
That gasp you just heard is from Darth Kobe fans all around the world whom I just shocked with my proclamation that Chris Paul not Bean is my 2007-08 NBA MVP. This is a decision that I have been struggling with for the past couple of months, so let me explain how I have come to this conclusion.
At the All-Star break it seem like a no brainer that the MVP would be going to Kobe Bryant who is still in my opinion the best pure player in the game. The knock that he isn't a "team player" and "doesn't make his teammates better" has always been the cliché that the media and people who dislike Kobe the personally would say when trying to minimize his tremendous talent.
They said the same thing about Michael Jordan until he got some talented players then he was the "ultimate competitor." Hence, I always found that critisms about Kobe comical. Magically, once he got some better teammates his team became one of the best teams in the West and a West that is stacked from top to bottom. Kobe of 2008 isn't that much different from Kobe of 2007 or 2006. What is different is that the players around him are allowing him to show that it is a lot easier to play a "team" game when you have teammates that you can trust.
The fact that he has kept his team together through a lot of injuries, not just to the team but also to himself. Does anyone remember that he is dealing with a broken pinky that the team wanted him to get surgery on. The reason you don't remember is because he has still been deadly efficient while keeping the Lakers right at the top of the Western Conference even after losing Andrew Bynum for the majority of the year and Pau Gasol for a couple of weeks.
Kobe Bryant should already have an MVP trophy, but circumstances and bias have prevented that from happening. If he is named NBA MVP you won't get any complaints from me. However, in the end I think CP3 was just a little bit better and I will tell you why.