NBA All-Star Game: Best of the Best—Who's Winning the MVP?
It's a question that's not asked much.
Any MVP discussion is usually dominated by regular season MVP and, at times, Finals MVP.
However, the All-Star Game MVP is certainly worth discussing, as it rewards the best of the best each year. Being an All-Star is a worthy merit in itself, but when you can proclaim yourself the MVP of the All-Star Game, well, that puts you on a whole other plateau.
So without further ado, here are the most likely players to win the All-Star Game MVP this year.
Just Missed the Cut
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There's quite a bit of difference between being a regular All-Star and an All-Star MVP candidate. Obviously we can't have everyone on the team as a candidate.
First-year All-Stars are the easiest to eliminate, as they are new to the event and are just soaking in and enjoying the fact that they're simply in the game.
Injury-prone/caution players are other ones to remove from candidacy, as they are probably more concerned about their health and availability for the rest of the season than risking injury in this one game. Their minutes will likely be less as well, making it that much more difficult to win.
Here are the players that just missed the cut.
East: Amar'e Stoudemire
He's one of those players with injury concerns. Stoudemire has been banged up heading into All-Star Weekend with a toe injury and has played heavy minutes for the Knicks, logging almost 37 a game. His minutes will likely be a bit limited, hurting his MVP chances.
West: Chris Paul
Paul has been an All-Star for quite some time now, but he's never emerged as the MVP in any of his selections to the game. There's a reason for that: He's a passer. The last point guard to win All-Star Game MVP was Allen Iverson back in 2005 and before that in 2001. Paul's likely low-scoring total will hurt his chances.
East: Derrick Rose
Same reasons as listed for Paul, but Rose may have more of a chance since he's more of a scoring PG than Chris Paul. Still, Rose is relatively fresh to the game and is participating in only his second All-Star Game, and his first start, so he'll look to defer to the veteran guys.
West: Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk always shows us that he has a chance to win the trophy before cooling off. This year will be the same—he'll come in, hit a few jumpers and leave. The West is stacked at the forward spot, and the fact that Nowitzki isn't starting will only hurt his chances more.
Candidate 1: Kevin Durant (West)
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If you're a scorer in the All-Star Game, you'll always have a good chance of winning the MVP. No one fits the bill better than the leading scorer in the NBA this season, Kevin Durant.
Durant is starting for the West and will likely log major minutes, as he's one of the West's most potent scoring options. The All-Star Game is played with relatively little defense, allowing Durant to make most of the jumpers he'll take.
Where Durant suffers is inexperience, as this is only his third All-Star Game and his first as a starter. There's also the fact that Durant will not be able to do much other than score, as the West is loaded with capable rebounders in Pau Gasol, Blake Griffin and Kevin Love.
Points alone don't look like they will be enough to win the award.
Candidate 2: Dwight Howard (East)
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Howard has taken his offensive game up a notch this season and as a result is averaging a career-best 22.8 points per game.
However, his offensive game is still light years away from his defensive game. With the East having more than its fair share of scorers in Dwyane Wade, LeBron James and Derrick Rose, it doesn't look like Howard will do more than rebound and block shots at a high rate, as well as catch a few alley-oops in the process.
Dwight has also logged some heavy minutes for the Magic at nearly 37 minutes a game. His minutes being limited is certainly a possibility, as Al Horford and Kevin Garnett are there to back him up.
Superman will get a double-double but probably won't win the trophy.
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Candidate 3: Kobe Bryant (West)
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The hometown veteran.
Bryant will look to lead the West to a victory after sitting out of the big game with an injury last year.
Kobe is already a three-time winner of the trophy, winning back in 2002 in his home city of Philadelphia, winning in 2007 in Las Vegas and taking the hardware most recently in 2009, when he shared the award with his controversial former teammate Shaquille O'Neal.
Kobe, as we all know, has other things on his mind, with the Lakers struggling heading into the All-Star break. He'll look to play a bit passively since he's already won the award numerous times.
The Finals MVP is really what Bryant wants again.
Candidate 4: Dwyane Wade (East)
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Last year's MVP.
Wade has been nothing less than his spectacular self with his sensational 24-6-4 stat line, which is even more impressive because he's doing it next to the best player in the game, LeBron James.
Wade has as good of a chance as anyone to win the MVP and repeat his claim as All-Star's best. However, he'll have much more competition this season with a new, improved and reloaded All-Star lineup now featuring two other potent scorers in Amar'e Stoudemire and Derrick Rose, who will for sure look to take away from Wade's scoring—not to mention LeBron James and Dwight Howard.
However, that doesn't diminish the fact that Wade can very well win the award, assuming the East wins the game.
Candidate 5: Carmelo Anthony (West)
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What many may not remember is that Carmelo Anthony would have won the MVP last year had the West won the game. He put up 27 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
This season, he's in a very good position to repeat his performance, as he's starting, and get a second chance at winning the award again.
Despite all the hoopla and drama surrounding Anthony, he's still the most complete offensive player in the game and can hurt you in more ways that you can count. Melo is as good of a scorer as you can get, and he'll put points on the board in a hurry. Add a couple rebounds in there and you've got yourself a legitimate All-Star MVP candidate.
The only major obstacle Anthony will have is carrying his team to the win, as the West looks to be a bit outmatched by the reloaded Eastern Conference this year.
Candidate 6: LeBron James (East)
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The two-time winner of the award and the youngest All-Star MVP in history will look to add another All-Star MVP trophy to his showcase.
There's no reason to think he can't. What James has done this season should prove that he will dominate and put up monster stats on whatever team he's on and whatever players he's surrounded by.
Put him on the Celtics, he'll still average 26-7-7. Lakers? Ditto. LeBron James is the best player in the game, and it's only fitting that he be named the best player of the All-Star Game. Even with all the talent surrounding him, James finds a way to shine and stand out.
He looks to be the front runner for the award and will look to lead a loaded East team to a W at the Staples Center.
Winner: LeBron James
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If you didn't get the hint in the last slide, my prediction for the All-Star Game MVP goes to LeBron.
He always finds a way to make a major impact even alongside stars and could have made an argument for the award for each of the seven times he participated in the game.
To solidify my argument, here are James' statistics from each of his six All-Star Games.
2005: 13 pts, 8 rebs, 6 asts, 2 stl
2006: 29 pts, 6 rebs, 2 asts, 2 stl (MVP)
2007: 28 pts, 6 rebs, 6 asts, 1 stl
2008: 27 pts, 8 rebs, 9 asts, 2 stl (MVP)
2009: 20 pts, 5 rebs, 3 asts, 0 stl
2010: 25 pts, 5 rebs, 6 asts, 4 stl
Add all that up and you get All-Star career averages of:
23.7 pts, 6.3 rebs, 5.3 asts and 1.8 stls
There's no reason to think the monster stats and all-around impact of James won't carry on over to this season's game. He'll once again be dominant and bring home the MVP award with ease. The only obstacle in James' way is if the West were to win the game.
Sure, James may seem like the easy pick, but then again, I don't like being wrong.
Let's hear your pick for All-Star Game MVP.
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