First, I better say right off the bat that this is not a Kobe-hating slam blog.  For anyone who remembers when I defended Steve Nash when he won it, I couldn't even begin to argue that Bryant didn't put up numbers that made him worthy of being MVP (I tried, believe me, but his stats were more than good enough to win the award both years).

What this is about, is the absolutely freakish season Chris Paul (commonly referred to as CP3) had, how it compares to the stats Nash put up both years he won it, and how both these player's stats compare to those of Bryant.

When Nash won the award, his offensive numbers were obviously all that the voters looked at in terms of his stats.  They made the claim that he made his teammates better on the offensive end, which he did.  But they failed to take into account how incredibly bad he was (and still is) as a man-to-man defender.

Bryant was, and still is, way better defensively, as an individual, than Nash ever was, is, or will be.

What I don't understand is this:  Paul put up better numbers overall (I won't even bother trying to post the stats, because it would just look like a pile of manure if I tried) than Nash did in either of his MVP seasons.  Not just offensively, but defensively as well.

Add to that the fact that Bryant's numbers are down this year compared to those 2 seasons (dramatically down in PPG, where I believe he averaged 35 per in 1 of those seasons, and managed "only" 28 or so this year).

So, my question to the voters is, how do you vote Bryant the MVP this year when CP3 had as good of a year overall, if not better, than Nash did in his back-to-back award-winning seasons when Bryant himself had marginal improvement in FG and 3PT %'s, rebounds and assists, but scored 7 fewer PPG than his "best" season when he averaged 35.4?

If anything, this only strengthens the arguement for Kobe and Laker fans that he should have won it at least 1 of the 2 years Nash did (possibly even last year when Dirk won the award).  I would have to agree with them on that.

Since we can't go back in time and give him the award for any of those 3 seasons, will you admit you're giving him the award this year based on either lifetime achievement or simply being sick of hearing all the "you're just a bunch of Kobe-haters" comments?

In conclusion, YES I now admit Kobe should have won the award any 1 season out of the last 3...which one is irrelevent in my book.  NO I don't think he should have won it this year, based on the stats he had compared to those seasons, plus the stats CP3 put up in comparison to Nash in his MVP seasons.

And once again, this is not to rip Bryant.  If anything, it's to rip the voters for doing a 180 in my opinion in how they determine who wins the award.

Is Bryant worthy of it this year?  You bet.  But in my opinion, Paul should have won it based on all the above information.