NBA MVP

Unlike last year, Steve Nash is a legitimate MVP candidate. However, before I fall back into Canada-bashing, let me say the most annoying trend by Nash supporters is how he’s given credit for every improvement his teammates make. It’s ridiculous.

Phoenix has the third-best record in the West this year despite missing Amare Stoudemire for pretty much the whole season, and Nash has raised his game. But so has Shawn Marion, who actually plays defense, too, and it’s tough to separate the two of them.

In fact, that seems to be a theme this year: many traditional MVP candidates are sharing the spotlight with a teammate good enough that it’s tough to tell who’s had the better season. Tim Duncan is peerless and showed tremendous heart playing through injuries this season. But Tony Parker actually leads the Spurs in scoring by a slim margin and is among the league leaders in shooting percentage. Chauncey Billups is statistically almost neck-and-neck with Nash, but the Pistons have a deep, quality lineup that will always work against them in the races for individual honors. And Dwyane Wade, who I wussed out of calling the MVP last year, always has Shaq to fall back on, though O’Neal has missed a lot of games this year.

Conversely, a number of players had standout seasons as their team’s big star, like Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki and of course Kobe Bryant. All of the players listed have at least decent MVP arguments. However, I see this as a three-man race. In descending order:

3. Dwyane Wade. Shaq has been in and out of the lineup all year, and only recently has Shaq found his legs. Meanwhile, Wade has been a rock for the Heat and remained their go-to guy in crunch time. He’s versatile: 27.2 points, 5.7 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 1.95 steals per game. Wade shoots 49.5 percent from the floor, which is awesome for a high-scoring perimeter player. (By comparison, Kobe shoots just under forty-five percent.) The only real knock against Wade is that Miami has struggled against other elite teams, but that’s hardly his fault alone.

2. Dirk Nowitzki. No one enjoys bashing Dirk for being soft more than I do. He’s put up typical Dirk numbers and continues to shoot better than men half his size. My favorite stat? He’s shooting 90.1% from the foul line. That’s impressive for a seven-footer, though maybe it shouldn’t be since he’s closer to the basket than guards are.

Dirk’s still not quite a stopper on defense and doesn’t have Wade’s diverse skills. So why do I have him ahead? For starters, he’s played in 81 games this year to Wade’s 75. He’s been hotter down the stretch. And despite injuries and inconsistency throughout the Dallas lineup, Dirk’s team has won more games: 60 to the Heat’s 52.

1. LeBron James. Considering predictions before the draft, it’s surprising that LeBron is almost overlooked sometimes next to classmates Wade and Carmelo. But James has lived up to almost every drop of hype. Cleveland wins fifty games for the year if they can sneak past the mighty Hawks tonight, even though James’ best teammates are soft-shoed middlemen Drew Gooden and Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

LeBron does almost everything for the Cavaliers: he scores, he rebounds, he passes, and he leads. At just 21, his all-around numbers are already taken for granted. But I think LeBron has done the most with the least.

So I’m giving the edge to LeBron, though maybe I should be looking in Dirk’s direction. What do you think?