The Perpetual NBA Thread

[theveed]

ILD: I love Kobe's game, my jaw drops when I watch him, this isn't bashing him, but he doesn't qualify for being an MVP since his team sucks. If you look at this year's Phoenix, other than Shawn Marion, nobody else will get significant playing time if they weren't gelled together by Nash.

[ILuvDetailing]

true true but the Suns are the better team, they have more talent bottom up - Barbosa, Diaw and yes Marion, and Nash orchestrats their high octane offense to the tee because of his court vision and savvy. Kobe meanwhile has little to work with other the Lamar Odom, and their team is in 7th place which in itself is a milestone, on a collition course with Phoenix in the 1st round (how ironic eto pinaguusapan natin). That alone should merit some MVP consideration, but I doubt that he'll win it.

[mazdamazda]

try switching Kobe & Nash... let's see if Nash can orchestrate Odom, Brown/Mihm, George & Parker.

on the other hand... just combine Kobe, Diaw, Marion, Amare & Barbosa/House... pretty scary right? plus Diaw & Marion are clicking together even without Nash.

[ILuvDetailing]

on the other hand... just combine Kobe, Diaw, Marion, Amare & Barbosa/House... pretty scary right? plus Diaw & Marion are clicking together even without Nash.

I doubt that John, not enough shots to go around, and ofcourse it will be an expensive team . The reason why Phoenix has been so successfull this season is because players believed in the system and of course Nash, take away Nash from this team and they will struggle, thats why his health is so crucial for them to go deep in the playoffs. You take away Amare but they still win 55 games, take away Nash and they'll only win around 40 games. He is that good.

[baiskee]

sino ba magaakala papasok ng playoffs lakers start of the season? wala.

even phil jackson said that the current line-up is so young that it will take 2-3 years to become a threat in the playoffs.

nakakatakot lang nga 1st round nila....spurs agad. nyay!

[ILuvDetailing]

Oh yeah, don't forget about King James... probobly the best all around player in the NBA right now, with respect to KG. Sana makuha ko ang top pick next season

[theveed]

I wonder if KG can be traded to Phoenix next season for Amare or Marion as speculated by Yahoo...

For next season, atat na ako sa first 4 rounds ng draft :D

[kimpOy]

twolves owner glen taylor? and gm kevin mchale said that he wont trade garnett, so a garnet trade will be feasible if garnet ask for a it.

sayang twolves, if not for that Joe Smith blunder sana long term contender sila

[ILuvDetailing]

The Kevin that they should let go is Kevin Mchale.

[baiskee]

The Kevin that they should let go is Kevin Mchale.

[akuma]

my vote goes to nash... pero surprise winner si lebron...

and the championship will still go to the spurs...(solid lineup)

[ILuvDetailing]

bai: ano mag shuffle na uli tayo for the order of next seasons draft

[empy]

ILD: I love Kobe's game, my jaw drops when I watch him, this isn't bashing him, but he doesn't qualify for being an MVP since his team sucks. If you look at this year's Phoenix, other than Shawn Marion, nobody else will get significant playing time if they weren't gelled together by Nash.

iba iba kasi definitions ng tao sa MVP...i agree Kobe doesn't make anyone better...so by that definition the MVP's should be a showdown between Nash, Kidd, Shaq, Duncan and KG every year that they are playing. maybe even add Wade to that mix.

if the definition is "carrying an entire team to win games" the only guy that can challenge Kobe for that distinction is Lebron James.

potential fantasy player next season for my team..

pick him early...uunahan kita

[ILuvDetailing]

Pick him up early BUT NOT too early

He is certainly picking up his game at the right time in the season after struggling a couple of weeks ago.

[ssaloon]

speaking of lebron james, he hit the game winning shot against the hornets kanina lang.

[ILuvDetailing]

Let's see your valuables, sir
By Ric Bucher

Anybody else sick of the MVP race already? I haven't even filled out my ballot and I don't want to read, hear or say another word on the subject. Of course, being the kind of guy who finds certain kinds of self-inflicted pain interesting, I volunteered to write a column on the subject.

This year, it seems, the MVP conversation began two weeks into the season and has never let up. Remember when Elton Brand was a frontrunner back in December? Didn't even Andrei Kirilenko get a mention after the Jazz bolted to that 4-2 start? Or was that his wife after ESPN The Magazine revealed her once-a-year-freebie for Andrei?

My point being: All the fuss about who is deserving and who isn't and what makes for an MVP and what doesn't is akin to debating what length of skirt turns a girl from ***y to a slut. No one's ever defined it and know one ever will. You eyeball the evidence and decide based on your personal tastes.

From all the conversations I've had on the MVP subject -- and, trust me, I've had five for every comment I've made on air or online -- MVP has a variety of meanings. For some, it's MEP, or the league's Most Excellent Player. For others, it's MVPOAWT, or Most Valuable Player on a Winning Team. Here's a popular one: MSIPOATTWBTE or Most Statistically Impressive Player on a Team That Was Better Than Expected. Generally, the easiest and safest pick is MVPOTBT: Most Valuable Player on the Best Team. This year has brought a new one to the mix: MDPDTSOATTFS, or Most Dominant Player Down the Stretch on a Team that Finished Strong. And, finally, there's MIP, or Most Indispensable Player, as in the guy whose team would absolutely fall apart without him.

If there's a reason to be particularly fed up with all the Let-me-tell-you-who-the-MVP chatter is this season, other than it's been going on all season and continues to mutate, that's precisely it. Without first defining MVP, and acknowledging that it's your definition and not necessarily anyone else's, it's like raging at your friends for not agreeing with your choice of Air Jordans.

So, for what it's worth, here are my choices for all above. And, yes, here's the disclaimer: these are my definitions. Acronymites, feel free to create your own, order your own hardware and have your own happy little award ceremony. The guy who eventually wins the real deal will not feel slighted, I promise you.

MEP --Kobe Bryant.

MVPOAWT -- Dwyane Wade.

MSIPOATTWBTE -- Elton Brand.

MVPOTBT -- Chauncey Billups.

MDPDTSOATTFS -- LeBron James.

MIP -- Steve Nash.

Of course, I may just ask my three-year-old daughter Chance to draw five stick figures -- she just learned how -- and make my selections based on which NBA players they most resemble. The problem with that is, having seen her work, I might have to explain to the league office how Stromile Swift and Francisco Elson made my ballot.

And when it comes to self-inflicted pain, you have to draw the line somewhere.

[theveed]

Nice writeup hehe...

[wulf]

Last week I found myself in the express checkout lane at a supermarket buying nothing but four boxes of Jimmy Dean Breakfast Skillet Helpers. I guess this was a faux pas because the checkout lady stared at me like Jimmy Dean’s Breakfast Skillet Helpers were the main ingredients to contact explosives, but I had no idea that this was against proper supermarket etiquette and I would not rest until I had some of Jimmy Dean’s gift to mankind in my stomach.

If you don’t know what Jimmy Dean Breakfast Skillet Helpers are (from now on affectionately known as JDBSH), then you have quite obviously not seen the genius commercial on TV. You know the one – where the father of the family is actually the sun personified and he’s up early making his perfectly non-planetary daughter breakfast with the big box o’ JDBSH. It’s 30 seconds of raw brilliance and Jimmy Dean should be writing posthumous thank-you letters to the guy in the advertising firm who made his name cool again.

But, truth is, I don’t even like eggs. For a good year of my life, I swore I was allergic to them. Honestly, I probably won’t make it through the first box and the rest of them are just going to sit in the back of the cabinet with all of those exotic Slim Jims my parents bought in 1997. (Really, Blueberry Blast Slim Jims? C’mon.)

It’s just that, on some level, we’re all gullible. We all subliminally, or not so subliminally, fall into the trenches of advertising or product placement because we find something funny or we hear it often enough.

Prime example: every NBA pre-game show on ABC or TNT. At 8 P.M., every couple of nights a week, someone reaches up the back of Charles Barkley’s shirt, turns his settings to “Idiot, But Mildly Coherent” and he sputters off why LeBron James should be MVP of the league. He shouldn’t -- if Steve Nash won the MVP last year based on the fact that he could’ve made any team a playoff team and LeBron’s Cavs couldn’t make the playoffs in the East last year, then we’re looking at two very different criteria – but if you hear Chuck often enough, it burns into the back of your mind like a cattle prod. And, guess what, then we’re all sheep again.

The media falls into this trap, too. They discount Kenny Smith and Charles as not holding any water, but their votes are consistently in line with what the top-three in MVP voting look like. They’re in line for the proverbial JDBSH the day it comes out.

Frankly, there’s nothing we, the common fan, can do about what the media decides to air and what not to air. ESPN, TNT and ABC decide what sells in that region by who they want to market. I sound like everyone’s cynical, crazy uncle here, but it holds some truth.

There is one way, though, that will always work. But it’s not subliminal. It’s not even close. It’s loud. It’s in your face. It’s sometimes even obnoxious.

But, man, it works.
Watch a Lakers game. Any Lakers game. Win or lose, if Kobe Bryant is on or if Kobe Bryant is off. They will only chant one thing throughout the entire game, and they do it without one hint of hesitation. Nothing complicated: it’s only three letters. But those three letters have more power than any major media outlet could have in three hours worth of programming.

MVP.

Works every time. So much so that, when they did chant it, it even got the most fervent Laker-hater alive to think a little bit. I forgot about the fact that his team was barely a .500 ballclub. I forgot about his horrendous shot selection. I forgot about the disaster the NBA would have on its hands if Kobe Bryant, yes, that Kobe Bryant, was the league’s Most Valuable Player. There’s just something about those three letters that draw you in.

Once I came back down to Earth, I realized that this could work for the real MVP of the league. The one leading his team to the best record in the West after some critics predicted that his team wouldn’t even make the playoffs. The one who was third in MVP voting last year, but has only made himself better, shooting better from the field and becoming the best statistical clutch shooter in the NBA. The one about to lead his team the furthest in the playoffs that his team has ever seen: Dirk Nowitzki.

Word is spreading, too. And it’s starting just one locker over.

“He’s got my vote,” said Jason Terry, Mavs starting point guard and main Dirk-distributor. “He’s led this team this far this season. He’s my MVP.”

With six games left, Mavs fans, Jason Terry needs your help to backup his vote. Chant MVP for the guy who has the numbers to back it up. Chant it for the guy who deserves it. Chant it for the guy who is rightfully, not subliminally, putting his name in the MVP race.

Because, sometimes, there is truth in advertising.

[kimpOy]

MVP Kobe.

[baiskee]

Lakers' #8 for me. my 2nd choice is s.nash.