MVP?

The MVP race is really interesting. I believe it all comes down to your philosophy of what the MVP means. If you think it needs to go to the best player on the best team then it can really on go to Dirk, Nash, or Timmy as they have clearly been the class of the league. If you believe it should go to the best player that is doing the best they can without too much help then it would have to go to someone like Kobe, T-Mac, or LeBron. Those teams would clearly suffer without those players. Obviously all of the players I mentioned are excellent and the teams would be hurt by their absence. Some people make the argument that Nash (Marion and Amare), Duncan (Parker and Ginobili) and to a lesser extent Dirk (Howard, Terry, and Stackhouse) have too much help to be the most valuable but using that argument would eliminate any of Jordan's MVP's with Pippen.

I think the choice boils down to Dirk or Kobe. The Mavs have done things no other NBA team has done and Dirk is having a great year (2nd in PER). Kobe is very valuable and many people (coaches and other players included) say that he is the best player in the league and he is having another great year (3rd in PER). Nash is great and he does make his teammates better but he also gets a lot of help from being surrounded by great finishers and great shooters. Imagine if Kobe played on the Suns, the pick and roll would be unstoppable with Amare and you would pay for doubling Kobe. Nash does make his teammates better but its also the system he plays in and his supporting cast. Its not a coincidence that when he went to Phoenix his assists went up - he played with better finishers. John Hollinger also made a good point - "there is a good reason why no one was saying Nash was the best player on the Mavs"

All in all the award must go to Dirk or Kobe followed by Duncan/Nash and LeBron