Kobe = MVP this year

[ClintusMaximus]

It will be good to see.  I know few of you here are basketball fans, but Kobe should receive his first MVP award.  Yeah, there are other strong candidates... Chris Paul... KG... Lebron James, but I'm guessing Kobe will pick it up.  Being #1 in the west after all that's happened is quite an achievement.

[Pete]

Steve Nash without a doubt.

[millamak]

It will be good to see.  I know few of you here are basketball fans, but Kobe should receive his first MVP award.  Yeah, there are other strong candidates... Chris Paul... KG... Lebron James, but I'm guessing Kobe will pick it up.  Being #1 in the west after all that's happened is quite an achievement.

I agree, since the Laker's are going to win the west, that he should be MVP.  Had New Orleans taken # 1, then I would have had to go with CP3. 

[Jeremy]

I look at it like this.

Which team would do better without their best player?  I have to believe that with gasol, odom, and fisher the lakers would do alot better then New orleans would without paul.

[ELake]

Yeah I agree with that Jer....When KG was with the 'wolves he should have won MVP every season he was with them.. They had no supporting cast... Now flash forward the Celtics - they have tons of weapons and would probably play pretty strong without KG..

[ClintusMaximus]

Disagree.  BEFORE the Lakers got Gasol and before the Bynum injury, the Lakers had the best record in the west.  They had zero all-stars other than Kobe and guys that wouldn't even start on other teams in their lineup.  The Hornets have a pretty damn strong team filled with guys who play good D and know the game.  David West is a stud.  Peja is a former All-Star.  Chandler play stout D and rebounds like a horse.  They fit together very very well.  The Lakers lost Bynum for 35 games... Mihm for the whole season, Ariza for 30 games, Walton for 20, and they still managed to get the #1 spot in the West.

If you want to play that whole, "who would be better without their supporting cast" crap, lets take a look at Nash's MVP a couple of years ago when Kobe had one of the single greatest years any player has had in recent history.  He had a team of castoffs with 3 starters that now don't even get minutes on ANY team.  nash, who won MVP, had Amare stoudamire and Shawn Marion, Barbosa, and actual real basketball players.  Sorry, those types of comparisons don't hold water.

[ELake]

If Odom doesn't bring his A game the Laker's wont go very deep in the playoffs anyway.. I think that he is the most critical player besides Kobe

Nash won the MVP those years because of his passing abilities and creating opportunities for his teammates.. I hate Nash just as much as the next guy but our beloved NBA likes to stick a "respectable, clean cut" face on awards..

Lets face it, the NBA has an image problem.

[Pete]

the NBA has a lot of problems, which is why I quit watching!

1.  the whole thug image, which I guess they're working on?  I still see guys clowning like morons all the time
2. failure to follow the rules.  I'm tired of seeing blatantly obvious traveling, ball palming etc.  WTF is with allowing the huge ridiculous bunny hop?  give me a break
3. the season drags on forever.  By the time its playoff time, the only people who care are die hard basketball fans.  In my opinion the NBA season needs to end BEFORE baseball season starts.  The NHL is the same way.

[ClintusMaximus]

I think the NBA has come along way with the image problem. You don't see the same stuff going on, and with the dress code it's cleaned things up. They also do a great deal to help the community.  As much as David Stern is a fag he's been doing some good things too.

The NBA is as long as the NHL season and MY GOD IS THE NHL BORING!!!!!!!!!  actually, baseball is pretty damn long too.  Shit, all sport seasons are pathetically long in reality.

Also, they are definately emphasizing travelling and palming now.  You weren't the only one Pete.  The bunny hop is legal... it's a step :)

[Pete]

I think it's a lame slap in the face to the rulebook to try to emphasize more scoring for the NBA 'superstars'

[ClintusMaximus]

I think it's a lame slap in the face to the rulebook to try to emphasize more scoring for the NBA 'superstars'

  ANybody can do it.  I really don't see it much anymore though.  At least not as often... my boy JR Rider used to use it all the time.  I think he's in the clink now... or thuggin somewhere.  Oh the good old days! 

[ELake]

JR Ryder!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Haven't heard that name in YEARS!!

[Pete]

I think it's a lame slap in the face to the rulebook to try to emphasize more scoring for the NBA 'superstars'

  ANybody can do it.  I really don't see it much anymore though.  At least not as often... my boy JR Rider used to use it all the time.  I think he's in the clink now... or thuggin somewhere.  Oh the good old days! 

just because anybody can do it doesn't make it ok.  It's the same crap that Shaq gets away with, anytime that dude is in the paint its offensive foul, offensive foul, offensive foul, and it never gets called.

[ClintusMaximus]

I think it's a lame slap in the face to the rulebook to try to emphasize more scoring for the NBA 'superstars'

  ANybody can do it.  I really don't see it much anymore though.  At least not as often... my boy JR Rider used to use it all the time.  I think he's in the clink now... or thuggin somewhere.  Oh the good old days! 

just because anybody can do it doesn't make it ok.  It's the same crap that Shaq gets away with, anytime that dude is in the paint its offensive foul, offensive foul, offensive foul, and it never gets called.

It's legal though... isn't a violation of any rule or anything.  It's just a big step, which is just fine.  IT's legal in college too.

[Pete]

a step = putting 1 foot in front of another, not jumping up in the air with both legs and landing in an obvious travel.