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Lamar Odom says Hi. And Nash won 54 without Stoudemire.
Lakers' Bryant Has Best Shot at Elusive MVP Award
By Michael Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 15, 2008; Page E01
LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant has had better statistical seasons and won more games but has never been closer to winning the league's most valuable player award than he is this season.
On Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers won the Pacific Division for the first time in the post-Shaquille O'Neal era and are in position to clinch the top seed in the tougher-than-ever Western Conference with a win tonight against the Sacramento Kings.
Ballots for the league's top honors are due Thursday at 3 p.m., and Bryant appears to be in a dead heat with New Orleans Hornets point guard Chris Paul for the game's top individual honor. Bryant is averaging 28.4 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists, and he has lifted his team to elite status despite playing the final two months of the season with a torn ligament in his right pinkie finger. Plus, center Andrew Bynum has been out since Jan. 13 with a knee injury, and forward-center Pau Gasol missed nine games with a sprained ankle.
Bryant did what some thought he was incapable of -- toning down his game to let his team get the glory. "I think for me to win an MVP [this season] would be special because that's always been the criticism of my game, is that I don't make other guys better," he said. "To win that or be in the hunt for that is special because it means people are recognizing that I am making my teammates better."
Bryant is making his teammates better partly because he has better teammates this season, beginning with the emergence of Bynum, who is in his third year; the midseason trade that brought former all-star Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies; and the signing last summer of free agent Derek Fisher, which has added stability at point guard position. Bryant said he feels that now he is "in a position to go into a gun fight with a gun."
"This is a special crew. I have more bullets in the chamber now," Bryant said. "We had Smush Parker, who is not really playing now. We had Kwame Brown, who's in Memphis and not really playing much now. That was my point guard and my center, and in a pretty tough Western Conference, we still managed to win 45 games [in 2005-06] and get in contention. Now I'm fortunate to have weapons that my peers have had the last several years, with [Amare] Stoudemire and [Shawn] Marion, [Tony] Parker and [Manu] Ginóbili. Now I have weapons."
Bryant's talent has never been in question; he is widely considered by players and executives as the game's best overall player. But despite the impressive résumé he has built over the past 12 seasons -- three NBA championships, two scoring les -- Bryant has never finished higher than third in MVP voting.
Two years ago, Bryant became just the fifth player in NBA history to average at least 35 points a game and provided the signature highlight of this millennium so far when he scored 81 against the Toronto Raptors. How did he fare in MVP balloting? Fourth, when Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash won his second consecutive MVP.
"Kobe Bryant has been the best player in our league the last five years and he hasn't received the MVP. I don't know why," Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James said. "He's playing probably the best basketball, all-around. This is his year. He's had that type of year and his team has had that type of success."
Bryant was asked recently if he felt the reason he hasn't received more support is because voters don't like him. "I don't think so," Bryant said. "I think a lot of times the criteria changes. I think now, the way people vote for MVP is how you make your teammates better as opposed the '80s, when it was always just the best player."
Lakers Coach Phil Jackson recently said that this is Bryant's "best year ever as far as an overall team player. I think the judgment that I kind of make is, how much better do you make your teammates? This has been one of Kobe's finest years in that regard."
Jackson added that he isn't surprised that Bryant hasn't won the award yet.
"With Shaq on this team for [eight] of those years, basically Kobe was going to be a second choice as far as being the most valuable player on that team," Jackson said. "Since that time, of course, not making the playoffs the subsequent year, there wasn't an opportunity. The following year, he really had an exceptional year. He had some outrageous games. That was the year that I would've guessed that he would've been named the MVP."
The difference for Bryant this season, Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said, is "our performance as a team and his individual performance are kind of aligned and matched for the first time."
After failing to win MVP the past two seasons, Bryant said that winning championships were more important to him. Now both are within his grasp, something he said he wouldn't have imagined last summer after the Lakers lost in the first round for the second year in a row. Bryant made a clumsy demand to be traded to the Chicago Bulls, which included him publicly criticizing both Kupchak and Lakers owner Jerry Buss. But Bryant believes that he put the organization on alert that he wouldn't settle for mediocrity any longer.
"I feel happy," Bryant said. "I had to shake the trees a little bit. The sense of urgency is there. Just from the magnitude of things, the hit that I took from that, I wish that I could've done some things differently. But looking at how things turned out, it's tough to argue that."
Bryant is pleased that the Lakers kept him, especially after the Bulls missed the playoffs this season and Phoenix granted Marion's trade request, shipping him to the league's worst team, the Miami Heat.
"That's why it's good to have a no-trade clause," Bryant said. "I'm very happy to be in this position. To win an MVP would be special. Winning a championship would be extremely special because we could've gone from the bottom to the top. Seeing this whole process evolve, to see it end with a championship or parade would be very special."
Lamar Odom says Hi. And Nash won 54 without Stoudemire.
Yeah, but nobody remembers just how ing good Marion was that year. Remember that strecth where he kept getting 30 pts and 20 bds. He still had Barbosa, Bell, Tim & Kurt Thomas (Letterman what). Amare's just Kenyon Martin to J-Kidd as far as I'm concerned. Take away his Pg and he's average.
Good for Kobe. Smush Parker needs to be embarrased. What an asshole he is. Kwame should just retire with his 54 million and move to Barbados. I use to mock him, but now it's just sad.
K-Mart actually used to be a better defender than a scorer. Even during the Kidd era.
Amare has the talent, but doesn't seem to want to do the D thang.
Matrix, Boris Diaw, Tim Thomas, Barbosa and Eddie House say Hi.
Last edited by Allanon; 04-15-2008 at 02:30 PM.
Yeah, what Kobe said is kind of ty....but it's true.
Also if not for the no-trade clause Kobe would have been gone.
Kurt Thomas missed the final 30 games and playoffs witha n injury:
And Boris Diaw wasn't getting playing time on the worst team in the NBA before playing with Nash. Raja Bell was a backup guard for the Jazz.
Edit: You added Eddie House and Leandro Barbosa.
Barbosa was a human turnover in 04-05. Edddie House?
Seriously? Because Luke Walton, Sasha Vuajic, Jordan Farmar, Ronny Turiaf and Andrew Bynum don't have nearly the talent of Eddie House.
Kobe's got ego much? Love the way he refers to his teammates as if he were the owner of the team.
Yep, and I love the "now I have weapons" instead of the "now WE have weapons".
I guess Kobe didn't get the memo that he isn't the Lakers.
He was still there for 50 games...Kwame missed about the same amount of time last year as well. And KT is MUCH better than the Kwames
Raja Bell was never expected to be anything but a defender. Even as a backup defender guard, he was better than Smush.Raja Bell was a backup guard for the Jazz.
Uhm, Barbosa had his fewest turnovers that year of his entire career. Barbosa has not improved in the turnover department, but he's still better than Sasha Vujacic was last year.Barbosa was a human turnover in 04-05.
Yup, LAST YEAR, all those guys sucked.Eddie House? Seriously? Because Luke Walton, Sasha Vuajic, Jordan Farmar, Ronny Turiaf and Andrew Bynum don't have nearly the talent of Eddie House.
But if all that's not enough for you
Matrix says Hi too.
When Kobe starts winning, he becomes less "politically correct" with his comments.
I agree, look at this quote
"I feel happy," Bryant said. "I had to shake the trees a little bit. The sense of urgency is there. Just from the magnitude of things, the hit that I took from that, I wish that I could've done some things differently. But looking at how things turned out, it's tough to argue that."
It's not really tough to argue, had he discussed and thrown his tantrums behind closed doors I'm sure the Lakers would have done everything to try to make big trades without him embarrassing Laker fans and the Laker org.
Also, Kobe's ego probably leads him to believe that HE is now responsible for Bynum's emergence as a player. Not Kareem.
Raja Bell was a starter for the Jazz and a very important part of our team when he left. At that point he was known as a shooter too as well as a GREAT defender. I was furious when he left. I wouldn't have been if he were the nobody you say he was.
And who cares about Diaw when he was with the Hawks? That's on ATL. They were trying to make him play point. All I know is he was on my fantasy team that season and I remember absolutely loving him. He was so ing good that year. I bet he had like 5 or six triple doubles and he won MIP. And in the playoffs? He averaged 19 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, and a block per game on .526 field goal percentage.
That is just so low ... I never expected any other superstar to throw their ex-teammates under the bus like that.
kobe is a narcissist
Steve Nash was able to make washed up/journeymen players like Jim Jackson, Eddie House, Raja Bell and Tim Thomas way better, so why couldnt KB24 do the same for Kwame and Smush?
Thats why Nash won the MVP and Kobe didn't.
lmao@ you guys bashing kobe
who gives a about kwame and smush
How selfish of kobe..i didnt know smush and kwame sucked..how dare he reveal to the world that they are bad players. Those are two ballers. How dare you not make them better. How dare you Kobe! OMG you said "I"....wtf Kobe...wtf man...asshole. Cant believe you only got 7th place with Smush, Kwame and Luke Walton as your starting 5. You SUCK!
Exactly Kobe didn't even say anything THAT bad about them. Everything he said was truthful, there is no use sugar-coating the fact that both of those players sucked giant donkey balls.
I knew the haters would have a ball with this. Listen, what Kobe said was exactly true. He did not ridicule those players, he just said that now he has better players and any idiot could see that he does!
I'm so sick of the Nash makes his players better, blah, blah, blah, wgaf! Nash doesn't bring les to his teams so they can't be that much better. WGAF about regular season accomplishments? The Lakers certainly don't. I bet Phoenix hang their division flags like they've done something. The lakers had to rent a storage space to store those things.
It don't mean a thing, it you don't have a ring!
Kwame's got a great enough heart to take the downs with the ups.
Or enough Downs to take the heart...
or something.
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