Wait No Longer: Kobe Bryant Is the NBA MVP

Photo by Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images

 
"Patience is the greatest of all virtues."--Cato the Elder (234 BC-149 BC)

That one quote is something Kobe Bryant could have lived off of the last three seasons, after being shafted of the Most Valuable Player award year after year.

But wait no longer, Mr. Bryant, you are now the Most Valuable Player of the 2007-08 NBA season.

From averaging 35.4 PPG in the 2005-06 season to scoring 81 points in the same season, Kobe has been overlooked for the league's MVP the last three seasons.

Though he deserved the MVP at least once of the last two seasons, this one could not have come at a better time. 

His team was first place in the Western Conference this year and unlike in seasons past, his team actually has a chance to win a world championship this year. 

Yes Chris Paul deserved it, and yes Kevin Garnett may have deserved it, but Kobe  is the epitome of valuable.

All the MVP, MVP chants used to make me sick to my stomach, but I have come to realize that the chants are what gave me that wake up call. 

Those chants made me realize just how great Kobe has become.  Fans don't just chant MVP to anyone; you have to earn it and those chants told me that it's time to become a realist.  It's time to drop the hatred for a man you've never met in your life.

Bryant's contribution to the Lakers has been paramount to why the Los Angeles Lakers are contenders again.  Some said (myself) he had no chance to succeed without Shaquille O'Neal, and some thought he (myself once again) would never reach a level of greatness.   

And as one of his biggest haters from your early years in the NBA, I have to say that I have nothing but respect for him now.

He used to be one nappy head, cocky, arrogant, and self-centered bastard, but what he has done for the game is something that happens once in a lifetime. 

So in closing, congrats to you, Kobe you've earned it.

Michael Whittenberg is a NBA Community Leader and Senior Writer for Bleacherreport.com