“How in the hell can you give Kobe the MVP over LBJ this year when LBJ is better than Kobe in every statistical category this year except 3P% AND LBJ has a scrub team that got worse mid season.”

Easy. Kobe didn’t get the MVP in his memorable 35 ppg season. Not saying that’s LBJ’s fault, but c’mon. If the voters were to reward LBJ for frankly a less-superior season than Kobe’s a few years ago in a year where he took a more talented team than Kobe’s (recall Smush Parker and Kwame Brown were his fellow starters – playing in the WEST. ‘Nuff said) to 4th place in the eastern conference, then THAT would be unbelievably hypocritical.

Again, I’ve been basing my posts with the assumption that team success is vital. I don’t like it, but it is what it is, and it’s been what it has been the last 5 or so years (Dirk??). So yes, KB, CP3, and KG all have better claims to the trophy than LBJ IMO, using that criteria.

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“Main thing is (CP3) was better this year than he was last year, which is wha tI attribute the Honets success to…”

Two things here.

1) I asked the question above – would your opinion change if Kobe was a 3 year player who had averaged 23 ppg a game and whose team never made it to the playoffs before?

I don’t think Kobe should be penalized for playing within the team concept, taking less shots and hence scoring less. In fact, kudos to the voters for recognizing that that simple change improved him. Bringing us to…

2) Are you only taking statistics into account when you say “better than last year?” Because I can tell you now, Kobe has played much better this season than he did last season when he averaged more points. It’s not just about numbers, it’s about carrying his team when he needed to, and pumping up his teammates whenever he could.

You absolutely cannot discount the importance of Kobe’s presence on the court. The team’s entire success relied upon it this year. To say CP3 affected his team’s success so much more than Kobe is just not an accurate statement.

To that point – don’t you think having Peja play more than 13 games this year helped open up the floor for CP3, giving him more room to maneuver and helping him dish 3 more assist per game than last year? It works both ways. I won’t penalize him for his great season for finally having Peja around; as I wouldn’t penalize Kobe for having Kupchak trade for Gasol mid-season after Bynum went down.

I think it was a perfectly clear sentence, and not vague or confusing at all.

As to Deevo.

Regarding Paul last season I attribute that to him being better this year than he was last year.

Year Team G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG

06-07 NOK 64 64 36.8 0.437 0.350 0.818 0.8 3.5 4.4 8.9 1.8 0.1 2.52 2.40 17.3

07-08 NOH 80 80 37.6 0.488 0.369 0.851 0.8 3.2 4.0 11.6 2.7 0.1 2.51 2.30 21.1

I hope you can understand what I posted it looks weird. Main thing is he was better this year than he was last year, which is wha tI attribute the Honets success to.

As for Odom, you may be right, he may be a better #3 option, but I still say Gasol has been and can be a #1 scoring option so that is a advantage Kobe has going for him.

Also Memphis without Gasol is still leagues worse than LA without Kobe. LA still had Odom, Bynum, Farmar, Fisher, and Radmonovic. The grizzlies have what Rudy Gay and Mike Conley Jr., I take the Laker’s squad everyday.

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Bottom line to me is this, if they are going to give Nash MVP in 05 and 06 why not give it to Paul this year who when he has better stats than Nash had his 2 MVP years.

As for LBJ and Kobe

How in the hell can you give Kobe the MVP over LBJ this year when LBJ is better than Kobe in every statistical category this year except 3P% AND LBJ has a scrub team that got worse mid season.

“Like Cevidence said earlier, if they wanted to give him the title for past mistakes that is one thing but don’t make him this year’s MVP, that is Chris Paul.”

I’m not taking a shot at you or whatever, but still…I was not talking about ANY mistakes the man committed off the court that do not involve bball. I’m talking about strickly on the court, how he should have recieved one for his performance years before, but this year, based on performance it goes to Paul.

And now I almost positive that you don’t watch the Lakers at all because Odom is a TERRIBLE #2 option. If he was any good at that, the Lakers would have been in first place the last couple of years. The reason he is thriving is he is finally where he is comfortable – as a #3 or #4 option.

And that “take a player off a team and they wouldn’t be any good” argument can be said about more than just CP3 and Lebron. I don’t see Dwight Howard or Deron Williams being pimped with the same fervor.

And like TBR said, Memphis had at the very least as crappy a squad as the Lakers do w/o their stars. Gasol faked injury just so he wouldn’t have to play with those guys.

Now that you mention it, sure seems to me like Kobe made Gasol that much better that people think he is actually the savior of the team (after playing a mere 30 games).

But you overlooked my point about CP3′s teammates being out last year and them not making the playoffs. Of course he made all his guys better, they were finally playing.

And isn’t it possible that the Laker team looked really good because Kobe made them better, which is the argument being made for CP3? Assists are just numbers and don’t tell the whole story of making others better. You also have to look at how open other players are when you are constantly being double-teamed.

I know we’ve agreed to disagree, but it just really sounds like you barely even watched the Lakers play this year. Because in all honestly, without Kobe, that team is not even making .500 this season.

I mean hell, the Lakers have two #1 scoring options on their team, Gasol and Kobe and a decent #2 in Odom and lets not forget Bynum at the beginning of the year. They are almost the Western equivalent of the Celtics.

To everyone else, I disagree with having the MVP award given after the playoffs. I think the award is for MVP of the regular season and you shouldn’t discount people because their team is weak, a great player will not win if they don’t have adequate talent around him, so to skip over a guy because he isn’t in the playoffs not warrented in my eyes.

Deevo- I guess we will have to disagree then, because I can see a LA team making the playoffs without Kobe this year in the West. CP3 elevated his game this year and made all the guys on his team better. He turned them into a beast and they are 2 games away from sweeping the current champs. LBJ has a worse squad than last year and still got out of the 2nd round and put up terrific numbers, take him out of Cleavland and they are finishing at the bottom of the East.

Say Kobe was a 3rd year player, who previously never made the playoffs, and had a career averages of 23, 5, and 4 before this season.

To start the year, people were writing his team off again, saying they wouldn’t make the playoffs (which people were saying about the Lakers and the Hornets prior to this season).

Would you view his season this year any differently? Or would he still not be a legit MVP candidate with a mere 28, 6, and 5?

(I’m sorry I keep bringing those numbers up, but I’m just bewildered as to how people overlook those and say he wasn’t great this year. It’s like the years MJ was overlooked because he “only” averaged 29 all over again.)