It’s not official yet, but word has leaked that Kobe Bryant will win his first MVP award.
“The game tomorrow is a beast sitting on my shoulders,” Bryant said after practice Saturday, referring to the opener of the second-round series against the Jazz. “I’m reserving judgment until I hear from David Stern.”
That being said, the 29-year-old Bryant didn’t need much prodding to share his feelings.
“I’m very excited about it. I didn’t know if it was going to happen in my career,” he told reporters. “It’s a great honor. It means a lot. To me, it’s very special. It’s very special to share it with these guys.”
In my year-end awards column, I predicted that the anti-Kobe sentiment would help Chris Paul win the award:
And then you have the likeability factor. Paul has it and Kobe doesn’t. Bryant is no doubt a popular player, but he’s also the league’s most hated. Meanwhile, Paul seems to be universally loved. Like it or not, being the most valuable player to some degree requires a player to be a good teammate, both on and off the court. Kobe’s on-again/off-again trade demands last summer, along with his decision to throw Andrew Bynum and Mitch Kupchak under the bus, have destroyed any shred of “good teammate” rep that Kobe had left.
Some sportswriters will weigh the likeability factor more heavily than others, but I think most voters are just looking for an excuse not to reward Kobe’s offseason antics by giving him his first MVP. And in Chris Paul they have the perfect alternative. No one thought the Hornets would be this good and CP3 is one of those guys that simply makes everyone around him better. If you only consider the on-court performance, an argument could be made that Kobe’s season is more deserving, but the NBA is not played in a vacuum, and Kobe’s wild summer will seep into voters’ minds, as it should.
Then, after some more thought, I wondered if a three-way race that included Kevin Garnett might actually help Kobe’s chances.
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.
The results haven’t been released yet, but I’m interested to see if Kobe got a majority of the first place votes. If he didn’t, it’ll prove that the three-way nature of this race helped him win.
In the end, I think Paul’s age worked against him. Kobe-apologists argued that he deserved it in years past (he didn’t) and that Paul will have plenty of opportunity to win it (who knows?), so Kobe should win the award. Bryant had some terrific seasons in his career, but in the years that he was contending for the MVP, he wasn’t on a 50+ win team, and the voters simply don’t give the award to a player who is not on an elite team. It hasn’t happened in over 20 years.
Kobe had a terrific season, but given his offseason antics, I’m not happy that he won this award. He threw Andrew Bynum and Mitch Kupchak under the bus, was distant and moody in November, never apologized, and took credit for Bynum’s emergence as a star. Now the voters (sportswriters) are rewarding his antics with a MVP award. People complain about all the “me-first” superstar athletes these days – what kind of message does this send? You can throw your teammates under the bus, but as long as you bring it during the regular season, we’ll give you the Most VALUABLE Player award. Does being “valuable” include being a good teammate?
That’s up to each individual voter, I guess.
