John Patrick wrote:No way AT ALL he's gonna be MVP. Over Lebron, Kobe, Nash, Nowitski? No.
Well, lets see...
LeBron James is my pick for MVP, so you wont get an argument from me.
Kobe Bryant is always a candidate... when the Lakers make the playoffs. I, for one, don't think they will. And if the Lake Show falls through the cracks, Kobe won't get any recognition (and you can bet he won't drop 81 points again - which was his strongest case for the award).
Steve Nash has been MVP two years running. The first year was because of how much he improved the Suns... and the second year was because he could sustain their success (even without Amare who was, undoubtably, the Suns' true MVP in Nash's first year back in Phoenix). I don't know if he can sell us another case for MVP. He's always won based on overcoming odds. This year, the Suns have all the odds stacked FOR them (instead of against them). Nash will be a candidate, but probably wont win tri-MVPs.
And
Dirk Nowitski has majorly melted. In the NBA Finals, he fell off big time in the shooting percentage department (and it was followed up by a poor showing in the WBCs). When you're a shooter like Dirk, you live and die by your percentages (ask Peja). If Dirk can't snap out of it, he'll have a setback year (40% from the field, 35% from the arc, and 85% from the line... which isn't bad, but considering that it's Dirk, it's a major fall-off). I smell an off-year for Dirk. Call it a hunch. His performance in the NBA Finals and WBCs pretty much looked awful.
That being said... if Baron Davis can average 22 PPG, 9.5 APG, and 5 RPG (combined with 45% from the floor, 38% for three, and 80% from the line)... AND gets Golden State to the playoffs???
I can't imagine who else would deserve the award more in that case. It's a long shot (he'd need to improve his percentages across the board to up his scoring AND stay healthy), but it's still a shot.