If I were somehow able to vote on this year's NBA MVP, I'm virtually positive that my vote would go to, and it pains me to say this, Kobe Bryant. My second place vote would go to Lebron James. Dirk gets my third place vote.

MVP voters usually use one of two criteria when voting for an MVP; do you give it to the best all around player, or do you give it to the player most valuable to their team. I just can't see voting against Kobe, no matter what criteria you use. For one, he's the best player in the league, pure and simple. And two, without Kobe, the Lakers are a pretty sub-standard team.

-Chauncey Billups is great, but the Pistons still contend for the title without him.

-Steve Nash is good, but let's face it here people, the Phoenix Suns are the Dallas Mavericks before they started to learn how to play defense. They've mastered this great offense, but how many *great* teams have they even contended with? Oh I know they don't have Amare, but come on, you play with what you've got, not what you've "potentially" got.

-Lebron James is not a good player, he's a great player. If he gets some good help around him, he can be one of the all-time greats. And without him, the Cavs are NOTHING. But he isn't the player Kobe is...not yet.

-Dirk Nowitzki is revolutionizing the Center/Power Foward position. He's essentially a 7 foot shooting guard. He can post up, or hit the three. He can drive the basket, or keep you from doing the same. I think they have a really good shot against the Spurs, should both teams make it to the second round.

-Dwayne Wade is an amazing player, but the Heat are pretty awful. They played about 2.5 weeks of inspired basketball, but haven't done much since. And Wade's been hurt too much this season.

-Jason Kidd and Vince Carter both desserve recognition, but the Nets did too little too late to even have them in the same breath as any of these other players. With that being said, I think if any team other than the Detroit Pistons is going to make it to the NBA Finals out of the East, this combo has a good shot at making sure it's the Nets.

-Tony Parker has been a monster in the paint. When's the last time you've heard of a point guard being one of the league's top five scorers in the paint? But like Chauncey, Tony Parker is on a great team, so it's hard to know just how "valuable" he is to a team of all-stars.

-Kobe Bryant is simply amazing. He's one of those players that can virtually take over any ballgame he's in. The fact that he's propelled the Lakers to a pretty decent record, when most of the pre-season prognosticators had them not even making the playoffs, is pretty amazing. I don't expect them to win the West, but I do think they have a good chance at beating Phoenix, their likely first round match-up. Should that happen, Kobe will guarantee himself the MVP award.

that's all for now...the NBA Playoffs are right around the corner. Yeehaw!

matt out