I know what you're thinking, "Enough with the MVP chatter!" And I know just a few days ago while in my basketball funk I bashed on all the MVP posts and preached for originality. Well, today I've thrown myself into the fire and needed to share my own thoughts, as I haven't up to this point.
I think many of us take the opinion that deciding on the MVP before the Playoffs is completely ridiculous. After the Dirk Nowitzki fiasco from last year, the MVP award became somewhat of a joke for the first time in years.
This year however, we have experienced one of the most intriguing and possibly controversial MVP races of all time. You have the young up and coming superstar in Chris Paul and the veteran Michael Jordan-esque player in Kobe Bryant. The stats put up by CP3 are remarkable for such a young talent, but Kobe in all his greatness has never won the league's most prized award. How can this possible be decided?
A quick look at their Playoff stats:
- Kobe: 33.5 points, 5.25 rebounds, 6.25 assists
- CP3: 24.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 12 assists
Have we ever seen such a split vote amongst the NBA voters and bloggers? The "internet" NBA lovers have voted for CP3 but the "actual" NBA voters seem to be leaning toward Mr. Bryant. There have been countless articles, posts and rants thrown around that no one can agree upon. After each player finishes a game, we are sent another argument as to why this or that player should be our league MVP.
How can this possibly be decided? Both are easily as deserving as the other but only one can actually receive the award! Right?
I advocate for the birth of the co-MVP! That's right; let these two share the glory in this amazing NBA season! They've done it with the Rookie of the Year award and it's time they do it with the Most Valuable Player. (Wow...did I ever take the wuss road on that one!)
