 point shooter, dunker, shot blocker, and everything else just cuz he's retired. He was a top 5 player not doubt, but I don't see a big difference in his style of play and Kobe's style of play.
I see a difference...Kobe has RANGE. ;D
Kobe can run the ball better, he has more range, he's better offensively and he's half italian. Those are huge differences, expecially the last one. 8)
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Lakers just had a 7 game loss streak, in the middle of the season, with Kobe playing. They've got the 6th seed and won't get the 5th. Imo the team of the MVP should do better than that.
One shouldn't forget that there was a time in the season in which the Lakers did pretty good without Kobe scoring like crazy. Imo it's the trait of a young player to just score like crazy. A more mature player will know that taking 50 posessions a game will not take the team to another level, no matter how good he is.
Believe what you want but nobody, not even Kobe is good enough to score enough points by himself to get the W on a consistant basis. There has to be something that you can call a team there to make noise down the stretch of the season. Other players have to get their shots to get their hands hot etc.
Kobe is the best individual player in the NBA, but to me that doesn't justify him getting the MVP award for the reasons above.
Try another excuse.
Kobe Bryant 28 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 29 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 30 years old = 28.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 31 years old = injured
Michael Jordan 32 years old = 25.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 33 years old = 26.7 shots per game
Michael Jordan 34 years old = 24.6 shots per game
Michael Jordan 38 years old = 23.0 shots per game (he wasn't a starter no more)
Michael Jodan 39 years old = 19.2 shots per game
He shot less, yeah. When he was 39 years old, but just because he drastically reduced his minutes per game.
Once again it looks like pure hate to me.
Lol THANK YOU! I love how people think Jordan was the best scorer, rebounder, passer, 3 point shooter, dunker, shot blocker, and everything else just cuz he's retired. He was a top 5 player not doubt, but I don't see a big difference in his style of play and Kobe's style of play.
I see a difference...Kobe has RANGE. ;D
Kobe can run the ball better, he has more range, he's better offensively and he's half italian. Those are huge differences, expecially the last one. 8)
Ya'll know what I mean.
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It is fair to ask: Has Bryant thrust himself into the Most Valuable Player picture with this run? Can he challenge Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki and Phoenix's Steve Nash, still the clear leaders in the MVP race?
The real question: Are the Lakers good enough to justify a first-place MVP vote for Bryant?
"The one year (Kevin) Garnett won the MVP was because we had a great record in Minnesota," said Saunders, who coached the Timberwolves during Garnett's only MVP season in 2003-04. "There were a lot of other years he was more valuable to us than the year we won 52 games. But because we were not one of the elite teams, he didn't get any recognition.
"What happens is, the MVP goes to a guy from one of the top two, three teams in the league and you have a guy who is an All-Star player who plays at a high level."
Pistons center Chris Webber, who was an MVP candidate when he was the key player on Kings teams that won 61 and 59 games, believes Bryant would be a "no-brainer" MVP were the criteria simply that the award go to the best player.
"Well, he's the best player, by far," Webber said. "Dirk or Nash don't really play defense. And you talk about LeBron (James), well, LeBron doesn't check Kobe, but Kobe checks LeBron. Kobe does pattern himself after Michael (Jordan) in that fact that he's going to check the best. I think that's why he's the best player, because he's one of the best scorers and one of the best defenders."
Even Webber would have trouble putting Bryant's name on the top line of his MVP ballot, though.
"It depends on what the definition of the MVP is," he said. "If it's the best player, he has it. But who's more important to their team? I don't think Phoenix would be anything without Nash."
Of course, the Lakers would not be in the playoff field at all, capable of scaring the daylights out of Spurs fans in the first round, without Bryant. Does that make him as valuable to his team as Nash is to the Suns or Nowitzki is to the Mavs? More so?
"In my opinion, he should have won it last year," Horry said. "But this year, Dirk is having such a great year I'd have to give it Dirk, because they've got the best record in the league and he's been playing on bad ankles and still having a great year."
Then there is Bryant's negative image.
"Nobody's going to vote for Kobe because of the perception about his attitude, that he's arrogant," said Horry, who also stressed that he considered Bryant a good teammate. "It's going to be a while before he ever wins MVP. I hate to say that, because it's MVP on the court, not MVP off the court."
LINK (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/columnists/mmonroe/stories/MYSA032507.10C.COL.BKNmonroe.bryant.306a514.html)
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^^^^ Webber speaks the truth... even if Sac and LAL hate each other, he's not a hater.. props to him
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Kobe should have gotten it last year but Dirk should get it this year IMO. Dallas is scary good this year and Dirk has really elevated his game.
I was never a big fan of Dirk's game in the past, I never put him on Duncan/Garnett level but Dirk has really improved in all aspects of his game over the years. Dallas's play reflects that.
You have to take records into account when you consider the MVP argument. Our team has struggled mightily this season, much of that is injury related but part of that was just dropping games we should have won. Dallas OTOH is winning the games they're supposed to win.
Give it to Dirk. I'd rather see Kobe win a finals MVP. 8)
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Kobe will have to settle for the scoring title this year unless the Lakers go against the odds and win out every game in the regular season to get 50 wins.
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Dirk
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Kobe might be a lot of things this year, but not the MVP.
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i think he deserves consideration but IMO Dirk is the MVP all laker bias aside
Hell no...the Mavs would function just fine without Dirk. That team is loaded. But the Lakers without Kobe? Come on now. I mean...yeah Dirk is nice but he's not as valuable as Kobe is.
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i think he deserves consideration but IMO Dirk is the MVP all laker bias aside
Hell no...the Mavs would function just fine without Dirk. That team is loaded. But the Lakers without Kobe? Come on now. I mean...yeah Dirk is nice but he's not as valuable as Kobe is.
I agree...I've seen Josh Howard take over for Dirk so many times.