Wednesday links/know your fanposts and fanshots: Injury updates, Rose praise, Omer praise, Noah at the mic

The reason Rose is in the MVP discussion is because their is no clear cut candidate. This is exactly like the first year Nash won it or when Kidd came in 2nd. You have a popular player from a popular team exceeding expectations in a year where people don’t want to give the award to the guy who has won 2 straight MVPs but than pissed everyone off.

the Candidates

Dwight Howard

Pros: best defensive player in the game; much improved offensive game; cleary the best and most important player on his team; best player at his position by far; never has won the award before
Cons: game isn’t sexy; Orlando has probably underperformed to what everyone thought they’d be coming into the season; there is a bias against centers i believe, that makes it so you have to be absolutely dominant to get consideration for this award. He isn’ dominant

Rose

Pros: Has made the leap; clear best player on a team taking a noticeable jump; very good numbers and improvements across the board; plays in a huge basketball friendly media market; the anti-Lebron
Cons: 3rd year player; doesn’t have the same efficiency as other top guys; simply not someone you can argue – “that guy is the best player in the league”

Durant

Pros: the original anti-Lebron; the original humble-bot; great scoring numbers
Cons: Westbrook stealing some of his thunder (pun intended); hasn’t made the leap people expected; game isn’t very flashy or exciting

Lebron

Pros: Best player in the league having another great season; the contrarian/push-back pick
Cons: two time MVP; hated; yeah Cleveland has fallen apart without him, but Miami hasn’t been quite what people expected

Wade

Pros: playing the sort of Kobe role to Lebron’s Shaq; takes the big shots; fabulous numbers; never has won the award before despite being one of the top 5 players in the league for quite awhile
Cons: hate shrapnel from Lebron; not best player on team; numbers just a smidgen below Lebron’s

Chris Paul

Pros: never has won the award; an efficiency lovers wet dream; New Orleans has outperformed expectations;
Cons: played better the previous 2 years; New Orleans is probably has the lowest profile of any good team in the NBA

Dirk

Pros: having a fantastic year; Dallas fell apart without him
Cons: he already won the award – when you think of this generation players – do you think of two time MVP Dirk Nowitki?; dallas hasn’t exactly looked great upon his return.

Kobe

Pros: Lakers are once again one of the top teams and once again he is the driving force; no clear cut candidate leaves the door open for a “lifetime achievement award” pick, Kobe fits the bill. Does it make sense for Nash to have 2 and Kobe to have 1 MVP when he has been arguably the most dominant and successful b-ball player over the last decade?
Cons: He has played better in prior years; he has a great set of teammates who at the start of the year were getting the lion share of credit; surprisingly, the Lakers are almost under the radar with all the attention being paid to the East and young guys.

If I were to pick out my top 5 candidates I would say
1. Lebron
2. Rose
3. Paul
4. Kobe
5. Dirk

In a year with this much up in the air and so many guys having great but not HOF type years, I’d go with the guy who is clearly the best player. However, generally you give it to the best player on the best team and since I don’t see any viable candidates on the Spurs or Celtics I think this is a year where Kobe could steal the award. My guess at the final voting would be

1. Kobe
2. Rose
3. Lebron
4. Dirk
5. Paul

Its an interesting year. Rose has a very viable case. I hope he wins it; nothing wrong with a little love. The naysayers would just motivate him. But I think all it will take is one well timed article by Adande (which I’m sure he and Kobe are crafting now) followed up by a Hollinger article saying Kobe is having his best season in 4 years, to get sentiment on his side. If LA gets to 1st in the West, he could win it by a landslide.