Questions:

Best Player to build your offense around?

I say Dirk, can play all three front court positions with the skill set a two guard. You can run the pick and roll at half court with him (when Nash was in Dallas, the use to run it 3 feet behind the three point line). Every time he comes off a screen he takes two players with him, and, I believe, he makes the players around him better. Nick Van Excel, Jerry Stackhouse, Jason Terry, all guys who had their careers reborn or go to another level playing with him - plus the Mavs have won 50 games in a row for six seasons, and he is the only player left from the first one. (Seriously, win 50 games with Shawn Bradley and Raef LaFrentz as your front court help.)

I know a lot of folks will say Kobe, Nash, or Wade - and I can't argue - I just value a constant front court mismatch more than a dominate guard. (And I feel Dirk may be the most unique player in the L - who else has his size and set of skills?)

Best player to build your defense around?

I'm going to make a call here based on talent, not on mentality - Ron Artest. The guy is crazy, he'll double your PR budget, but he can defend the 1,2, and 3 anywhere on the court. He can #### them off, make them miss their shot, and create turnovers. He rebounds great, hustles and is ruthlessly intense. Softtown (sactown), I feel is a bad fit for him, but if you surround him with gritty players (like the pacers in their heyday) he will not only be great individually, but inspire the attitude it takes to be dominate defensively from his team mates.

Best to build your whole team around?

Toughy, eh? Let's limit this to a 5 year plan - so that younger players don't get too much of an advantage. I say - Kobe Bryant. I know some love him, some hate him - and both seem creepy pathological about it - but he's the best player when you factor in both sides of the court. He could play more intensely on defense more often, that'd be great. However, he's getting better at playing with teammates, has triple double potential every night. Kobe has the playoff experience, and his ability to mesh nicely with Phil is making me think he may one day adapt to playing next to another Shaq-type player.


I'm not married to any of these choices, feel free to persuade me to your point of view (no promises, though).

So much said about who should win the MVP I wanted to come from a different angle. Here are the top four guys, and my thinking of why no one should win the MVP. Maybe we should just give it to Charles Barkley for making half time interesting. Or to China for being able to out vote us at our own game. Or to Isiah Thomas for being able to keep such a sorry, horrible team in the headlines. Or, if all else fails, award it to cattle for the great sacrifice they made for the sake of the NBA - seriously, they give the skin off their backs. They must really love this game.

Steve Nash plays on a very talented team, and as such, gets a boost to his numbers. He does not have to take shots under pressure, has three front court players shooting over %50 (Amare is over %60). This will pad your numbers - as good as he is, if you put him in Washington or on the Lakers his numbers would drop. He would have to shoot more contested shots and dish to finishers who don't shoot such great percentages.

Dirk, as opposed to being on a very talented team, is on a very deep team. The offense runs through Josh Howard for the first quarter, with Dirk just taking the shots that come in the flow of the game. In previous years, he was not known for his incredable fourth quarter play - he'd been too tired from carrying the team the first three. Again, if you put him on a lower level team his numbers would fall out of the Larry Bird range.

Kobe is not on a talented or deep team, and it is often said that if he was he would dominate the L. This may not be true - he has been on a talented and deep team and was a source of conflict. Although he has made great strides in playing with teammates, the question of what he could do on a team loaded with talent should be a question. If he played shooting guard for the Mavs or the Suns he would have to get far fewer touches, play more off the ball, and have use his great ability on defense constantly. What his numbers would look like on those teams is a question - what would Kobe do with an offense that didn't always run through him, and players who didn't always look to dish it back to him? It's well known he didn't like having an offense run through Shaq. Personality is a liability and quiets claims of what he could do on the Suns or Mavs.

Gilbert runs into that old Scottie Pippen quote about Michael Finely when he played for the sucky Mavs. Pippen said something to the effect, "Anyone can put up great numbers on a horrible team." And the Wiz, even if they do hang on to their lead in the Least Conference, may be exactly what Pippen was talking about. Yes, your numbers look great, but how great can your numbers be when your team sucks against the best? If Gilbert is in the running because of his numbers, Garnett should also be. He has a playoff spot in the superior conference and his all around numbers are far better.