Break out the hometown flag as this writer is playing the role of homer. 

It couldn't be further from the truth as the Toronto Raptors shocked the Boston Celtics Wednesday night in Beantown.  The game-winning basket was scored by the man who began the year as the second-fiddle to starting point guard T.J. Ford, who suffered a career-threatening injury when he was accidentally hit in the head by Al Hortford that triggered a neck/spinal cord injury that has plagued his young career.

What Calderon has done in place of Ford has not only been remarkable, it comes to no surprise to this writer who has watched a young man with a lot of talent find himself and his abilities to be a very effective point guard in the NBA.  In fact so effective that he should be going to the NBA All-Star game this year.

My gut feeling is he won't.

Heading into the game against Boston, Calderon was scoring just under 12 per game and roughly 8.5 assists per game to go with a shooting percentage of over 50%, free throw percentage over 91% and a 3-point shot at 42% - a significant increase from last season.  Let's also remember that his assist-to-turnover ratio is over 5.5 to 1 - best in the NBA.

But you must remember that he was the backup at the beginning of the season which will naturally keep his averages low for an All-Star calibre player.  That said, Calderon has averaged 14 per game, 9.5 assists per game, 50% shooting with over 96% at the free throw line and a 41% 3-point shot over the last month.  His assist-to-turnover ratio?  It dropped to 4.7 to 1 - still incredible.  It's also incredible to watch a guy adjust to the significant increase in playing time and having to be the man in crunch time which he has done gracefully.

Despite having a much better year than Jason Kidd, Kidd will represent the East at the point guard position.  That comes to no surprise as Calderon was not on the ballot and even if he was the All-Star selection process is a popularity vote and the best player does not always get voted in.  The next spot (or two) will be filled by Chauncey Billups who is having another solid season.  If a 3rd point guard is selected it gets tricky; Joe Johnson could be asked to slide to the point guard position if he is picked to go (as could Dwyane Wade), and the other true point guard candidate that could take that last spot is Mo Williams of Milwaukee, who's having a very good year in his own right.  Jamaal Tinsley would have gotten consideration before the new year but he has begun to fade.  Honourable mention to another guy who is having a solid year is Andre Miller.  However, I don't know if he would be producing like this with a team that was going somewhere.

If there were no ballots and they stuck the vote in my hands, Billups and Calderon would be the two point guards going out of the East.  Then again, I'd probably ask to move one of the stud guards from the West into the East.  I want to run down the loaded guns they have: Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Baron Davis, Tony Parker, Jason Terry and Steve Nash.  Not too shabby.  Nash, Paul and Williams would be my first 3 picks out of the bunch.

Perhaps the late opportunity to start and the lack of publicity for Jose Calderon will be the reason he sits at home during this year's All-Star festivities.  Make no mistake about this young man because he has come a long way since his rookie year with the Toronto Raptors.  If his improvement in his game continues he will be an All-Star next year - unless we witness an incredible comeback from T.J. Ford that would spark discussion as one of the best feel-good comeback stories of 2008.

 

Down in the United States the NCAA College basketball fans are gearing up for the battle of the Final Four tournament.  Unfortunately up in Canada, it's just another cold Saturday.  We know what's going on, we don't really care.  You can say that about every sport that isn't called hockey to tell you the truth.  In fact, The Mom is currently watching Men's Curling which actually does get some attention up here.  But sorry folks, we are as excited as NCAA hoops as an impotent male watching porn.

- Having said that, the tournament this year is wide open.  Ohio State?  UCLA?  Wisconsin?  North Carolina?  Florida?  None of the above?  We cannot say there is a 'clear' favorite in this year's tourney but there are some teams that could be in the mix for the National Championship.  What this means is we'll be in for one entertaining tournament this year.

- Jeff Garcia and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers both made the right choices.  For Garcia, it was better to sign with a team that has a chance at the playoffs rather than go to Oakland where he could get killed by his offensive line or even the fans wearing spikes on their shoulder pads.  It's a mess in Oakland, and Tampa is less than a mess, just a spill.  That is also one place where he should be the starting quarterback.  I have never been high on Chris Simms ever since he was a Texas Longhorn.  If he is a legitimate starting NFL quarterback then someone better call Major Applewhite and tell him he's in competition for a starting job.  And here's something else; if he was Chris Smith and had no relation to another NFL quarterback would he have had the same shot as he did?  Don't count on it. 

As for Tampa, they got a guy that can move the football which was something they could not do last year.  Now for some reason Jon Gruden refuses to give Tim Rattay a chance, and when Rattay had the same supporting cast as Garcia a few years back he was nearly the same as Garcia in terms of passing statistics.  Not to say Rattay should start, but he certainly should have been starting the moment Simms went down.  Rattay must have set Gruden's alarm at 4AM instead of 3:10AM as a prank and Chucky didn't find it amusing.  Nonetheless, Tampa made the right move in getting Garcia.

- Now Tampa has the rights to Jake Plummer as well.  I don't understand the thought process of Plummer retiring since he is still good enough to start in the NFL.  Whichever way you look at his career you get the sense that the book on Jake the Snake is unfinished.  What I know is if he retires and never plays again, everyone that has questioned his abilities were right.  I'm sorry, after this past season I would have thought a competitive guy like Plummer who is still pretty young would show some fire and have something to prove this year.  Apparently he feels he has nothing left to prove to anyone and I along with many disagree.

- The Dallas Mavericks are the team to beat in the NBA.

- I never got on the topic of Shaquille O'Neal talking about a 'tainted' MVP award.  First off, I have always been a fan of Shaq simply because he has been more dominant at his position than any other guy I have seen since MJ retired.  However, his comments were out of line.  This is the same guy who endorsed Steve Nash's MVP award 2 years ago when he was runner-up in the voting.  How did things change after nearly 2 years?  And if it was tainted last year, who should have won it?  His former partner, Kobe Bryant?  There is no way Batman would allow Robin that kind of recognition.  Or he could have been talking about his teammate Dwyane Wade.  Uh, no.  Wade deserved the playoffs/NBA Final MVP but not league MVP.  As long as Shaq is useful on the court he makes everyone around him better.

- The Toronto Raptors may be my favorite team and my hometown team but they are simply not ready to take the next step as of now.  If the playoffs began today they would get bounced in round 1.  They have the makings of being a very good team but they lack depth at center and have had trouble rebounding.  They can move the ball and they can shoot but if they cannot pick up crucial rebounds off the glass they will be gone in round 1.  Now, they did not play very well against Milwaukee last night and this portion of the blog was not inspired by their play last night.  It is simply the truth.  They will continue to improve and it will be next year where they will make their move in the playoffs.

- Roger Federer is going after another record - Does anyone really care enough about?  As I have said before, once people begin to truly take notice of Federer's magnificance on the court it will be too late and he will have been past his prime.  And then all we will have is the memories of what he once was. 

Then again I can't really say much about it either.  We get less tennis coverage than NCAA basketball coverage.

That's a good spot to end.  Make sure to catch me this Monday from 9AM-Noon EST on www.chevradioam.com.  Cheers.
 

*I can't seem to add Shaq's name in the categories list.

We just witnessed a very slow showing from the NBA trade deadline and the NHL trade deadline is beginning to heat up as it ends on February 27th.

MeanDovine reminded me about something I have discussed at length for quite a while in regards to the word team.  A lot of weight of an athlete's career can be measured by the rings they have won.  Seems rather unfair when you are only 1 of 25 or 52 or 12 guys on a team, depending on the sport.  Does not having great teams tarnish your legacy as a great player?  Was Tony Gwynn not as great for not winning a ring?  No!  An athlete can only do so much and Mean reminded me of that very same argument I have made for quite some time inside our blog-nation.  The player in the discussion was Dwyane Wade, who has lost more than just Shaquille O'Neal prior to his return.  That got me thinking...

- Last week when I was watching the Toronto Raptors play host the Cleveland Cavaliers I could not help noticing Lebron James getting stoned.  There were several instances where he made an incredible pass to an open person and they would not hit their shot.  He was cheated out of 3 or 4 assists in the last quarter alone simply because his teammates have not produced at a level that can help his team succeed.  They are not an NBA Championship contender and that blame cannot be placed on the lack of leadership of Lebron James.  If a professional basketball player cannot hit a jump shot or finish a layup then that blame cannot rest on the shoulders of James.  In fact, the last basket of that game said it all: Lebron kicks it out to an open Sasha Pavlovic, WIDE OPEN, and misses terribly only to find Anderson Varejao make a spectacular dunk to win the game. 

- Kobe Bryant has watched his Laker teammates go down with injuries: Luke Walton, Andrew Bynum, Kwame Brown, Lamar Odom and Vladimir Radmanovich.  Presently, they are showing that they are simply just an ordinary team because the weight has been resting on the shoulders of Bryant who can only do so much.  Score 25, score 35 score 45, if teammates are not there to support your team will not succeed.  Now has Kobe had missed opportunities over the last few weeks?  Absolutely.  However, wouldn't a better team not put themselves into a situation where you have a coin-flip's chance to win on the final possession of the game?

- Moving on, the deadline was dead and one of the few reasons for that was Dwyane Wade's injury.  I bet New Jersey wanted to wait it out as long as possible before dealing Jason Kidd and/or Vince Carter.  They did and they may have dodged a bullet doing it due to Wade's injury.  The Nets are not far away from the 8th and final playoff spot.  Not only does Wade's injury hurt the Heat, the Orlando Magic are having a second half collapse at this point.  If the Nets get in and potentially get Richard Jefferson back, why can't they knock off a Washington or Cleveland or even Toronto, which brings me to...

- Toronto's trade with Portland was an improvement because Fred Jones was not playing anyway, and Dixon would relieve a little bit of money for Toronto.  However, the one position they are lacking in is Center.  They needed to get a big man who could rebound, a Theo Ratliff-type player without the Theo Ratliff-type contract.  That Cavs game proved that Toronto needs someone who is a capable rebounder or else Toronto will be bounced in round 1 of the playoffs.  And the next time anyone makes an accusation that I am a hometown guy just point towards this blog.

Now, Bryan Colangelo has done a magnificant job with this team.  His strategy of going after the European market and drafting Andrea Bargnani was a gem.  Looking at the dynamics of their roster they were going to have a tough time trying to fulfill that center position without giving up a critical piece of the puzzle that has allowed them to be at this point as we speak.

- A couple of days after the big fight between the Buffalo Sabres and Ottawa Senators has put hockey right back where it was before: on the backburner of the sports pages and internet websites.  We have a big brawl and it becomes the very first highlight we see on the computer and then all of a sudden it remembers that it's hockey and that is it.  What does it say about the people of the US and the sport itself?  Well it says the people will embrace it for what can be perceived as a negative part of the sport.  The sport itself was not viewed by American sports fans it was the aftermath of a play gone bad-turned brawl.  It simply means the sport still has a lot of catching up to do before it is really taken seriously.

- This is not a true preview of the 2007 baseball season but after the offseason acquisitions and the rosters each team currently has we can say it will be a wide-open dash towards the World Championship.  It can be anyone's trophy this year once again.  The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are always strong but they are not necessarily the best team around.  And Chicago spent a ton of money but even that won't give them the division title.  It will be interesting and it will be a dog fight.  And to be fair, my early prediction for the Toronto Blue Jays is 3rd place.  Nice, cozy 3rd place.

- If Roger Clemens has not made up his mind about playing and isn't sure which team he'd play for, what is he doing at the Houston Astros training camp?  Yes I know his kid is there and management won't say anything to him out of fear that he'd say screw you and sign elsewhere but isn't that brutal if he trains with the Astros and then decides to sign with New York?  If I am Houston I'd be pretty p!ssed off about that.  But not p!ssed enough to throw a broken bat at him.

- Last hockey comment and I am out: People saying that Sidney Crosby is the far away leader for the Hart Trophy has not done their research.  Sid the Kid is playing phenomenal hockey but the leader right now is Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils.  Look at how far Jersey has come since November and look at how dominant Marty has been this season.  Simply incredible.  I am also not closing the book on Sid being the best NHL'er in the league either.  With the additions of Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin he has really blossomed as a player.  Put those two guys on Washington and Alexander Ovechkin is the best hockey player in the world without a shadow of a doubt.  I admire hockey players who produce the most with the least and Ovechkin does that, and it also ties into the basketball discussion written above.  In Canada, critics are still not prepared to appoint a non-Canadian as the best hockey player in the world.

...Hope the weekend went well.  Hope you all can tune in to my show this week running live from 9AM-Noon at www.chevradioam.com.  Cheers.       

The 2006/07 NBA season is fast approaching as I got jacked up listening to an interview done with Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo yesterday.  Personally, I think the guy is one of the best GM's around and already I like the guy, even if the Raps only win 20 games this year.  

Basketball is a sport that hasn't really gotten much attention from me since my arrival to Blog Nation back in early December of 2005.  But, with these darn Fantasy League drafts coming up the time to think about the game is now.

Also, what has sparked a blog is an argument I had this morning with my brother in regards to where we want to draft.  Apparently it was initiated by me when I dropped this exact line:

"I want to have the number 1 pick so I can draft the best player in the NBA: Lebron James".

Uh oh, let the debate begin.

He says, "Lebron James?  I don't even know if he's top three!"

"Not top 3?  Who's better?

"Dwyane Wade is better, and Kobe's better.  Heck, I'd go with a healthy Shaq."

"HEALTHY SHAQ!!?  No freaking way."

- Basically I would go on to argue that Kobe and Wade do not have the balance of numbers that LBJ has.  He can mix in scoring, rebounding and assists better than the other two.  Granted, that is not what makes you the best player in the league but its a great place to start the argument.

Take into consideration that like James, Bryant was drafted right out of high school.  Out of the two of them, James obviously had the bigger impact on the court coming out of high school.  His game was better prepared for the NBA level.  Sure he got to play more minutes, but Kobe's game either wasn't at the level it needed to be or he wasn't quite mature enough to handle the NBA game.  Either way, Lebron has the head start.

Wade's playoff performance was incredible and I have a ton of respect for his game.  As of now, Lebron stands to have a better chance to win a scoring title than Wade and has the capability of doing the same things as Wade in a bigger body.  This is not to say bigger means better, but I would certainly be all over wanting a player like LBJ who has speed like a guard and strength like a power forward.

CHAMPIONSHIPS:

Wade has 1, Kobe has 3, Lebron has 0.  Guess what Lebron also doesn't have?  Shaquille O'Neal.  Having the most dominating Centers over the last 10 years would certainly help the chances of your basketball team.  Shaq has been to the finals 6 times over the last 12 years and 9 times in the conference finals.  That is mighty impressive.  

Every great player has it's running mate: MJ had Scottie Pippen who may not be a 50 greatest in many people's eye but a damn good basketball player who would have been a star on other teams during his prime.

Magic had James Worthy and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.  That was good for 5 titles and many more finals.

Larry Bird had Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.  Maybe not a great as Magic's running mates but still good.

Tim Duncan had David Robinson and Tony Parker: Parker did not reach his prime until the last title they won and Robinson was past his prime by the time they won their first title but he was still effective.

Hakeem Olajuwan had Clyde Drexler.  Two outstanding players.

Isiah had Joe Dumars and the rest of the Bad Boys. 

And finally, it was Shaq who had Kobe.  When Shaq was at his best, the Lakers didn't get stopped. 

Lebron has...stay tuned.

KOBE THE NEXT MJ:

Let's get this out of the way, Kobe's a great basketball player and a future Hall of Famer.  Despite his similarities to Michael, he's no MJ.  Kobe is Kobe Bryant.  They are not the same player.  I think Kobe would be content on being just Kobe Bryant.

What's so impressive about Bryant is his PPG totals when scoring has dropped from when MJ was ripping off scoring titles in the 80's and 90's.  Having said that, it's even more impressive to see Lebron score near 30 per game and have his other stats being so good.  If scoring around the NBA is down, just imagine LBJ's total stats if scoring was up.

FINAL THOUGHT:

I have Wade, Kobe and Lebron at the top of the list for best players in the NBA.  They have enormous talent.  What seperates Lebron from the others is he is bigger, stronger and just as quick as Wade and Kobe and he can do the same things.  In the longrun, when Lebron's game is at it's very height, wouldn't it be much harder to defend a Kobe-type player that's more overpowering and explosive?  That is why Lebron James, in my mind, is the best player in the NBA.

Growing up, the legendary names of the NBA went like this: Bird, Magic, Isiah, MJ, Hakeem, Shaq, Duncan, Wade...

What do they have in common?

Championships

We could name some greats of the past and present as well: Dominique, Barkley, A.I., T-Mac, Kobe (who has 3 rings), Nash, Lebron. There are probably other names to add that have made an impact in the NBA during the last 20 years but this isn't the point.

The point is, Dwyane Wade has put himself into elite company with his outstanding playoff performance. Prior to the start of the post-season, he was an all-star with great ability. Now he is embarking onto an NBA Legacy. He was at the top of his game, and that game may have been the best we've seen in a long time.

Wade had some rough patches in the playoffs, as great ones do from time to time. The key element nobody sees when they look at a stats sheet is how Wade was able to take over games late in the second half despite being worse than average before that. He came through for his team, like most legends do. His first 5 games against Detroit were simply incredible. How does a man shoot just under 70% from the field when he is not playing a big man position?

This was the same team that was getting dogged by the media for allowing the Chicago Bulls back into the first round series, and they feared Miami did not have the horses to go deep into the playoffs. They, as well as many of us, doubted the highly skilled super-horse in Dwyane Wade. We knew he was good, but THAT GOOD!?

Dallas had the talent and the team to win the NBA Championship. In fact they were deeper than Miami. But, the Heat made the clutch shots and they had the cold-blooded assassin in Wade. The same man who has deflected glory from himself to his teammates and coaching staff. Though you can admire the way he has handled things thus far (unless he did something over the last few hours I have no clue about), despite deserving all the credit and the spotlight. He was that good, and his teammates know it.

One thing that is odd yet striking about Wade is his clean image. Does he seriously walk around without a tattoo on his body? Wasn't there an amendment passed by the NBA for players to have tattoos and at least 1 piercing? All kidding aside, he is a basketball legend who is a role model for aspiring basketball players to emulate.

Barring anything serious, Dwyane Wade will continue to succeed and we can only await what he will do next on the basketball court.

Look at the title of this post and ask yourself what if?

Baseball:

Guys would replace sunflower seeds with Watermelon and Orange seeds. We would see Albert Pujols hit a homerun, rip off his shirt rounding first, twirl it around like a towel around second and then would plant a 3 second kiss on the lips of Jim Edmonds. If they really go wild, maybe Edmonds will nibble on Albert's knob. Meanwhile, BK Kim would always pitch with a bulletproof vest, or at least walk with on when walking off the team airplane.

Football:

Everytime there is a penalty called on the home team, fans would jump out of the stands to confront the ref and perhaps do something like push, spit or punch the ref. Why? Because we're turning #### soccer fan into football fan. On touchdowns, helmets along with shirts, pads, jockstrap and any upper body cast to celebrate a touchdown or safety. After every snap or play, there would a man down for minutes until the stretcher comes out on the field. Then they'd get up as if they just flipped the TV channel to porn.

Hockey:

There would be a record number of penalties called on diving. The head trainer would have to wear full padding because he/she would have to rush onto the ice after every possession or on each dive. The EMT's would also wear pads with the number of false calls of needing a stretcher. The sport would also revert to their 'dead puck era' ways, but much worse. Martin Brodeur would rip 40 shutouts in a season because hockey needs to be more like soccer on ice. After each goal, the players would swap false teeth and tongue eachother.

Basketball:

Rosters would increase from 12-25. Like soccer, it is rare to see all 12 players play in a game anyway but there is a reason for the increase: Anytime there is a hard foul in the lane, the player would be taken off in a stretcher. That means about 10-15 guys ON EACH TEAM would be taken to see if they might have a light bruise. In this league, there are no battlers like Dwyane Wade. Speaking of which he'd be making out more times with Shaq on the floor than his own wife at home. After each player hits their first basket, they will take their shirt off and we'd have shirts v. Skins by games end with the exception of the dork 24th and 25th man who shoot for the stars and not for the basket. Speaking of basket, the net would be doubled the size but the players would quadruple the misses.

Golf:

If golf was like soccer this past weekend, Phil Mickelson would have rolled up and lathered in pain on the 18th hole and we could have felt sorry for him. Or better yet, a Hefty Mickelson victory would have shown him without his shirt spooning his caddy. You might call that disgusting, but it's what the soccer folks call 'passion'. If the 'wrong' people got involved in golf the way they have in soccer, that would have been Phil's last tournament. The U.S. Open did go soccer in one category: Birdies were a frequent as goals scored. Difference? Soccer makes golf look like pre-intercoarse foreplay. FORE!!!!!

NASCAR:

There would be crashes and fights between drivers, crew members, wives/girlfriends...nevermind, that actually happens. But if it was soccer, we'd see fans breaking down the fences to fall onto the road. Sounds stupid right? Well, not to soccer fan. That would just be another walk in the (sports) park. We'd also see drivers turn themselves into 1 name drivers such as: Darrell, Rusty, Darrell, Rusty, Jeff, Dale, Dale, Jeff, Kyle, Jimmy. We'd be able to identify drivers like the one-namers like Yao, Ichiro, Fred, Liberace.

Figure Skating:

The moment the skater falls on the ice would be the end of their performance. They better get medical attention while the sweet synphony of music blasts in the background as your fitted for a neck brace after tweaking your toe-nail. Judges would get viciously attacked by fanatics after giving typically gift marks to the Russians. Perhaps this is the perfect place to drop bombs or tier gas in the arena. As if skaters didn't have problems in those tights as is.

Boxing:

This is where fans really can get creative just like soccer: They can throw chickens into the ring! That would be priceless for fans to tell that fighter that he's not man enough to battle in the ring. If that doesn't work, fans can jump into the ring (literally by parachute) and riot. A poor decision is made and you can severely damage the venue. Boxing would not need any pointers for corruption but they would need to re-hire a referee who has been kicked out of boxing for fixing matches.

Sorry folks, I'd go on all night but a real sport is getting climactic right now (Game 6 NBA Finals), and that deserves my attention more than talking about succer. Have a good night.

The question on the minds of NBA fans who never miss watching a final is this: Can the pair of aces on Miami take out another team in Dallas? Well, that's my question for the night.

Traditionally, the Western Coference is the stronger conference. The DEEPER conference. The Dallas Mavericks were forced to take 4th place despite having the 2nd best record in the West. Not only did they have San Antonio to contend with, but the rest of the teams in that division weren't too shabby: Memphis, New Orleans and Houston. There was an argument made for each team having a legitimate shot at the playoffs sometime during the 2005-2006 regular season.

The East, on the other hand, had a few good teams and the rest of the teams were average to below average. In fact you could have made a case to take away the 6-8 seeds in the East in favor of the West teams. But that does not discredit the Miami Heat and the team they have. Anytime you can have Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O'Neal on the same team you can take some games.

The dynamic duo from Miami certainly excelled in many of the games against the Detroit Pistons. The problem they run into is this: Can they stop the Dallas Mavericks offense? They are clearly up against a deeper and offensively gifted team in the Mavs who perhaps conquered their biggest challenge in round 2 when they failed to blow a 3-1 lead against the San Antonio Spurs (that was a double negative in case you are squinting in front of your computer screen). Yes, the Mavs failed to blow their lead against the Spurs and they have taken off ever since. Why? Because they finally showed everyone that they have heart and perseverance. That carried them through an injury-depleted Phoenix Suns team and has now gotten them to this step: The NBA Championships.

So if Miami wants to win, they will need Antoine Walker, Jason Williams and Udonis Haslem to step up in every game, and have big performances from the bench players like James Posey, Gary Payton and anything left in Alonzo Mourning's tank. Easier said than done, as there seemed to be only 3 guys stepping up in games the Heat won: Shaq, Wade, and draw a name out of a hat. Game 6 was Jason Williams. Three guys won't be enough against a very talented Mavericks team, so they better get some big plays from their role guys.

The verdict: Dallas in 6.

Shaq and Wade will steal 2 games. This series is once again Dallas's to lose. Either Dirk or Josh Howard will be MVP.

First off, special thanks to Canadian Sports Television for NOT giving me the 2-3 NBA games per night like they did last season. It just warms me up inside when I get to watch an epic Edmonton v. Columbus hockey game. Check that.

There always seems to be a few guys around this time of year that has an outside look at an MVP award. From here until the end of the season it will narrow down. Then again, players who miss this list can work themselves onto the list if their team get's hot. So here we go:

Dwyane Wade - Miami Heat: Wade has been hitting the big shots and has done a more than adequate job holding it down without the big man in the lineup. Shaq is always an X-Factor, but they need Wade in their lineup to make the clutch shots during crunch time.

Steve Nash - Phoenix Suns: The reigning MVP is once again putting up solid numbers despite the losses of Joe Johnson and Amare Stoudemire. Did he really make Quentin Richardson? All seriousness, Nash winning it again would not be a surprise, nor would this guy...

Shawn Marion - Phoenix Suns: The workhorse of that Suns team has stepped up with the absence of Amare. The undersized Power Forward has worked the glass and continues to play great basketball. He and Nash have kept this Suns team dangerous.

Elton Brand - L.A. Clippers: He is similar to Marion, except he has REALLY stepped up in leadership. This guy has been under the radar for the past few years, but he has put the Clippers in a great position to make the playoffs and perhaps win a series. They needed Brand to step it up, and he has done that in every facet of his game.

Dirk Nowitzki - Dallas Mavericks: Mavs are 40-11, have committed to better defensive play, and Dirk has continued to excell offensively. When he's on, he's lights out. When he's off, he's still dangerous. This has to be his finest season regardless of statistics.

Tony Parker - San Antonio Spurs: It's usually Tim Duncan that get's the MVP run, but Parker's the MVP on the Spurs this year. Duncan has not been Duncan this year. Parker has been shooting above 54% from the field which is freaky for a point guard. His poor free throw percentage has held him back. He's Eva Longoria's MVP so I think he can live without the award.

LeBron James - Cleveland Cavaliers: Cavs are holding onto a playoff spot right now, but they were holding onto one last year before their collapse. With Larry Hughes gone for the year, the pressure now rides on James even more. This kid has brought it every single night and if the Cavs rise in the standings he will get tremendous consideration.

Chauncey Billups - Detroit Pistons: Billups is just one piece of a rock-solid team. That is not belittling him by any means. He has had a great season this year, and he's the Steve Nash of this team. The 2004 Playoff MVP could add more hardware this season.

Kobe Bryant - L.A. Lakers: What's kept him in are his point totals (over 34 per game) and his point totals (did I mention over 34 per game?). As great as he has played at times, there are other players more deserving than Bryant.

Chris Paul - NOK Hornets: He won't be the MVP this year, but he should be the rookie of the year. He has been the biggest reason why the NOK Hornets are holding onto a playoff spot after a disastrous season last year.

Darko Milicic - He has graced the Pistons with his presence and his impact has helped them get to 2 NBA finals. He could make the Orlando Magic an instant success. Ok, who are we kidding?

My pick for mid-season MVP: Dirk Nowitzki

Anyone left out?