The Maurice Podoloff Trophy is given to the Most Valuable Player each year in the entire NBA. This year the clear favorite to win his fourth MVP award if Miami Heat Forward Lebron James. I will not sit here and say Lebron James is not an amazing basketball player, but I do not believe he deserves the award this year. Yes, he led the Miami Heat to a franchise record 27 win streak, yes he is the most dominant player right now, and yes he is a full-fledged superstar, but he is on a team built to achieve above and beyond the known limits. He is a very important corner-stone to the team, but not the most valuable player in the league.
2008 NBA MVP Kobe Bryant
No matter what arena you see him play, no matter what team he is playing against, Kobe Bryant will always hear “M-V-P! M-V-P!” chants. Oddly enough Kobe has only won one NBA MVP award back in 2008. This year he easily deserves to be a front-runner in the MVP conversation. The horribly underachieving Lakers have been willed on by Kobe alone and even though he is now out with a season ending Achilles tear, he has gotten them into the 8th seed of the playoffs.
Clippers Guard Chris Paul
Chris Paul (a.k.a CP3) has made the Clippers the team in Los-Angeles now and for years to come. He will become the corner-stone of the new dominant west coast force that are the Clippers. Chris Paul is long due for a MVP award and after watching him this year lead the Clippers to their first division title in decades, hitting the 50 win mark for the first time since 1976, and taking the Clippers on a dominant and undefeated month of December.
New York Knick Forward Carmelo Anthony
Carmelo Anthony is poised to win his first NBA Scoring Title after this season just nudging out Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant. Over the month of April Carmelo has averaged nearly 29 points per game and lead his Knicks on a 13 game win streak that ended in Chicago. Anthony has always been an elite scorer but this season in New York he is proving to be a real MVP candidate. Over this season the Knicks were written off as “too old” but they have secured a second placed seed in the Eastern Conference and will match up against Boston in the first round (a real good game by the way). While Carmelo’s stats are no where as nice as James or other players, his Knicks are only 6-7 without him. I would easily give him the MVP Award this year since Melo is long overdue and has clearly proven his worth.
Spurs Guard Tony Parker
Ah, Tony Parker, he was once the “dark horse” MVP candidate throughout this season. In 65 games this season, Parked has averaged 20.4 points, 7.6 assists, while shooting 52.4%, and 35.3% from beyond the arc. He has once again lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 58-23 record while securing the second place seed in the Western Conference. Earlier this season some people would’ve penciled in Parker as the favorite to win the MVP as he was and the Spurs were just on a roll. Sadly in the month of April he has dropped off due to injuries and has only played four games. No matter what though, Tony Parker is still the dark horse candidate to win MVP.
Once again, I am not putting down Lebron James and his amazing talent and ability to play the game of basketball. He is the most dominant force in basketball right now and will be for a couple more years. James though, does not deserve another MVP award as he is clearly not the most valuable player for the team compared to others. Sadly though, a fourth trophy is inevitable.
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