Even Sir Charles, a harsh critic of Kobe Bryant in the past, has come around lately and now proclaims the Laker as his choice for MVP.  The play of the Lakers over the last 3 games is getting Kobe more votes and opening eyes ...  OK, I'm impressed.

Still, my vote for MVP is for LeBron and here is why:  Below is my response to a post by Kahn Games.

I have one disagreement: in the other professional sports like MLB for example, play of last year does factor into the voting.  Look at Pujols in baseball who won MVP for his play the year before.

I give MVP to LeBron for his play last year.

Still, the Lakers last 3 victories without Gasol are very impressive.

The Lakers may be making a believer out of their number 1 hater.  No, seriously, according to the blogs I'm just a Kobe hater.  Still, the way they destroyed the Jazz last night was impressive.  Taking out Dallas on their court was respectable also.  When you consider it was without Pau Gasol ... even the haters  got to give up props!

Lakers now have truly emerged as one of the top 4 contenders for the western conference crown, along with the Spurs, Rockets, and Suns.

Did Kobe get back in the MVP race with the last 2 victories?  Jeez Louise I hate to say it ... but I think it's true.  What is to become of me?  Maybe I should spout like 50 cent and say if Kobe gets the MVP I'll leave the business!  50 cent didn't honor his words when Kanye West beat him in record sales.

Well, the Lakers ain't champs yet and Kobe ain't MVP.   So, make me believe it.

D. Wade is shutting it down for the year, duh?  He should have never came back.  If ever there was a time when a coach needed to step in and protect a player, that was it.  Riley missed his chance to save the franchise weeks ago.  We can only hope that the tough kid didn't do any further damage to his wheels.

Seems like Phil Jackson used to give MJ and Scottie mini-brakes during the game.  He would sit them out just long enough to get a blow.

Don't expect real competitors to sit out a game if they can play thru the pain.  That's where a good coach is needed to step in and save the player from himself.

When Greg Oden comes back, he better be coming off the bench.  IT takes 2 years to get over the type of injury he had and bringing him back as a starter the next year could end his career prematurely.  That kid played about 30 games a year in college ... and he didn't even do it for 4 years!  The pros play more than 90 a year if they make the playoffs.

The Lakers and Andrew Bynum face the same problem.  First of all he was playing over his head spurred by the comments of Kobe.  He may never play at that level again.  Bringing him back too soon could end his career.

Some of these NBA coaches are actually smart and we need them to step up and be smart where the players are not.  To jump leagues to make a point ... that's what happened to Terrell Davis of the Denver Broncos.  Shannahan is a great x and o coach, but he is a terrible people person.

OK, can we finally end the talk of Kobe Bryant for MVP?  If the Hornets didn’t do it with their double-digit victory over the Lakers on Friday night, the Rockets surely ended it today in Houston with another double-digit win over the Lakers.

 

Boo hoo …. Where was Kobe?  Where was another 81 points from the boy genius?  Where was the MVP candidate taking his team on his back and leading them to victory?  What?  Laker fans got no answer… got nothing to say  … of course not.  Laker fans get your hero to put up 81 against a decent team when they need it and we can talk.

 

Better hope the Lakers don’t meet Houston in the playoffs.  Shane Battier got an answer for the Kobe riddle and it’s called in yo face defense.  By the way, who did the god of basketball pass up when he drafted that Kwame  fiasco?  Why it was Battier.

 

Pau Gasol must be the MVP for the Lakers.  They are now 0-2 without him.

My God ... now I have to hear about how great the LAKERS are now for who knows how long. I long for the days when they were a miserable bunch of whiners who couldn't shoot straight led by the  prima donna. Wasn't that just last year? Now, it's the Lakers vs Celtics in the NBA finals already and Kobe for league MVP! Enough! Kobe never gets MVP because he's just Dominique on a better team with a great coach. Look at most of your past MVPs and you will see they dominated in more than one category. Iverson was a league leading scorer and among the leaders in steals. Duncan was among scoring and rebound leaders. Ditto for Shaq. Kobe scores like many scorers before him. LeBron James, however, appears regularly among the scoring and assist leaders and is a true triple threat. If the MVP does not got to Kevin Garnett, it should go to LeBron. (I'm not a Kobe hater, but he has a long way to go to win me back as a fan.)

Laker fans are down in the dumps now cause their suddenly phenom young center, Andrew Bynum may be out with an injury for some time, derailing the season.  Laker fans can cling to hope that they still have Phil Jackson.  If anybody can rally the troops ...  They can also hope that K-Brown finds some new game in his game.  It happened to Bynum, why not Kwame?

Seriously, the only thing the Lakers had was new hope  in Bynum.  Were they ever really contenders?  Were they elevated to pretenders?

Bynum's injury was inevitable.  He could not keep up with this new found zeal for the game of basketball.  He was a victim of his own mojo.