Really? This Guy? MVP?

Reports dictate Dallas forward Dirk Nowitzki will get the MVP award everyone has said he'll get on Tuesday. 24.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, not bad lines, but is this an MVP line to you? Of course, this is a regular season award, but let's look at the competition for the award, averages are points, boards and assists, in that order:

Steve Nash: 18.6, 3.5, 11.6
Kobe Bryant: 31.6, 5.7, 5.4
LeBron James: 27.3, 6.7, 6.0
Chauncey Billups: 17.0, 3.4, 7.2

I threw in Chauncey because I don't think the Pistons function without him; he ought to be in the discussion. They need to re-sign him, big time. The only reason his numbers aren't better is because his team consists of such solid players.

Nash has been doing this for the past two years during his MVP seasons; it's largely the same template, and while it's fun to watch, he hasn't advanced his game enough to take three straight MVP awards. LeBron had to lead a team, but he was so maddeningly inconsistent at times during the 82, even though the Cavs landed a #2 seed (Cleveland fans may be OK with this; he's getting that team going, because they haven't lost a playoff game yet.)

Kobe Bryant will never win an MVP award, not so long as the media votes on it, because so much Kobe coverage relies on taking his off-court troubles and letting it affect the on-court stuff. The one thing I can nab Kobe on is that quite often, when he's trying to be unselfish, he doesn't do off-the-ball movement to get open again for the pass back out. However, that mediocre Laker team doesn't make the playoffs with him. The Suns become a 4 or 5 seed if Nash is gone. The Mavs are probably a 3 without Dirk; Jason Terry, Devin Harris, Josh Howard -- all good guys that can get a team into the playoffs. The Cavs aren't in without LeBron, but his regular season issues at times make him third to me. While Dirk should be up there in the MVP discussion, this shouldn't have been his year to win.

(Photo: AP/Jeff Chiu)