U.S. Experts say "MVP? Kobe or Lebron!"
There's nothing quite like a good MVP debate to get NBA fans' blood pumping. Last week I argued that Kobe Bryant would be my choice if the vote were held today. Not surprisingly, the mailbag overflowed with reader responses.
Ryan Jay Pacuma from the Philippines summed up the feelings of many LeBron James backers when he asked, "How is Kobe ahead of LeBron, when Kobe has more help and James has only himself?"
Brian from Cleveland echoed that sentiment, while adding a plug for LeBron's leadership qualities: "Who had his team in the Finals last year?!"
Then there was a lengthy missive from Jonathan of Queens, N.Y., who quibbled with my contention that Kobe does more on the defensive end. "Can we stop the Kobe-as-great-defender and Lebron-as-a-poor-one myth yet?" he wrote. "Lebron averages just as many steals, twice as many blocks and more defensive rebounds."
Of course, we heard from just as many Kobe supporters arguing that an MVP award for the Lakers star would be long overdue. Some pointed out that Kobe must deal with playing in the tougher Western Conference. "The clincher is that there are 10 teams in the West over .500 while only five in the East," wrote Harry Shore from West Hills, Calif. "Thus [Kobe] is challenged more often."
We also received a surprising number of advocates for Hornets point guard Chris Paul. Chris D'Andrea asked how I could have dismissed CP3's chances when "Steve Nash won [MVP] twice, with better teammates, a worse assist-to-turnover ratio, fewer points per game and far fewer steals than Paul." Bill Donohue of Winston Salem, N.C., also predicted CP3 would be heard from again."Let's see how far the Hornets get in the playoffs before you completely write Chris Paul off," he wrote. "Each victory will have his initials on it in some way, and you may want to rethink your vote."
Fair enough. As I wrote in the piece, there is still a lot of basketball left to be played. Kevin Garnett is sure to be in the mix as well. Let's see how it shakes out over the next five weeks or so.
