Los Angeles News

LOS ANGELES (CBS) ― Everywhere the Lakers go these days, home or away, the fans break into an "M-V-P" chant when Kobe Bryant goes to the free throw line.  Because of that, when the other team's best player goes to the line, he gets the chant, too.

But who deserves the Most Valuable Player award this year?  Like the Western Conference, it's too close to call.

Keep in mind that the MVP award is subjective.  Some people think it means best player.  If that were true, Kobe should have won it for the last three years running.  As for me, I've always voted for the guy who helps his team win more than any other player.  Period.  I never vote for a guy on a losing team, unless he broke tons of records in his respective sport (which almost never happens).

With less than a month to go in the regular season (and this is strictly a regular season award, remember that), I think it's a three-horse race between Kobe, Chris Paul of the Hornets, and Houston's Tracy McGrady--in that order.

I made the argument on a radio show last week that if any of these guys lead their team to first place in the West, he gets my vote.  This is the most competitive Western Conference in NBA history, and that should mean something.  As I write this, the Lakers and Hornets are tied for the top spot, with Houston third a game back.  San Antonio and Phoenix are virtually tied with the Rockets.

By the way, nobody who plays for the Spurs, Suns, or Celtics gets consideration for this award because those teams have too many stars.  If those teams win, it's a total team effort.  To me, the MVP is always the guy who if you took him away, the team crumbles.  You can't say that about Kevin Garnett in Boston, Tim Duncan in San Antonio or Steve Nash in Phoenix, because they have too much help.  LeBron James fits my criteria, but his team hasn't won enough this year.

So let's look at Bryant, Paul and McGrady:

Kobe is having his best season ever, and that's saying something.  He's averaging 28 points and five assists a game, but that's not why I would vote for him if I had to vote today.  It's simply because there is no way this Lakers team should be in first place.  They lost Andrew Bynum in early January, then lost Pau Gasol on the first game of a brutal four-game trip.  To put it another way, he hasn't had a center for most of this season.  Still, he carries the team on a nightly basis and somehow these guys are leading a Western Conference that has San Antonio, Phoenix, Utah and Dallas?  I don't see how you can not vote for him based on that alone.

Except that Chris Paul has done the exact same thing.  Paul is averaging 21 points and 11 assists a game, and has the ball in his hands 95% of the time the Hornets are on offense.  He's the best point guard I've seen since Magic Johnson, and he's already better than John Stockton.  And just like Kobe, there is no way New Orleans should be in first place.  None.  Go back and look at every pre-season prediction you can find, and if you find anybody who picked either the Lakers or the Hornets to win the West, let me know.

By the way, the Lakers and Hornets have played three times this year.  New Orleans has won twice, and Chris Paul dominated both wins.  In the Lakers' win, Kobe torched the Hornets in New Orleans, and LA won by 30 points. They meet again at Staples Center next month. It's that close.

McGrady gets small consideration here because of that amazing 22 game winning streak, and because the Rockets are a game out of first without Yao Ming.  But he's a reach because he's hurt a lot, and I'm not sure he's the main reason the Rockets are winning.  But if Houston passes both the Hornets and the Lakers, how do you not consider him?  He averages 21 points and five assists, so he's not better than either Kobe or Paul, and the only way he gets my vote is if the Rockets pull away with another winning streak and lock up the West.  Don't see it happening, but I've put him in the discussion as a long shot.

For me, it comes down to this:  if either Kobe or Paul leads his team to the best record in the West, that guy gets my vote.  If McGrady passes both to win it (and only if the Rockets finish first, by themselves), I'll reluctantly go with him.  But if any team other than those three takes the top seed, I'm voting for Kobe.

I've reached that conclusion for two reasons:

(1)  Chris Paul has another all-star (David West) and a great defensive center (Tyson Chandler).  Kobe has no other all-star, and hasn't had a full-time center all year.  The Hornets would crumble without Paul, but the Lakers would be the Clippers without Kobe.

(2)  If we were picking teams for a game in the playground, and I had the first pick, Kobe is the guy. From everything he's done since training camp, from forcing the Lakers to make deals, to playing through a broken finger, you just can't say that any player wants to win more than he does.  And given the fact that his team is on top, he's delivered in every way.

But Paul has every right to the award if his team beats out the Lakers. With roughly ten games to go, the schedule favors LA.  It's Kobe's award to lose, and I'm betting he wins it. 

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