NBA Roundtable: Who's the NBA's Most Valuable Player?

Instead, the prestigious award is rightfully given to the best and most valuable player on one of the league’s best teams.  And over the last three seasons the Los Angeles Lakers had no claim to being one of the best.

But this year is different.

After a summer that saw Kobe publicly calling for his trade, he’s done an amazing job leading the Lakers on and off the court.  And the result has been a surprising first half for the Lakers as they’ve posted one of the best records in the Western Conference.

"Despite his teammates' bickering, Nash continues to get the most out of the Suns every single night and terrorizes opponents with his creative brilliance."  -Erick Blasco

One of the big differences this season is Bryant.  Kobe Bean is taking less shots, sharing the ball, giving his teammates confidence and even sticking up for them when it matters most.

When LA fans booed Kwame Brown at a recent home game, it was number 24 who had his back, telling those fans what they did was “terrible” and if they wanted to do that “they can stay home.”

It appears that Kobe Bryant is maturing before our very eyes and if his Lakers can survive a long, upcoming road trip and Andrew Bynum’s knee injury and finish as one of the West’s top teams, I think Bryant should be hoisting that Maurice Podoloff over his head in May.

Dave Finocchio 

Just a hair under 50 games into the season, I think we're looking at four legitimate MVP candidates: Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Steve Nash, and Chris Paul.

Bryant is the most likely benefactor of the "Dirk Nowitzki award" (formerly known as the "Karl Malone award"), going to the player who's built up sentimental momentum from the "media" resulting in a "no, he probably didn't deserve it" consensus two months after the fact.

Why all the expected compassion? Because Bryant is in his 12th year in the NBA, and too many people can't expect him to "justifiably" outshine the likes of LBJ for much longer.

Kobe's having another great year, but statistically, nothing he's doing stands out from his past 3-4 seasons. Of course, basketball is a team game, and Bryant's case is also compelling from an ashes to grace perspective.

Talk about stats, Lebron James is averaging 30 points, 7 assists and 8 rebounds, and the room for improvement in his game is still so apparent.

Simply put, he's the most dominant penetrator in league history, which begs the question, why is he still shooting under 50%? Picky, I know. Lebron is beast of an individual, but in my eyes, the Cavs have to continue this run if he's going to win out over the best of the West.

Steve Nash is having his fourth straight remarkable season, and his second straight season where it's hard to distinguish the now from what he did during his two MVP awards.

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