Kobe Bryant: Can Los Angeles Lakers Win a Title If Kobe Wins MVP Award?

When ESPN and the TrueHoop network released their rankings of the NBA's top 500 players, I was disappointed, and a little bitter to see Kobe Bryant ranked at seventh, but I could understand their logic.

The rankings were based on the current quality of players in the league, and at the end of the 2011 season, Kobe didn't look to good.

A fractured finger on Bryant's shooting hand, an injured knee and an uninspired performance in a four game sweep left many to wonder if Father Time had finally began to leave an imprint on Bryant's game.

In a word, no.

It seems like Bryant was paying attention to all the whispers and rumors that his game was in decline, and now his game is forcing everyone to once again pay more attention to him.

Bryant is currently leading the NBA in scoring at 32.0 points per game, and he is also contributing 5.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists, while shooting 46 percent from the field.

Those numbers do not suggest that Kobe is the league's seventh best player, in fact, there are many people who consider Bryant to be a leading candidate to capture the NBA's MVP award in his 16th season.

But what does Kobe's individual success mean for the Lakers?

Kobe has been my favorite Laker since the Charlotte Hornets traded his rights to Los Angeles in 1996, but I've always put the franchise in front of any players.

Under that pretense, Kobe's recent scoring binge worries me, because if the Lakers hope to advance deep into the postseason, there will have to be more balance between the perimeter and the post.

In recent articles, I have been criticized for pointing out that a more dedicated effort is needed to establish Lakers big men Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol in the paint, considering the huge size and skill advantage they have over most opponents.

Numerous readers have suggested that both Bynum and Gasol have been afforded their opportunities to score in the paint, and Bryant shouldn't be blamed if they can't score once the ball is passed into the post.

But the only problem is once Bynum or Gasol kick the ball out after the initial entry pass, it hardly ever comes back to them.

The first pass into the post is usually only good to gauge and establish positioning, but the second entry pass after re-posting is what leads to a shot attempt.

However, Bryant's focus has been less on that second pass and more on using the first one to establish his own spacing on the floor.

I understand that in the Lakers offense, Kobe is always going to eat first, but lately, he has been eating second and third as well, and I'm not sure if the Lakers can compete for a title under those circumstances.

Of course, the season is only 14 games old, and the situation could change if the Lakers can ever find a legitimate point guard to take the responsibility of being the Lakers primary distributor out of Kobe's hands.

Through 14 games, Kobe has more than proved that ESPN got it severely wrong by ranking him as the league's seventh best player, and if he can maintain this pace, it will be difficult not to hand him the NBA's MVP award.

But at this juncture of his career, team achievements should hold a little more weight than individual accomplishments, and hopefully Bryant will remember this as the season continues.