The criteria for the MVP award in the NBA: Is it the best overall player? Is it the best player on the best team? Is it the player who averages the most points? These three questions will yield you three different answers. Nobody seems to know exactly how the award is defined but everyone has an opinion as to who the MVP should be. This season the award can really be narrowed down to four candidates in my opinion: Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki and LeBron James, with my vote going for the latter.
Kobe Bryant, the NBA scoring leader (35 pts/g), is a tremendous talent but leads the NBA in shots attempted and has the lowest field goal percentage of any of the four above candidates. Scoring 81 points in a game is great but unlike Nash and James, Kobe fails to make anyone on his team better. He jacks up shot after shot and you can’t give the award to the scoring leader when he brings nothing else to the table.
Steve Nash, last year’s MVP winner, is averaging 19 points and 10 assists on a team without their big man, Amare Stoudemire. Nash can carve up a defense as good as any point guard in the league and can create for his teammates, no doubt. Some may say Nash is the obvious choice because he’s putting up his numbers in the absence of Stoudemire. But don’t forget, another possible darkhorse MVP candidate, Shawn Marion, runs alongside him in Phoenix, taking some of the load off Nash.
Dirk Nowitzki has put up great numbers on one of the best teams in the league but falls a little short in my opinion.
And then there’s the man-child known as LeBron James. The fact that he’s putting up 31, 7, and 6.6 as a 21-year-old is a little disgusting to think about in and of itself. The guy has unbelievable individual numbers for a player his age. If that alone isn’t enough to convince you that LeBron should be the 2006 MVP, consider the fact that the Cavaliers have locked up the fourth seed in the playoffs and LeBron has the chance to lead his team to a 50-win season without having his right hand man Larry Hughes for half the season. LeBron is a physical freak who can get to the basket at will. Sure, he could be like Kobe and put up nearly 30 shots a game but he chooses not to because he loves getting everyone else on his team involved. He has really grown into the role of team leader this season and has not shied away from pressure situations. Answering his critics, he has finally proven that he can knock down game-winning shots as well as set them up for other teammates (Damon Jones, Flip Murray). LeBron has changed the face of the NBA and has resurrected the city of Cleveland. And, oh yeah, he’s only 21. LBJ for MVP!
