Malik
Superstar
Race to the MVP Ladder | NBA.com
March 8 -- Whenever Kobe Bryant's Hall of Fame career ends, there will be a glaring smudge on his long list of accomplishments.
Bryant has just one MVP trophy on a resume that includes five championship rings, two Finals MVPs, four All-Star Game MVPs, 14 All-NBA selections (10 first team nods), 12 All-Defensive team selections (nine of those first team) and a host of other career superlatives.
That lone MVP trophy (from 2008) will stick out for a number of reasons. He has a teammate, Steve Nash, who can boast of having won more MVP hardware than he has.
Was Bryant penalized for being a brilliant player who happened to play on a dominant Lakers team early in his career, when he was viewed as the second fiddle to Shaquille O'Neal? Or was he simply caught in a political process that didn't favor a player whose relationship with voters has always been tenuous at best?
"I don't have a good answer for why, but I know it's a disgrace," said one Eastern Conference executive who has maintained his stance that Bryant was the best player in the league for a stretch, before and after he won his lone MVP, without being honored properly.
"I'm not saying he's the best right now. I think LeBron [James] has distinguished himself from the rest of the pack now and he has the championship to go with it. But for Kobe to have just one ... it makes no sense."
Bryant's dramatic rise this week on the Kia Race to the MVP Ladder is directly related to how he has performed recently. Sure, the Lakers are still slogging through their own mess in an effort to join the Western Conference playoff mix. But there is no denying the individual brilliance Bryant has displayed in his efforts to lift the Lakers out of their abyss.
His critics will point out that the Lakers still haven't had a breakthrough win against any of the league's truly elite teams. And that's true. What shouldn't be overlooked, however, is the fact that his one-man wrecking crew routine has been in full effect in losses to the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder just as it has in wins against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Hornets.
In that comeback win over the Hornets, Bryant became the second-oldest player in NBA history (Larry Bird remains the oldest ... for now) to record a 40-point, 10-assist game. And he did this the night after he dropped 30 points in a tough loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Bryant's work in that win over the Hornets (42 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds) in particular seems to have energized his teammate in ways that could pay off in a major way down the stretch.
"This game brought us closer together as a team," teammate Dwight Howard said. "This is what it takes when you're playing for the playoffs and then when you're in the playoffs, fighting through games like this and it just shows our character. We had a tough one last night, we started out on a bad note tonight, but instead of giving up, we kept fighting until the end."
Bryant has vowed to lead these Lakers to the playoffs and promised that they'll make some noise when they get there. If it happens, given what we've seen of these Lakers from the start of training camp, few players could make a stronger case for MVP honors.
March 8 -- Whenever Kobe Bryant's Hall of Fame career ends, there will be a glaring smudge on his long list of accomplishments.
Bryant has just one MVP trophy on a resume that includes five championship rings, two Finals MVPs, four All-Star Game MVPs, 14 All-NBA selections (10 first team nods), 12 All-Defensive team selections (nine of those first team) and a host of other career superlatives.
That lone MVP trophy (from 2008) will stick out for a number of reasons. He has a teammate, Steve Nash, who can boast of having won more MVP hardware than he has.
Was Bryant penalized for being a brilliant player who happened to play on a dominant Lakers team early in his career, when he was viewed as the second fiddle to Shaquille O'Neal? Or was he simply caught in a political process that didn't favor a player whose relationship with voters has always been tenuous at best?
"I don't have a good answer for why, but I know it's a disgrace," said one Eastern Conference executive who has maintained his stance that Bryant was the best player in the league for a stretch, before and after he won his lone MVP, without being honored properly.
"I'm not saying he's the best right now. I think LeBron [James] has distinguished himself from the rest of the pack now and he has the championship to go with it. But for Kobe to have just one ... it makes no sense."
Bryant's dramatic rise this week on the Kia Race to the MVP Ladder is directly related to how he has performed recently. Sure, the Lakers are still slogging through their own mess in an effort to join the Western Conference playoff mix. But there is no denying the individual brilliance Bryant has displayed in his efforts to lift the Lakers out of their abyss.
His critics will point out that the Lakers still haven't had a breakthrough win against any of the league's truly elite teams. And that's true. What shouldn't be overlooked, however, is the fact that his one-man wrecking crew routine has been in full effect in losses to the Denver Nuggets and Oklahoma City Thunder just as it has in wins against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks and New Orleans Hornets.
In that comeback win over the Hornets, Bryant became the second-oldest player in NBA history (Larry Bird remains the oldest ... for now) to record a 40-point, 10-assist game. And he did this the night after he dropped 30 points in a tough loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Bryant's work in that win over the Hornets (42 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds) in particular seems to have energized his teammate in ways that could pay off in a major way down the stretch.
"This game brought us closer together as a team," teammate Dwight Howard said. "This is what it takes when you're playing for the playoffs and then when you're in the playoffs, fighting through games like this and it just shows our character. We had a tough one last night, we started out on a bad note tonight, but instead of giving up, we kept fighting until the end."
Bryant has vowed to lead these Lakers to the playoffs and promised that they'll make some noise when they get there. If it happens, given what we've seen of these Lakers from the start of training camp, few players could make a stronger case for MVP honors.
