Matt Barnes' amazing stat line from Friday night

Pau is, like you both have mentioned, playing alongside Kobe. Does Kobe’s presence on the court increase Pau’s effectiveness? Undoubtedly. Does Pau’s presence increase Kobe’s effectiveness? Absolutely. The most important thing I think to look at when trying to judge an MVP choice is dominance first, and in a close 2nd, how good would the team be if that particular player wasn’t on the team (or if you want, how good is the team if the player was injured). This second factor is crucial because I believe that helps decide the “value” portion of the award.

Now, I don’t think Pau will win it because I think it is too difficult to determine the value of a player to the team when there are 2 extremely talented players playing together (Kobe + Pau – LA; LeBron + Wade – Miami) Which is why I think the award will come down to 4 people this year:

Kevin Durant – Always will be in the discussion with his scoring ability. While Russell Westbrook is talented, I don’t think he would be considered strong enough to take away from Durant’s presence on the court (ala Kobe + Pau)

Chris Paul – Has his team playing extremely well right now and is a dual-threat PG on Offensive and Defensive end. No real talent outside David West in NO.

Dwight Howard – Offensive improvement, obviously. Still the most dominant on defense in the league. No real “second superstar” quality players, but low minutes due to blowouts/foul trouble might fudge the numbers, detracting from his box scores. Dumb reasoning? Absolutely, but the writers will use it. and so everyone understands my feelings on the “no 2nd stud” thing, Jameer has been playing like an All-Star again & VC has the highest FG% of his career so far, so it’s not like he’s playing with chumps.

Rajon Rondo – Has had an incredibly hot start, dropping dimes like a narc in Jamaica Queens in the 80’s. He is by far the most important part in the Celtics offense and is really a catalyst for them on D. His FG % is at .500 right now and his 3pt shooting is actually the best of his career so far. (only 33% though). Rondo most assuredly suffers from T-MAS disease, or the Too Many All Stars disease to be considered an MVP candidate by most writers.

Obviously this is too early in the season to tell who is winning this race, but based on record I would put CP3 in 1st, Dwight 2nd, Rondo 3rd and Durant 4th.

As I understand it Shaq was still PLAYING then. And unquestioned was more valuable than nash.

Garnett in ’05, Nowitzki in ’06.

You could not argue Noah is more important than rose.

Have you watched a bulls game? Here’s how it goes- Derrick rose gets the ball- then he dribbles to any place he feels like while getting doubled and either makes the pass that turns into the assist, gets the assist himself, or scores. Whether its the most efficient offense that could be run in the nba isn’t the question- its what Chicago has. And Derrick Rose is doing it, he’s much better than Westbrook offensively. Westbrook isn’t the only offensive focus of his team, no one is going to make a “jordan rules” for westbrook. If you play the bulls this playoffs, you better have something similar for rose.

I don’t think rose is anywhere near mvp either, but its because of Gasol, Howard and Paul.