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

As we know, there's a certain "we've had yours" in sports MVP decisions, and though I'm generally not a supporter of this notion, I do feel that Nash has been amply recognized from a historical perspective for what he does so well. What he doesn't do is play defense.

There's another top-notch point guard in the West that does play defense, and his name is Chris Paul. Paul is the clear-cut driving force on a team with almost no fan support, which has managed to run up a 32-14 record in the same league with the Spurs, Mavs and Rockets.

He's the best defensive point guard, with the most active hands that the lead has seen in years, and he's a model of efficiency on offense.

Paul is also emerging as one of the great "end of game assassins" in the game. It's so impressive for pass first point guard to change gears when his team needs him (reminds of John Stockton in this sense).

After watching Paul for 2 years in college, and now three years in the NBA, I think you're selling him short to call him "one of the league's great young players".

In my eyes, Chris Paul is a point guard for the ages—and I think he has a chance to be considered one of the best players to ever play the position. By the end of the year, I expect his to have fully emerged in the NBA's marketing package as the league's youthful mega stars (alongside Lebron James).

While we're on the subject, Paul should clearly get the nod over Jason Kidd as of the U.S. Olympic Team's starter this summer.

Rundowns in place, here's my list at the break:

1. Chris Paul
2. Lebron James
3. Kobe Bryant
4. Steve Nash

Andrew Ungvari

What Chris Paul has done this season is nothing short of amazing. The Hornets are atop what could be considered the toughest division in all of sports. They have no real home-court advantage and yet they’re 23-9 against the Western Conference and 6-2 within their own division.

Paul is averaging close to 21 points and 11 assists per game. That means he’s responsible for at least 43 points per game.

The Hornets average 99 points and seven 3-pointers per game. So if just two of Paul’s assists result in 3's then he’s responsible for more than half of their points. He’s also had double-digit assists in fourteen of the Hornets last 15 games.

I don’t know what other people’s definitions of the word “valuable” are but those are pretty valuable numbers.

Paul also leads the league in steals and is third in assist-to-turnover ratio.

I can only imagine where the Hornets would be without Paul.

You can always make a case for Steve Nash winning the MVP. His averages this season in points, rebounds and assists are all actually better than his career numbers.

The reason I’m not picking Nash is because the Suns have struggled in games against the Western Conference’s top teams. They are 2-7 against the Mavericks, Lakers, Jazz, Warriors and Hornets this year and in those two victories the Lakers were without Andrew Bynum and the Jazz were without Mehmet Okur.

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