The NBA leads us to believe that the MVP award goes to the player that is most valuable to their team. In other words, the one guy that if you take him away, the team is totally different for the worse. But now we all know the MVP votes go to the best player on the best teams. For example, in the past 10 years the MVP has come from the team with either the 1st or 2nd best record in the NBA a total of 9 times. The exception was Nash's 05-06, when the Suns had the 3rd best record in the NBA. In fact, more than half of the past 10 MVP winners have come from the team with the best record in the NBA. Yes, these players have lead their teams to a great regular season, but this does not necessarily mean that if you take this player away, the team is lost. In most cases these are teams with multiple all-stars and are still playoff teams without this MVP. If this is how the MVP is going to go from now on, they should change the criteria.
With that said, these recent all-star selections have got me to thinking about THIS years MVP (so far), based upon the TRUE criteria and not the "let's reward the best teams" motto that has clearly overcome the voters. Let us pretend the season ended today and those in the 1-8 seeds are the playoff teams. Let's look at each of the popular players who are in the running. 
In the East, we have Lebron and KG. 
The Cavs have been playing great as of late but they are only 5 games above .500 and they are in the Eastern Conference. This team is totally different without James, but in the east, they still make the playoffs. Also, James plays with two other former all-stars in Hughes and Big Z. Essentially, 3 out of their starting 5 are all-stars. But still, a viable argument could be made for LBJ, and I would have to listen. He's a beast, hands down, but I think his supporting cast is underrated.
KG's numbers are down, but he has been credited with the new mental toughness of the Celtics. I do, however, have a hard time giving the MVP award to someone who plays next to two GREAT all-stars in Pierce and Allen. Plus, KG has been out, and the team is still winning, even an impressive win over what might be the best the west has to offer (Dallas). I think the team's play without him is making my case for me. Between these two, LBJ has the edge.
Now to the west.
To me there is only two people that should be in this discussion. Kobe and Chris Paul.Yesterday the Hornets were flying high with NO all-stars on the roster. But today that's changed. Now the team has two all-stars in Paul and West. If you take Paul off that team there is no telling how bad they would be, but then again, West could emerge as a true beast if the offense ran through him. But without Paul, West gets doubled and the Hornets are probably lost. But what Paul is doing with that team is right out ridiculous. He is hard to vote against and can truly and deservedly win the award. To me, he gets the nod over LBJ.
Now on to everyone's favorite person, Kobe.Kobe is the on the one team on this list, that does not play with any other all-stars. Kobe is the only person on the Lakers to ever be invited to the mid-season hoorah. In fact, the Lakers and Warriors would be the only two teams in the west playoffs without multiple all-stars (Blazers would not be in if the season ended today)  In fact, most teams have 3 all-stars, and in some cases 4. The Lakers would have the 5th best record in the WC. If Kobe were not on the Lakers, they are a lottery team, undoubtedly. So would the Hornets be you say? The Lakers have sustained far more injuries than the Hornets and they still are afloat because of one man. For this reason, and a little bias, I would have to give the nod to Kobe over Paul. If the Hornets got injured and Paul kept them at pace, then he probably would win it in my eyes. I could not, however, be mad at all if Paul were to win it, his arguments are good and plenty and I could not be mad at such a deserving player winning this award. 
Not mentioned:EastDwight Howard - The Magic simply aren't good enough in the JV league and he is not more deserving than Lebron or KG.
WestDuncan and Dirk play on teams that are way to stacked in my eyes. Spurs have 4 all-stars and even have an all-star coming off the bench! A great team, but way to deep for this award. The Mavs also have an extremely deep team, they have one of the deepest benches in the league with the emergence of Bass. And Dirk's number's arent as impressive as the others. Nash plays with 2 other all-stars, and they lost to the twolves twice..lol.Nuggets are gross under achievers with all that talent, so nobody on that team is worth mentioning. Roy would have had an argument earlier but the Blazers are fading and probably wont make the playoffs this year.Baron Davis, although a baller, has been proven to not be the most valuable player to his team. Stephen Jackson has that honor.Sorry If i left our your favorite player. Peace all.

On with the comments!

The day Andrew Bynum's kneecap left us, the Lakers, to everyone's surprise, had the best record in the Western Conference. Bynum was the missing key, the young bench was stepping up and Kobe was playing at an MVP-make-your-teammates-better level. All us Laker fans were alone on our message boards with everybody cringing at the fact that the Lakers had been rebuilt so fast. With 2 wins against Phoenix, a split with San Antonio and not having played Dallas yet, nobody could say much negative. But two key injuries later, the Lakers drop games to the Suns, San Antonio and Dallas in one week. Not unexpected for a depleted team right? Think again, go into the Lakers board now and it's riddled with Laker-haters, don't blame your injuries for the Fakers' losses. Fakers this and Fakers that. Which got me to thinking? Where does all this animosity come from? When we beat the Suns, never once did I enter the Suns board to talk trash, I was just proud of my team. But the irrelevance of the Suns and Mavericks franchises in the history of basketball has got the fans insecure and hateful. Next time you guys go into your arena's and look up at your division titles, remember that I'm going into Staples looking up at 14 Championship banners. Which is the answer to my question. Why are the Lakers hated so much? Because they're winners, that's why.