The USA basketball team has been redeemed by winning its first gold since 2000.  Though some players surprised us, some were disappointments.

 Kobe Bryant - A+

Kobe played lockdown defense for most of every game in the Olympics, and he came up in the clutch against Spain.  If it wasn't for him the USA team might not have won.  His 4-point play which also fouled out Rudy Fernandez was the biggest play that secured their win.

 Lebron James - A+

Lebron did what he was expected to do.  He shot good shots, passed, rebounded, and played good defense.

 Dwyane Wade - A+

Wade was one of the surprises this Olympics.  He returned to his old, high-flying self.  He shot a high percentage and had a lot of highlights.  He also hit some clutch shots to secure their win against Spain.

 Chris Bosh - A

Bosh surprised everyone with how good he did.  He did better than Howard and led the team in rebounding off the bench.  He also shot over 90% from the line.

 Chris Paul - A

He played good defense, and got everyone involved offensively.  Not much else to say about him.

 Carmelo Anthony - A-

'Melo was one of the best shooters on the team this olympics.  He was one of the few people who actually did good from the free throw line and he played the best defense of his career.

 Tayshaun Prince - B+

Didn't get much playing time, but when he was in he made an impact.  He played good defense and knocked down a few shots when they were available.

 Deron Williams - B

Deron played well on the offensive team and led the team in assists, but on the defensive end of the court he didn't play as well.  Made a lot of 3's and didn't take stupid shots.

 Jason Kidd - B

Kidd's experience helped the young team win gold, and he also hit 6 of 7 shots during the whole tournament.  He passed the ball well, and he shot smart shots.

 Michael Redd - B

Didn't play much, but when he was in he played decent defense, made some 3's and even dunked it a couple times.  He didn't hurt us, but he didn't help us that much either.

 Dwight Howard - B-

Superman didn't dominate the paint against soft guys like the Brothers Gasol like everyone expected, but he go some dunks and blocked some shots.  His free throw shooting was a major problem and its a good thing it didn't come back to haunt us.

 Carlos Boozer - C

Boozer didn't play well on either end of the court.  He missed some pretty easy layups and wasn't a force on defense.  But he didn't really hurt us either.

 Overall Team - A

This team was the most cohesive one that there ever was so far.  They played team ball and kept their egos in check.

I will use a points system to determine who is the best perimeter player in the NBA.

     Shooting        Passing       Rebounding       Defense        Inside Game        Playmaking

Lebron James:          6  -  7  -  7  -  8  -  10  -  7

Kobe Bryant:              9  -  7  -  7  -  8  -  10  -  7

Dwyane Wade:          7  -  7  -  6  -  7  -  10  -  7

Michael Redd:           10  -  5  -  5  -  5  -  6  -  5

Paul Pierce:                8  -  5  -  5  -  6  -  7  -  5

Ron Artest:                  7  -  4  -  6  -  10  -  6  -  5

Tracy McGrady:          8  -  7  -  6  -  7  -  10  -  6

Steve Nash:                 9  -  10  -  3  -  3  -  3  -  10

Jason Kidd:                 5  -  10  -  6  -  6  -  4  -  10

Chris Paul:                  6  -  10  -  5  -  6  -  7  -  10

Deron Williams:         7  -  10  -  4  -  5  -  7  -  10

Allen Iverson:              7  -  7  -  4  -  5  -  7  -  8

Carmelo Anthony:      8  -  4  -  7  -  6  -  10  -  6

     Shooting       Passing        Rebounding        Defense        Inside Game          Playmaking

Grand Totals:

1) Kobe Bryant - 48 points

2) Lebron James - 45 points

3) Dwyane Wade, Tracy McGrady, Chris Paul - 44 points

4) Deron Williams - 43 points

5) Jason Kidd, Carmelo Anthony - 41 points

6) Steve Nash, Allen Iverson, Ron Artest - 38 points

7) Michael Redd, Paul Pierce - 36 points

I read a blog that ranked the NBA teams using a points system and now I am going to that, but instead I will be using a points system to find who is the best player in the NBA.

 Inside Game (IG)    Shooting (S)   Passing (P)    Defense (D)    Clutch (C)     Rebounding (R)

Kobe Bryant-

           10 - 8 - 7 - 8 - 10 - 6

Lebron James-

           10 - 6 - 7 - 7 - 8 - 7

Paul Pierce-

           8 - 7 - 4 - 6 - 6 - 5

Chris Paul-

          10 - 6 - 10 - 6 - 6 - 5

Tim Duncan-

          10 - 3 - 5 - 10 - 8 - 10

Kevin Garnett-

           10 - 4 - 10 - 5 - 10

Dwyane Wade-

           10 - 6 - 7 - 7 - 8 - 6

Carmelo Anthony-

           10 - 7 - 4 - 5 - 10 - 6

Allen Iverson-

           10 - 7 - 7 - 5 - 10 - 4

Dwight Howard-

           10 - 1 - 3 - 10 - 6 - 10

Grand Totals:

1) Kobe Bryant - 49 points

2) Tim Duncan - 46 points

3) Lebron James - 45 points

4) Dwyane Wade - 44 points

5) Chris Paul, Allen Iverson, Kevin Garnett - 43 points

6) Carmelo Anthony - 42 points

7) Dwight Howard - 40 points

8) Paul Pierce - 36 points

I have already made predictions for the next season, but as more trades happen I am changing my predictions.  So there will probably be another NBA prediction by me near the start of the season.

REGULAR SEASON RANKINGS

West:

1 - Los Angeles Lakers

2 - New Orleans Hornets

3 - San Antonio Spurs

4 - Houston Rockets

5 - Utah Jazz

6 - Portland Trailblazers

7 - Dallas Mavericks

8 - Phoenix Suns

East:

1 - Boston Celtics

2 - Orlando Magic

3 - Detroit Pistons

4 - Philadelphia 76ers

5 - Miami Heat

6 - Cleveland Cavaliers

7 - Washington Wizards

8 - Toronto Raptors

PLAYOFFS

West:

First Round

1 Lakers (4) - 8 Suns (0)

2 Hornets (4) - 7 Mavericks (1)

3 Spurs (4) - 6 Blazers (3)

4 Rockets (4) - Jazz (3)

Second Round

1 Lakers (4) - 4 Rockets (2)

2 Hornets (4) - 3 Spurs (3)

Conference Finals

Lakers (4) - Hornets (3)

East:

First Round

1 Celtics (4) - 8 Raptors (2)

2 Magic (4) - 7 Wizards (1)

3 Pistons (4) - 6 Cavaliers (3)

4 76ers (2) - 5 Heat (4)

Second Round

1 Celtics (4) - 4 Heat (2)

2 Magic (4) - 3 Pistons (2)

Conference Finals

Celtics (4) - Magic (3)

FINALS

Lakers - Celtics

Game 1: Lakers

Game 2: Lakers

Game 3: Celtics

Game 4: Celtics

Game 5: Lakers

Game 6: Lakers

NBA Champions - Los Angeles Lakers

Finals MVP - Kobe Bryant

AWARDS

MVP - Chris Paul, Hornets

Rookie of the Year - Michael Beasley, Heat

Defensive Player of the Year - Kobe Bryant, Lakers

Coach of the Year - Nate McMillan, Blazers

Executative of the Year - Joe Dumars, Pistons

6th Man of the Year - Lamar Odom, Lakers

First Team All-NBA - Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard

Second Team All-NBA - Deron Williams, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Garnett, Yao Ming

Third Team All-NBA - Jason Kidd, Brandon Roy, Paul Pierce, Chris Bosh, Andrew Bynum

First Team All Defense - Kobe Bryant, Bruce Bowen, Shane Battier, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard

By J.E. Skeets

Finals MVP Paul Pierce, who recently spent three days at a ball camp in Madrid, is making, ahem, news about what he said to a Spanish reporter. The money translation, via RedsArmy: "Q: Is Kobe really the best player in the world? Pierce: I don't think Kobe is the best player. I'm the best player. There's a line that separates having confidence and being conceited. I don't cross that line but I have a lot of confidence in myself." Surprisingly, Spurs fans seem more upset by this than actual Lakers fans. (Update: OK, Lakers Nation is pretty upset, too.)  He added, "There's a line that separates having confidence and being conceited. I don't cross that line, but I have a lot of confidence in myself."  On Thursday, Pierce stood by his comments, saying he is entitled to his opinion.  "That's what I said. I am a confident player and a lot of people might look at it like 'Oh, another cocky attitude,' but I don't look at it that way," said Pierce, who is in town for his annual youth basketball camp at Hangar Athletic Xchange.  "I have an opinion, I have a right to have one and that's the way I feel. I felt I've played against the best over the years and felt right now that I'm the best player in the world."  Pierce said his comments were not a knock on Bryant, who was named the league MVP. Nor was he saying that Bryant was conceited and he was confident.  "You could have asked me about any other player and I would have given you the same answer," Pierce said.  He added, laughing, "I would have said that (if he thought Bryant was conceited)."  Pierce also maintained that the best team won the NBA title last season. The Celtics defeated the Lakers, winning the best-of-7 series, 4-2.  "I think the Lakers are a great team, but I think they ran into a better team," he said. "They (Lakers) beat the best in all the Western Conference, they had the guy who was named MVP and the best record after the arrival of (Pau) Gasol. But they just ran up against the better team.  "I think they will be a great team next year. Maybe we'll see them back in the Finals."

_______________________________________________

Is Paul Pierce joking or is he being cocky like he always is?

Knowing that he is the most arrogant player in the NBA and even when his team sucks (pretty much every year until Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen got him a championship) he thinks that he is the best and that his team is the best.  In order for him to be the best he would need more rings, a league MVP, a scoring title, be in shape and be able to dunk without a long running start, be good at defense, be the best player on his team, and make his teammates better.  Even if he has all that he still wouldn't be near as good as Kobe or Lebron.  When people talk about who is the best in the game today they talk about Kobe, Lebron, Duncan, Garnett, and Chris Paul.  I have never heard of anyone thinking that Pierce is the best player in the NBA, except that Tommy Heinsohn (biggest homer in basketball) probably thinks so.  Without 2 future hall of famers on his team Pierce would still be in the lottery.  Even a Celtics fan knows that Pierce isn't even in the top 10 best players in the game today.  Some people are going to say that he was joking and that they shouldn't care about it, but I know that he wasn't joking.  Paul Pierce will be forgotten once he retires.  He shouldn't go into the hall of fame and he will probably get his number retired by the Celtics, because they retire everyone who was once the best person on the team for a season (wasn't this season for Pierce).

justanotherfan
Jul 30, 2008
8:34 AM Ubershorty
In the time that Pierce has been in the league other than winning an NBA championship ring and trophy for the Celtics. What's he really achieved ? Several All Star accoloades doesn't make him the best amongst his peers by far. I've yet to see him dictate or take over a game the way the likes of Bryant, Duncan, Iverson, or even Shaq at his best was able to do. Pierce is being this way 'cause he can finally state that he's got a ring on appendage and a Finals' MVP award to show for it.

In all honesty he may well have lost the respect of his peers in some respects. It may well be a sign of a lack of class and in some might even deem it something of a sign of immaturity !



justan' aka tophatal ............

USA TEAM:

The USA team this year is looking like the best one since the Dream Teams with Jordan, Magic, Barkley, and Bird.  With Kobe and Kidd to lead the team along with young superstars like Lebron, Melo, Wade, and Paul  the team has the potential to win the gold medal.  If I was making the USA team roster though, I would have it a little bit different.  Right now the players trying out for the team are Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets), Gilbert Arenas (Washington Wizards), Shane Battier (Houston Rockets), Chauncey Billups (Detroit Pistons), Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors), Carlos Boozer (Utah Jazz), Bruce Bowen (San Antonio Spurs), Elton Brand (Los Angeles Clippers), Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers), Tyson Chandler (New Orleans Hornets), Nick Collison (Seattle SuperSonics), Kevin Durant (Seattle SuperSonics), Kirk Hinrich (Chicago Bulls), Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic), Joe Johnson (Atlanta Hawks), Jason Kidd (Dallas Mavericks), LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers), Antawn Jamison (Washington Wizards), Shawn Marion (Miami Heat), Brad Miller (Sacramento Kings), Mike Miller (Memphis Grizzlies), Adam Morrison (Charlotte Bobcats), Greg Oden (Portland Trail Blazers), Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers), Chris Paul (New Orleans Hornets), Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics), Tayshaun Prince (Detroit Pistons), Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks), J.J. Redick (Orlando Magic), Luke Ridnour (Seattle SuperSonics), Amaré Stoudemire (Phoenix Suns), Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat), and Deron Williams (Utah Jazz).  From that list I would automatically eliminate J.J. Redick, Bruce Bowen, Shane Battier, Adam Morrison, Nick Collison, Kevin Durant, Mike Miller, Brad Miller, Luke Ridnour, Greg Oden and Tyson Chandler.  Those players are good, but compared to the rest of the people on this list they are not that good.  The players that I would have automatically making it are Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, Lebron James, Dwight Howard, Amare Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.  So that leaves 3 spots left for Lamar Odom, Michael Redd, Tayshaun Prince, Deron Williams, Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson, Elton Brand, Antawn Jamison, Paul Pierce and Kirk Hinrich to compete for.  Michael Redd is one of the best 3-point shooters in the NBA so I would put him on the team.  The defensive people already on the team are Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade, so we don't really need to add more.  For the last 2 spots I would take Deron Williams and Lamar Odom on the team.  The reason I would take Lamar Odom over Paul Pierce, Antawn Jamison, Shawn Marion, and Joe Johnson is because he doesn't have the ego of Paul Pierce and Shawn Marion, he is more of a passer than Joe Johnson, and can take the ball up the court unlike Antawn Jamison.  I also think that Lamar would do good being the only non-allstar on the team and I think he is to unique for international players to guard.  Lamar Odom is a poor man's Magic Johnson.  The starting lineup would be:

PG - Jason Kidd

SG - Kobe Bryant

SF - Lebron James

PF - Carmelo Anthony

C - Dwight Howard

And the bench would be:

Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Dwyane Wade, Lamar Odom, Deron Williams, and Michael Redd.

LOS ANGELES LAKERS:

The Lakers made is to the Finals last season, even though they weren't expected to until later in the season.  Next year they will have their starting center back, their young players with be more experienced, and they will have added some new players.  Many people are saying that Lamar and Pau should be traded, and that Phil Jackson should be fired.  But the problem is that why would you fire the greatest coach ever, a poor man's Magic Johnson, and a big man perfect for the triangle offense who is also the reason they made the finals?  It doesn't make sense to me to get rid of all 3 of them.  No way should Phil Jackson be fired.  Odom is a player that would be very easy to trade because of his expiring contract, and he is an all round player.  Here is a trade scenario that might work and it would make the Lakers have the best starting lineup in the NBA (I don't know if I would do this trade though).

LAKERS TRADE:

Lamar Odom (to Warriors), Derek Fisher (to Kings), Trevor Ariza (to Kings), Vladimir Radmanovic (to Warriors), Luke Walton (to Kings), Sun Yue (to Warriors), Cash (to Kings)

KINGS TRADE:

Ron Artest (to Lakers), Quincy Douby (to Warriors), Francisco Garcia (to Warriors)

WARRIORS TRADE:

Baron Davis (to Lakers), Kosta Perovic (to Lakers)

If that trade were to happen (I don't think it would unless the Lakers wanted to do what the Celtics did and if Baron Davis and Ron Artest told their teams they weren't going to resign with them.)

The new starting lineups would be:

LAKERS:

PG - Baron Davis

SG - Kobe Bryant

SF - Ron Artest

PF - Pau Gasol

C - Andrew Bynum

WARRIORS:

PG - Monta Ellis

SG - Stephen Jackson

SF - Lamar Odom

PF - Al Harrington

C - Andris Biedrins

KINGS:

PG - Derek Fisher

SG - Kevin Martin

SF - Trevor Ariza

PF - Mikki Moore or Spencer Hawes

C - Brad Miller

The All NBA Underrated Team:

PG-Deron Williams SG-Manu Ginobili SF-Shawn Marion PF-Lamar Odom C-Chris Kaman

PG: Deron Williams can drive to the basket and dunk it on the opposing team's center, which is something Chris Paul can't do and he can shoot 3's better than Chris Paul.  I know Chris Paul is 6-0 and Deron Williams is 6-3 so Deron should be better at driving in and dunking it.  Deron Williams is better at defense than Chris Paul, because Paul mainly just steals the ball from people and it usually isn't on 1 on 1 defense.

SG: Manu Ginobili is the 2nd best shooting guard in the west and one of the best 3 point shooters in the league.  He is good at defense and is now the best player on his team which includes last year's finals MVP and the best PF of all time (that is not in his prime anymore).

SF: Shawn Marion did everything for the Suns for many years.  He was their best and only defensive player (except for maybe Raja Bell), and was their main fastbreaking option.  He could run the floor really fast and could guard 4 positions (some pg's, sg, sf, pf).  He could shoot 3's and also drive in for the lay in or dunk.   

PF: Lamar Odom is just like a taller Shawn Marion, he can also guard 4 positions (sg, sf, pf, some c's) and is decent at 3's and is really good at drving in and laying it in or dunking it.  He is one of the Lakers best defenders and is also a point-forward.

C: Chris Kaman was one of the best centers this year, but not many people know who he is.  He is a good rebounder and scorer.  He is on the Clipper's so not many people see him play, but if he was on the Lakers, Celtics, Pistons, or Spurs a lot of people would know about him.

Honorable Mentions: Derek Fisher, Andres Nocioni, Maurice Evans, Corey Maggette, Chris Bosh, DJ Mbenga (underrated somewhat, but not close to getting on the list), Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Bruce Bowen, Shane Battier, Rudy ####, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Jose Calderon, David Lee, Andrew Bynum

All NBA Overrated Team:

PG-Steve Nash SG-Paul Pierce SF-Lebron James PF-Dirk Nowitzki C-Shaquille O'Neal

PG: Steve Nash is one of the best passer's in the game today, but he can't play defense and rarely makes shots when he is guarded.  He is good at making open shots, but when someone is there is usually won't go in.

SG: Paul Pierce is considered underrated by a lot of people (mainly Celtics fans) for some reason, but I think he is overrated because he makes all star games over players like Richard Jefferson and Caron Butler who I think are better than him and he gets a lot of KG and Ray Allen's credit for making the team better.  He was the leader of the team for a while with quality players on it but he didn't lead them anywhere.

SF: Lebron James is almost unstoppable when he 'travels' to the rim and dunks it, but if travels were called more often he wouldn't be able to do that as much and he can't shoot a jumpshot very well.

PF: Dirk Nowitzki might be the best shooting big man ever, but it isn't super hard to get a jumpshot off when you are 7 feet tall guarded by perimeter defenders and he isn't good at defense and can't drive to the basket very well.

C: Shaq is old and can't make free throws.  Also considering that his contract is about 20 million dollars a year (!!!) and he can't play defense, I don't get how people can call him not overrated.  Him coming to the Suns was supposed to make them be able to guard Tim Duncan and play better defense, but they had better defense with Shawn Marion and Amare did a better job guarding Duncan than Shaq did.

Unhonorable Mentions: Ray Allen, Jason Kidd, Rashard Lewis, Stephon Marbury, Zach Randolph, Kevin Durant, Ben Wallace, Wally Sczerbiak, Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby, Boris Diaw, Mike Conley Jr., J.J. Redick (who knows he doesn't play), Kwame Brown

This is my Playoff Edition of The MVP Race

1.  Kobe Bryant
He is leading the NBA in playoff ppg this postseason with about 35 per game along with averages of about 7 rebounds and 7 assists per game.

2.  Chris Paul
He lead his team to a game 7 in the second round, before they lost and was leading the postseason players in assists per game.

3.  Kevin Garnett
He has been the most consistent Celtics this postseason and has led his team to the conference finals.

4.  Paul Pierce
He led his team past the Cavs in game 7 and has been pretty consisten this offseason.

5.  Lebron James
He led his team to the second round even though they might have lost because of his ball dominating in game 7 against the Celtics.

6.  Tim Duncan
He has been the best player on the Spurs this postseason including a 40-point performance against the Suns.

7.  Rip Hamilton
Rip is leading the Pistons in scoring and when he does good, the team does good.

8.  Deron Williams
He only had 1 or 2 bad games this season and has been the best player on the Jazz this postseason and was the only one doing good against the Lakers.

9.  Dwight Howard
He had two 20-20 games in the first round which led to an easy 5 game series against the Raptors.

10.  Joe Johnson
J.J. is the reason that the Hawks went 7 games against the Celtics.  The Celtics and Ray Allen (who was he primary defender) couldn't stop him and that is why they lost 3 times in Atlanta.

My next post will only include the people on the teams that made it to the conference finals.

Also on www.thebasketballoracle.com

In the NBA there are very few 'untouchable' players, a bit more 'surpisingly tradeable' players and lot of 'please take him we don't want him' players.  These players are important enough to their team that if another team offered them a fair trade they wouldn't do it.  No one is untouchable in the sense that a team offers their 3 best players (ex: celtics big 3) for 1 superstar on a team (ex: Lebron) that the team with the 1 superstar wouldn't do it, it means untouchable when it is a fair or almost fair trade.  Below are the people that are untouchable, surpisingly tradeable, and the 'please take him away from us' players.  The numbers is not listing the players from greatest to least or anything like that.

Untouchable Players

1) Kobe Bryant: He wasn't untouchable at the beginning of the season but now there is no way the Lakers would give him up because he is the best player in the league and another player might ruin chemistry.

2) Kevin Garnett: Garnett is the perfect fit for the Celtics.  The only people in the league that could be a somewhat fair trade for him are Duncan and Kobe (a bit on the unfair side for the Lakers though).  The Celtics wouldn't want Kobe because that would move Pierce or Allen to the bench and what would be the point of that.  Duncan is just like Garnett without the fadeaway but with better leadership.

3) Tim Duncan: The same thing as Garnett.  He is a good fit and any other person would ruin team chemistry and if it was for a guard-small forward they would have no good big men.

4) Dwight Howard: He is the face of the Magic and will be for a long time if he doesn't go somewhere else as a free agent.  No one else would be able to do what he does for the team and if he left it would ruin team chemistry.

5) Chris Paul: He is the best point guard in the league and very young.  Even if the Cavs offered them Lebron for Paul the Hornets wouldn't trade him because he is the best passer in the league and makes the game a lot easier for teammates while Lebron would dominate the ball and his teammates would get mad and chemistry would be ruined.

6) Deron Williams: He is the perfect fit with the the Jazz and the perfect fit for Boozer.  Even Chris Paul would disrupt team chemistry a bit because they are used to playing a style a lot different than Paul's.

 Almost On The List: Chris Bosh, Al Jefferson, Dwyane Wade, Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, Yao Ming, Lebron James

Surprisingly Tradeable Players

1) Lebron James: When you first see Lebron's name hear you probably think I am completely wrong, but I do have some reasons.  I don't think Lebron is untouchable because he is probably going to the Nets when his contract runs out so the Cavs might try to get a lot of good people for him a couple years before his contract runs out.  The team isn't doint good with him dominating the ball so much.

2) Carmelo Anthony: He doesn't try on defense and hasn't been the answer for the Nuggets.  He is already in trade talks between the Nuggets and Nets.

3) Allen Iverson: He hasn't made Carmelo better and the Nuggets still aren't winning, but even with his big contract a lot of teams would want him on their team.  He has a good chance of getting traded this offseason.

4) Chris Bosh: There are a lot of other good PF's in the league that could be traded for him or a package of a couple of good players could get him traded.

5) Dwyane Wade: He is injury-prone and if the Heat get the first pick in the draf then they might try and get the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th pick and someone else for D-Wade in a trade.

6) Steve Nash: He was the second best passer in the league this season, but he is getting older and the Suns are just getting worse.  The Suns could try and get some good young players for him and then sign some more young players when a certain 20 million dollar a year cactus' contract runs out.  The Knicks really want him from what I've heard.

7) Yao Ming: The Rockets really like Yao and he makes them a lot of money.  He is still pretty young and the team has some young players that will be good soon.  T-Mac and Battier aren't getting any younger or better so soon it will be up to Yao to carry the team alone.  He might become injured because of his height and than they may want to trade him when he is healthy to get something for him.

8) Amare Stoudemire: He is young and really good.  He won't always have Nash to pass him the ball but he will do just fine on his own.  He is now the best player on the Suns even if a few Nash fans out there won't admit it.  He has a chance to be in the top 3 in scoring for many years in a row later.  Any team in the league would want him though.

9) Al Jefferson: The T'Wolves already had a really good young PF and didn't trade him until later in his career, so why would they trade Jefferson any time soon especially when this time around it looks like their star will have a lot of help for a lot of years?  Because they don't want another Garnett situation of losing and going no where.

Please Take Him We Don't Want Him Players

1) Stephon Marbury: He is the obvious choice for this list becaus he has a huge contract, is a poison to his team, and doesn't get along with people on the team.  The Knicks would probably give him up for a hotdog if it was allowed under league rules.  It would actually be a good trade for them since they would have 20 million more dollars to spend on something else and they could even spend only a 1/4 of that on a good PG.

2) Jermaine O'Neal: He is a tough choice to be on this list, but I think he qualifies because he is injury prone, has a big contract, and the Pacers are looking go younger.

3) Ben Wallace: He isn't a bad player and doesn't poison his team but he has a really big, really long contract.

4) Kenyon Martin: He is really good and helps his team on both ends of the court but his contract is even bigger and even longer than Ben Wallace's.

5) Zach Randolph: He fights with teammates and didn't help his team win this year.  Along with his big contract he makes a big problem for the Knicks so they will probably be looking to get rid of him this year.

There are a couple legitimate contenders for the MVP this year, but none of them are the complete favorite to win.  Cavaliers fans think it should be Lebron, Lakers fans think it should be Kobe, Hornets fans think it should be Paul, and Celtics fans think it should be Garnett. 

Now the Argument.

Lebron James: He has the best stats out of all of them but his team is the worst.  He is averaging 30.3 ppg (1st in NBA), 7.9 rpg, 7.2 apg, 1.9 spg, and 1.1 bpg while shooting .484% from the field, .315 from three, and .715 from the line.  He is the only current all-star on the Cavaliers.  He has two decent centers on his team in Ben Wallace and Zydrunas Illgauskas even though Ben Wallace has declined in recent years.  They traded away Larry Hughes who was a good perimeter defender and scorer if he got the ball more to create shots himself.  The only real argument the Cavs fans have for Lebron to be the MVP is his stats and their 0-6 record without him, but they still don't have a record that would make the playoffs in the west with him.

Kevin Garnett: He has been the centerpiece of the Celtics' defense and has brought them to the next level.  Garnett's stats are lower than in recent years but that is because he is playing with two other all-stars.  He is the best person on the Celtics even though Pierce is the leading scorer.  The Celtics have the record for biggest turnaround in NBA history and they give all the credit to Kevin Garnett.  I don't see why everyone forgets about Ray Allen.  The Celtics have a good record without him in the lineup so that hurts his MVP chances a little bit.  The Celtics have the best record in the league.

Kobe Bryant: Kobe has learned to trust his teammates this season more than recent seasons.  Kobe is the second leading scorer in the NBA at 28.5 ppg.  He is averaging 5.4 apg which is tied for the 4th most in his career.  He is also averaging 6.4 rpg.  Kobe is the best player in the league and has been for a couple of years.  Many people believe that he was robbed of the MVP the past couple of years.  He has made Andrew Bynum into a dominant center and has quickly gotten Pau Gasol used to the Lakers style of play.  Kobe hasn't missed a game this season so we don't know how good his team would do without him.  There have been injuries to the Lakers two best bigmen (Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum) but he has stilled led them to only a 1/2 back for 1st seed in the west.

Chris Paul: Paul is leading the league in assists at 11.6 per game and steals at 2.7 per game.  He is 19th in the league in scoring at 21.1 ppg.  He has led his team along with fellow all-star David West, leading offensive rebounder Tyson Chandler, and 3-point specialist Peja Stojakovic to 1st in the west with 2 games remaining.  Him and Deron Williams have taken away the title of best 'pure' point guard away from Steve Nash and Jason Kidd (Allen Iverson is not a pure point guard).

It is a close MVP Race but I think that the winner should be...

KOBE BRYANT