Dirk Nowitzki Is Your MVP Front-Runner

I won't lie. I'm not what you would call an impartial observer when it comes to the Dallas Mavericks or Dirk Nowitzki.

As a generally positive person, I tend to believe that my teams can do better than they can, but years of Red Sox fandom has also taught me that disaster is always lurking.

But you'd have to be an idiot not to think Dirk isn't having an incredible season. He is. An MVP caliber season so far, with everything you could have asked of Dirk.

Lead a comeback over a good team? Against the Jazz, he scored 29 points in the fourth quarter.

Perform in the clutch? How about a buzzer-beater against the red-hot Milwaukee Bucks, who hadn't lost at home before?

What's that? You want more clutch? Okay, how about Dirk hasn't missed a free throw in the fourth quarter or overtime?

How about 11 points in overtime against the Spurs earlier in the week? And while he was doing that, on the defensive end he was keeping Tim Duncan scoreless throughout overtime.

All this leads to one conclusion: Dirk Nowitzki is the front-runner for the 2009-10 NBA Most Valuable Player.

Let the hate begin (in the comments below, of course), but the fact is, Dirk is having the best season of any possible other MVP contender.

The Mavericks currently sit tied with Phoenix for the best record in the West. While the Lakers and Spurs were handed the West at the season's start, they are currently behind the pack.

Defenders of the Lakers and Spurs will say that they've been injured, after all, Pau Gasol just saw his first game action this week, and Duncan, Ginobili and Parker have all missed varying amounts of time with injuries.

Well, the Mavericks have had their fair share of injuries, with their two primary free agent pickups (Shawn Marion and Drew Gooden) their other All-Star (Josh Howard) and their starting center (Erick Dampier) all missing significant time.

And instead of stumbling out of the gate like the Mavs have done the past few seasons, instead they're off to the second-best start in franchise history.

Dirk Nowitzki is a huge part of that. He's currently putting together career highs in blocks, steals and assists, three stats that his detractors have always pointed to when they talk about his one dimensionality as a player.

Let's face it, if the words "Dirk Nowitzki" and "MVP" didn't conjure up images of Dirk receiving the award after his team was bounced ignominiously from the playoffs in 2007, he would be number one on every one's ballot.

Well, he's No. 1 on this ballot, No. 2 on this one, and ESPN seems to have been smoking something, because they have Dirk sixth .

Seriously, ESPN, Dwyane Wade is having a better season than Dirk? They give two reasons for having Wade so high, his game winner against the Nets (a winless team that the Heat should have blown out if they expect to contend) and his dunk over Anderson Varejao.

Meanwhile, Dirk has a buzzer-beater against a Bucks team that hadn't lost at home, and is probably a playoff team.

Sure, Wade's dunk over Varejao was pretty, but if that qualifies him for an MVP over Dirk's momentum changing three-point play over San Antonio this week, then the system is seriously flawed.

LeBron James? Sure, he's putting together a great season, as always, but his team is still struggling to find an identity, and they've lost several winnable games.

Dirk on the other hand has risen to the occasion time and time again this season, providing his team with a boost whenever they need it, including in several close games. In fact, the only OT game they've lost this season was against the Hornets, when Dirk fouled out in the fourth quarter.

People loved to proclaim Dirk on the downhill side of his career as his numbers dipped last year, but instead Dirk is evolving into the most complete game he's ever had.

For someone who has been handing the ball so much for the Mavs this season, Dirk has only turned the ball over 19 times in 13 games. For a 7-footer who often gets double-teamed, that's a a pretty amazing stat.

Last night against the Kings, Dirk was having an off night shooting the ball, so he decided to dish out a season-high seven assists.

A criticism of Dirk has always been his reliance on his jumper. While it's his best shot, people (me among them at times) have said he needs to get more aggressive.

Well, he's done that this year, and the results are spreading to the Mavs as a team. Dirk is seventh in the NBA in getting to the line, and at 90 percent from the charity stripe, is shooting a better percentage than everyone in the top 50 in free throw attempts except Chris Douglas-Roberts, who is No. 50.

Everybody loves to hate, and maybe Dirk wasn't the most deserving candidate for the 2006-07 MVP (Steve Nash probably deserved it the most, but he won it in the two years past, when I don't think he should have, but that's a whole other can of worms), but he's certainly deserving of it so far this year.

I  know it's a long season and a small sample size, but Dirk Nowitzki is playing better than anybody in the league right now, and if he continues to perform when the Mavs get healthy, an MVP trophy might not be the only trophy he gets.