I’m not sure why I’m spending so much time thinking about the MVP race. Maybe deep down I just don’t want to see Kobe rewarded for his tumultuous offseason. Something irks me about a player being rewarded with such an honor after throwing his teammate and GM under the bus and then taking credit for his team’s turnaround when an All-Star is gift wrapped and dropped at his doorstep before the trade deadline.
Something occurred to me as I was eating my oatmeal this morning – since, by most accounts, it’s a three-way race, could KG and CP3 split the “good teammate” vote allowing the Kobe die-hards to win it for their guy?
Let’s assume that 40% of the voters intend to vote for Kobe, and that 60% are going to vote non-Kobe. If that anti-Kobe vote splits 50/50 between Paul and Garnett, Kobe would win with a 40/30/30 ratio.
Of course, voters have a five-person ballot and points are awarded based on a player’s position in the ballot – 10 points for first, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth, so it’s not so simple. But if that ratio translates to the entire ballot, it’s conceivable that Kobe (or another player) could win the award with less than half the first place votes.
One thing’s for sure – now that Kobe is on a team with 50+ wins, the MVP race is far more interesting.
