Hollinger Response

So taking Mr. Robertson's advice, I read the Hollinger article. Granted, this is after the Friday night games, which partially affected my opinion, but, if I was ranking my MVP candidates, right now (and i'm going to include D-Wade, Hollinger didn't), my top 5 are:

5. Chris Paul - Like John Hollinger, I had really high expectations for the Hornets this year, especially with the acquisition of James Posey in the off-season. The Hornets have struggled this year against the best teams in the league, but Paul has put up ridiculous numbers. At the same time, I think David West is underrated and is probably just as much of a force as Pau Gasol (he's certainly close, in my opinion), so combined with the others on the Hornets, I think Paul has just as good of a supporting cast as anyone else on this list, so yeah, this is where he comes in for me.

And I LOVE watching CP3 play. He really is a complete joy to watch. He's very shifty on offense, has an unbelievable tear drop and is a girtty defender. But being fifth on this list isn't an insult.

4. Kobe Bryant - Kobe has been playing at the level I've become accustomed to seeing the past few games. He got very little help from his teammates against both Orlando & San Antonio and that basically cost the Lakers both games. But Kobe has posted double digit assists in both of the last two games and has been an assasin down the stretch. Unlike earlier in the season, he has been getting to the rim and finishing in traffic lately & when push comes to shove, I'd rather have him in the fourth quarter than anybody else in the League. At the same time, along with Paul, he has the best supporting cast around him on this list & his numbers are worse than the other three & as a result, Kobe ends up 4th.

Hollinger's point about his second half numbers are very interesting and could possibly be a reason Kobe was shooting a lot more jumpers earlier in the season, as it may have been his way of saving his body. Very intesting.

3. Dwyane Wade- He's really unbelievable. The one thing that separates him from Kobe is his desire on defense. Well, that, and he has maybe one guy in his starting lineup that would be starting for the Lakers or the Hornets and I'm not sure Marion necessarily would. But Wade is really a great player & was the best player in the world this summer. Last I checked, he was leading the league in scoring and does it all himself - evidenced by the highest usage rate in the NBA, as noted by Anthony in his Chalmers post. Wade is also relentless on defense.

The interesting thing about the Heat is they play some of the best teams in the league really closely, especially the Cavs and Lakers and in the playoffs, I'm not sure anyone would want to play Miami and D-Wade.

2. Dwight Howard- I originally had Lebron-Wade-Howard, HOWEVA, after watching Dwight Howard last night, he is really unbelievable. If he can develop a go-to post move to his left, he'll be completely unstoppable. He really is a specimen. He's hands down the best big man in the league and he posted 25 & 20 against the formidable Lakers front line... oh, and he shut down Pau "Small Game" Gasol & Andrew Bynum. Howard plays great defense, has a nose for the ball and really opens up the floor for the rest of his teammates. He's the reason Orlando is able to shoot so many 3s - and they make a league leading 10 per game.... Van Gundy Ball!!! But Howard's ability to force defenses to collapse as well as his rebounding ability allow the Magic to jack up 3s with reckless abandon... and they make a lot of them.

1. Lebron James- He is posting the highest PER of all-time this year. The Cavs have the best record in the league and are probably the favorite to win the East. He had 45 points in Game 7 against the Celtics last year and if any of his teammates had a pulse, they probably would have won the game. And this brings me to a point Anthony made the other day. He was worried that Lebron didn't care too much about losing that game to the Celtics. I've thought about this recently & really, what did you want Lebron to say? I mean, he could have pulled a Kobe and thrown his teammates under the bus, but he didn't. He played a great game almost single-handedly beat the eventual NBA Champions on the road in Game 7 & was able to handle the press with ease. I mean, he could have easily talked about how pissed he was and pull a Tebow and talk about how nobody would work harder, etc, etc.. but actions speak louder than words & with the way he is playing this year, he is making quite a statement.

I'm very excited for the Lakers-Cavs game tomorrow night & as a result, am holding off the Power Rankings until Monday for this game as it has heavy implications at the top.

Also, I love college basketball. I'm not sure if everyone has been about as productive as me today, but with Syracuse-Notre Dame, Georgetown-Duke, Wake Forest-Clemson, UCLA-ASU, Michigan State-Illinois, Pittsburgh-Louisville & then Michigan-Columbus Junior College coming up in about an hour, it's been one ridiculous day of awesomeness. Anyway, I won't continue to bore you with my thoughts... instead, how about a video:

You may want ankle insurance...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPnRFkPWyDM