The Best and Brightest of the NBA's Season

It's really hard to just hand Nash the award again when LeBron James and Kobe Bryant have had two of the best statistical seasons in the history of the NBA. At just 21, James is about to become the fourth player to ever average 31 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. He has been masterful the past month in leading the Cleveland Cavaliers into the playoffs for the first time in eight years. The Cavs are within range of 50 wins despite missing Larry Hughes for 45 games. They'd surely have more wins if Hughes were healthy. James leads the league in minutes and ranks second in efficiency rating. Any other year, James would be the obvious selection for league MVP.

But after much deliberation and debate, the choice for MVP is very obvious: Kobe Bryant. This season, Bryant has emerged at the game's most complete and dominant player. In leading the Los Angeles Lakers into the playoffs, Bryant did what most considered impossible at the beginning of the season. He has, by far, the weakest supporting cast of any MVP candidate. And perhaps no one in consideration could've led this team into the postseason. When Smush Parker and Kwame Brown are your third-and-fourth best options on offense, you really shouldn't be that good.

But Bryant assumed the role as the Lakers designated scorer, sprinkled in a little defense -- something neither James nor Nash did -- and made it work. He emerged as the greatest one-man show in the league, averaging 35.4 points -- the most since Michael Jordan averaged 37.1 points in 1988 (when Jordan won his first MVP trophy) and the ninth-highest single-season scoring average in NBA history.

Here's another list to consider: Chamberlain, Jordan, Rick Barry, Elgin Baylor and Bryant. After this season, they will go down as the only five players in NBA history to average at least 35 points in a single season. Chamberlain did it five times. Jordan did it twice. Barry and Baylor did it once. Now Bryant. That's it. That's dominance.

And no player has had a greater imprint on the regular season than Bryant. He scored 62 points in three quarters against Dallas, and recorded the second-highest scoring outburst in NBA history when he scored 81 points against Toronto. Anyone who raises the possibility of scoring 100 points in a game, should have the MVP trophy shipped immediately.

The Lakers can win only 45 games at best, which would be the fewest victories for an MVP since Abdul-Jabbar's Lakers won 40 games in 1975-76. Some would argue that Bryant shouldn't win because he doesn't make his teammates better, but how much better could this Lakers team be? The Lakers weren't exactly considered a playoff team when the season began. And, while no one was paying attention, Parker is having a career year and Lamar Odom and Brown got better as the season progressed, with Brown playing the best basketball of his career in the past six weeks, benefitting from the Bryant double- and triple-teams.

In addition to his exploits on the court, Bryant made up with Shaquille O'Neal and mended fences with Phil Jackson. This truly was his year. With the league watered down and talent spread out over 30 teams, few teams can truly be great anymore. But Individual greatness cannot be overlooked. Bryant has been the best of the best this season.

Runners-up: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers; Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns; Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas Mavericks; Chauncey Billups, Detroit Pistons

All NBA First Team

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F Dirk Nowitzki

F LeBron James

C Shaquille O'Neal

G Steve Nash