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

The Lakers just beat the Hornets 107-104 after a last second 3-pointer by Janero Pargo to make the game seem closer.  The Lakers had a 19 point lead after the first quarter.  They got it up to 30 in the second quarter but then let it drop to 20 at halftime.  In the third quarter the Hornets came back and brought it within 10.  The game was a one point game with a couple minutes left in the fourth but then the Lakers scored and got ahead by more and locked up the game.  The Lakers are now only a 1/2 game behind the Hornets for top spot in the west with 2 games left.  This was a big mvp-deciding game for some of the writers.  Kobe had 29 points on 9-17 shooting, 10 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals.  Those are really good numbers for an MVP deciding game.  Chris Paul had 15 points on 4-13 shooting, 17 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals.  If that game decided who will be the MVP than Kobe has an advantage right now because he had the better stats and his team won.

This blog is about which players are the best in the league by my opinion. 

 I will start with Centers.

 I think that the best choices for best centers in the league are Yao Ming, Amare Stoudemire, Dwight Howard and Andrew Bynum.  The obvious choice here that is not the best is Andrew Bynum because he is the youngest and has had only half a seasons worth of good games in his career.  I will break them down into best at each major category that should be part of a centers skill set.  Amare averages the most points out of them followed by Yao and then Dwight.  On defense Yao and Dwight are dominant forces while Amare isn't known for his defense just like his team.  Dwight averages the most points per game while Amare is second.  Yao may not average more blocks than Amare but he is barely behind him and he works harder on defense than Amare.  Rebound is led by Dwight then Yao and last is Amare.  Dwight and Yao are taller and have more tendencies to get rebounds than Amare.  Dwight has the most potential than all of them because he is the youngest by a couple years.  Yao and Amare are soon to enter there prime while Dwight has a couple years to go but I still think Dwight is the best.

 WINNER: Dwight Howard

 WHY: He is the most dominant of all of them on both ends of the court.  He may average the least amount of points but he leads in blocks and rebounds.

 Next is the Power Forwards which I have more options for.  The best choices are Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, and Chris Bosh.  Left out were Al Jefferson and Rasheed Wallace because Al is young and not known has one of the best and Rasheed is getting older and isn't as good as the other people any more.  If we look at stats than you see that the leading scorer is Dirk while the leading rebounder is Duncan.  Duncan and Garnett are probably most people's obvious choice for best power forwards in the league so I think the argument should be between both of them and Dirk because he is in his prime and doing well.  Chris Bosh and Pau Gasol have the most potential because they are the youngest but neither of them are as good as the other 3 yet.  Dirk has the best jump shot but that isn't really a power forward skill.  Tim Duncan and Garnett have been in the league the longest.  While Garnett has better career stats than Duncan, Duncan has the 4 championship rings.  Some people may think it's because he has people like Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker on his team while Garnett was on the bad Timberwolves team.  Now that Garnett is on the Celtics with Ray Allen and Paul Pierce he knows what it's like to have all-star teammates.  Tim Duncan is known for being the best power forward and that's what I think he is.

 WINNER: Tim Duncan

 WHY: He has the rings and has led his team to do great things and he makes his teammates better while being a dominant force.

Next is the Small Forwards.  The best small forward's in the league are Lebron James, Carmelo Anthony, Caron Butler, Richard Jefferson, and Paul Pierce.  Lebron James and Carmelo Anthony are definitely the 2 best small forwards in the league so the argument will be about them.  Lebron has way better stats than Carmelo but Carmelo has to share the spotlight with Allen Iverson.  Lebron drives to the basket about 95% of the time and just out muscles and out travels everyone else to score.  He is leading the league in scoring while putting up good assist and rebound numbers as well.  He doesn't really make a real flow of everyone on the team with ball movement he just drives and scores or passes to one of the open people for an assist-score.  Carmelo isn't ever the facilitator because that is not his role on the team.  Carmelo has a way better jump shot and is a more clutch shooter while Lebron just gets game winning lay-ups and dunks which aren't really clutch.  They are both good but I have made my decision.

 WINNER: Carmelo Anthony

 WHY: He is a better shooter and can score good too while not complaining about sharing the spotlight with one of the greatest ever in my opinion.

Next is the Shooting Guards.  It is a pretty obvious choice but I will make an argument for the other 2 guards in the league as well.  My choices are Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, and Manu Ginobili.  Andre Igoudala, Joe Johnson and Ray Allen just missed the cut.  The two best from this group are definitely Kobe Bryant and a healthy Dwyane Wade.  Kobe has better stats then D-Wade except in assist and fg%.  Kobe is leading a championship contender team while Wade is out for the season on the worst team in the league.  The choice is obvious so I'm not going to waste any more time.

 WINNER: Kobe Bryant

 WHY: He is considered the best shooting guard in the league by everyone except for die-hard fans of the other shooting guards and kobe-haters.  He is also the most skilled shooting guard and if you don't believe just watch a laker game.

And last but not least is the point guards which will be the closest and best argument of them all.  The contenders are Baron Davis, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Jason Kidd, Deron Williams and Allen Iverson.  Paul is the best passer, Iverson is the best scorer, Kidd is the best rebounder and Nash is the worst defensively.  Chris Paul is a major MVP candidate while none of the others are and he leads the league in assists and steals.  Steve Nash has won two MVP's before even if he deserved it or not.  Iverson and Kidd has been some of the best for a long time.  Chris Paul and Deron Williams just got really good.  Steve Nash has been really good for the past couple of years.  We will do a process of elimination to come up with a final two that will compete for the title of best point guard in the league.  A point guard has to be someone that enforces ball movement and doesn't chuck up shots so Baron Davis is out first.  They are all good passer and scorers but not all of them are good on the defensive end.  Because of his lack of defense Steve Nash is eliminated second.  It doesn't mean he is the worst out of this group of people it's just that he isn't the best and isn't very good defensively.  On the scoring part of the offensive end they are all good (including Nash) except for Jason Kidd, so he is eliminated next.  Every one of the nominees even the ones out are good passer's so I can't judge it on that until the final round.  If you look at how good they are and how underrated some of them are Deron Williams is out next.  Deron Williams is very underrated and should have been on the all-star team.  The final round is Chris Paul vs. Allen Iverson.  One is a multiple scoring champ and MVP while the other is an up and coming and incredibly good player.  They are both crazy good but one of them has to loss.  It is close but one of them is more of a point guard than the other one.  I'll give you a hint the winner wears #3 on their jersey.

 WINNER: Chris Paul

 WHY: He is turning into a really good point guard and an amazing passer.  He has made his teammates around him better while leading them to the playoffs.

 Leave a Comment telling me about who I accidentally left out and your opinions on who is the best of each position and of the whole league.  The finalists are Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Chris Paul.  The post that is the final round with the best from each position is coming soon.