Part 1

Part 2

In regards to any Bulls . . .

29:  Carlos Boozer (ahead of Bosh)

21:  Joakim Noah

By the way, every writer with an MVP ballot who thought Chicago should trade Noah and Luol Deng for Carmelo Anthony should have that ballot taken away. Promptly. Like, right now.

4:  Derrick Rose

I still have him as the MVP. If you disagree, go look at the standings, try to find me 10 games that Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah played together, then watch Keith Bogans play for 10 minutes. Derrick Rose did more for that team through the first 50 games than anyone else did for their team; doesn't make him the best player, just the most valuable. At least so far. Of course, we can't sleep on this scenario, courtesy of Tim in Troy:

"I think we could have a Hakeem Olajuwon/David Robinson situation brewing with the 2011 MVP: What if Rose gets presented with the trophy in front of LeBron before a Bulls-Heat Round 2 playoff game? I picture a standard LeBron Eff You game (40, 10, and 10, five mean dunks, sits for the fourth quarter) making Hakeem's shakedown of The Admiral look like a birthday present."

Great call. And yet, here's the difference between Rose and Robinson: Rose would get ticked off by the Eff You performance, try to match it … and then it would be on like Donkey Kong. Have I mentioned how excited I am for the 2011 playoffs? I've mentioned that, right? We're definitely getting Boston-Chicago, Boston-Miami or Chicago-Miami in Round 2. Round 2!!!! Any one of those three matchups will be old-school, '80s style, no-handshaking bloodbaths. I can't wait for the refs to get overprotective and screw it up.

The 3 ahead of Derrick in order are:

3:  Kevin Durant

2:  Dwight Howard

1:  LeBron James

With the exception of LeBron, you'd probably be able to come up with a case for Derrick to jump ahead of anyone above him on this list.  Doug Thonus actually does in his latest podcast.

The argument against Durant is that he's so one dimensional.  He scores.  After that, then what?

The argument against Howard is that you can't go to him at the end of games.

What doesn't Derrick do?  Nothing really.  He can certainly get better in different aspects of his game and has already (defense & shooting) but there's nothing you can say he lacks.  He makes his teammates better, he's clutch, he rebounds and defends very well for his position & he's as exciting (also humble) as they come.

Don't those things count?  Or do you just have to be taller than him to get the nod?