Why Chris Paul Is the NBA's MVP

The way it began, with his trade demands and largely negative attitude, who would’ve thought this would be Kobe’s best overall season?  With his game-changing scoring ability and clutch play, Kobe is undeniably the game’s top talent and its most feared player—he has been for years.  But he’s never combined those attributes with genuine leadership and a winning record until this season.  You can say the Lakers are near the top of the Western Conference standings because their bench is improved so significantly and because of the Pau Gasol theft, but you have to largely credit Kobe for Los Angeles’ turnaround. You have to pay tribute to his growth as a leader and trust in his teammates, without which they and the newly acquired Gasol would not have matured and flourished as quickly as they have.  That was why, for months, it was entrenched in my mind that this was Kobe’s year.  I all but had him penned-in for the Maurice Podoloff Trophy.

 But the more I thought about it, it became progressively more difficult denying Chris Paul.

 His stats (21.5 points, a league-leading 11.4 assists and 2.7 steals) are exceedingly impressive yet still belie his true value as a player.  That’s entering Tim Duncan territory when extraordinary numbers don’t fully encapsulate how impacting a player is.  He routinely dominates the floor, regularly slicing up top defenses and at times scoring at will.  When was the last time the NBA’s top assist man was also a top-20 scorer?  From the looks of it, the last was Magic Johnson over twenty years ago in 1987 when he posted 23.9 points and 12.2 assists a night.  Not bad company.

You’d be hard pressed to find a floor general who runs his offense better than CP3 (and yes, that includes Deron Williams and Steve Nash).  You can also argue that Paul’s season has been better than Nash’s two previous MVP campaigns.  He may not quite have Nash’s repertoire of passes and ambidextrousness, but his greater ability to create his own shots and those of his teammates has led to a better assist to turnover ratio (4.65 to 1 against Nash’s 3.03 to 1).  It’s no coincidence that Tyson Chandler and David West are having career years.  And let’s not forget that Paul is a defensive stalwart compared to Nash, particularly in the passing lanes.

In the end, in only his third year, Paul is the unquestioned leader of the (for now) top team in the West and is completely fearless on the court.  His teammates feed off of him like KG, he’s posting crazy stats like LeBron, and he’s winning and leading like Kobe.  In my book, there’s no other choice.

My ballot:

1.  Chris Paul

2.  Kobe Bryant

3.  Kevin Garnett

4.  LeBron James 

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?