It's what everyone's talking about right now, and rightfully so.Every year, around this time, the MVP discussion blows up the NBA blogosphere (ya, I'm sorry for using that word), and even this season of 11-game nights and mass confusion has been no exception.
Tonight, the Podoloff's two front-runners are facing off in the game that will probably carry the single most weight in the MVP discussion - a clash that couldn't have come at a better time; right as Durant stole the momentum from what seemed like a snap-vote for Queen James. Last year Derrick Rose went completely postal in this such game, actively deconstructing the Heat down the stretch of an ABC Sunday victory that solidified Chicago's 1-seed and his status as MVP, as well as - literally - sending Miami away in tears.
With the debate heating up, now seems like a prime time to lay some MVP gambling guidelines, so here's Banter's Official (don't blame me if you lose a mortgage) 2012 MVP Odds:
Jeremy Lin, New York Knicks: Just kidding.
Josh Smith, Atlanta Hawks: 525:1 - This isn't really serious either. It's just a nod to one of the most criminally underrated seasons in NBA history, in which a fringe All-Star stepped up his post presence when his team's center went down for the count, kept them afloat, had one of the most impressively versatile seasons in recent memory, and was cheated out of the Midseason Classic by his own teammate's reputation nod. Shame.
Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs: 37:1 - If there was ever a doubt about Pretty Tony's HOF credentials, this season bagged it. He's improbably led the Spurs to within striking distance of 1st in the West when everyone had written them off, with Timmy D at a career-high level of irrelevance. With Duncan on the court so little (if you think Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol manhandling an exhausted TD last spring wasn't permanently seared into Gregg Popovich's mind you're mistaken), much of the offense - playmaking and scoring - has rested on Parker's shoulders, and he's responded with the finest season of his career.
Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic: 25:1 - This is right for all the wrong reasons. Sure, Howard's by far the most dominant two-way center in the League, but he seems to lack the intensity and focus that still separate him from someone like, say, David Robinson (not that anyone's ever made that comparison before). Sure, he's the single reason the Magic are in the playoffs, but his year-long InDecision saga is also the reason they haven't been able to position themselves to contend (and also likely responsible for massive levels of stress increase among Magic fans). Sure, he's probably going to be in the MVP conversation every year for the foreseeable future, but it's looking like a longshot that he'll grasp it.
Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers: 18:1 - Kobe's on the rebound. Not only did he just get divorced, but was also just torn away from the most profound basketball relationship of his life, and found Mike F***ing Brown in its place. The result has been an Iversonian offensive reign that has stat geeks spewing rhetoric about his usage rate, and the traffic on a certain German physician's website going through the roof. In essence, Kobe's been the Lakers this year: he sees his window closing, wants to make an impact on the record books, saw the 8th on #NBARank, and has the same respect for his coach's leash as you did for a substitute teacher in the 5th grade. So it's safe to say he deserves most of the credit for them being 3rd in the West and above everyone's expectations.
Chris Paul, Los Angeles Clippers: 13:1 - Let's call Chris Paul what he is: the NBA's only modern-day Player-Coach. His contributions to the Clippers - particularly in the fourth quarter, where they'd be absolutely rudderless without him - are horrifically underrated and the ultimate testament to how the value of a player can truly transcend the numbers. "Making those around you better" has become such a cliche MVP argument that it almost insults the way he sucks defenders far enough away from Caron Butler for the easiest looks of his career (that he still misses...), creates DeAndre Jordan's entire offensive game or places alley-oops passes too perfectly for Blake Griffin to catch them behind his head. He's the glue holding together a team of talented, maligned pieces and making them a playoff team. That he pulls a Peyton Manning during the fourth quarter of every close game, still has the Clippers (yes, THE CLIPPERS) holding down homecourt, and probably has no chance of winning, is by far the season's most ridiculous MVP fallacy (there's always a few). Which leads me to...
Kevin Love, Minnesota Timberwolves: 12:1 - Love can't be this year's MVP fallacy because his leading of Minnesota's unlikely resurrection has garnered enough fringe MVP buzz that I'm sure a few of the loopier voters are going to give him plenty of love (pun intended). What he is is a perhaps more-poignant 2005 Lebron James: an absolutely dominant player on a (once) hopeful playoff team that has done everything short of filling Gatorade coolers, and calls into debate the true context of "value" as the MVP voting precedent has addressed it. If you took Kevin Love away from the Wolves, it would arguably have more of a devastating impact on Minnesota than any other team losing its ace. In that sense, he should definitely be in the conversation, but because his team was only an 8-seed, and now worse, he stands no legitimate chance, unless the same type of political nonsense that's persisted in any kind of NBA voting (I know how weird that sounds) for years gets completely turned on its head. As much as I'd love to see this guy do it, I'd put my money on one of these two...
Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder: 2:1 - Durant's kind of a weird guy. I don't mean that in a "he strikes me as strange" way (even after that whole backpack thing), but in that he's done something this season that many superstars would never even consider: he's seemingly almost ceded in the Russell Westbrook Power Struggle that cynics feared would ruin their season. He's allowing Westy to continue getting his at an abnormal rate, and being perhaps the most submissive MVP candidate on this list, while still spearheading a trio that, along with Westbrook and Harden is scoring at a more efficient rate on the floor together than any team in NBA history (seriously, look it up). He's one of the League's most feared clutch assassins, and has delivered to the tune of a season-long stint atop the West. Oh, and he completely ruined Lebron James' shit last week.
Lebron James, Miami Heat: 1.2:1 - Obviously, Durant's trending right now after he embodied an OKC trouncing of the Heat and sent today's ever-fickle masses into pandemonium about how there was a new MVP favorite. I'm a firm believer that the human brain has yet to evolve at the same rate as technology to properly handle all the information we're perpetually bombarded with, and I feel like that might be causing some slight amnesia in a lot of NBA "heads". They've forgotten that before an injury brought on the first real regular-season slump of the Queen's career (and, yes I plan on calling him that until he wins a title), he'd spent months making a mockery of the MVP race, putting up the same ridiculous numbers in fewer minutes, creating points with historic efficiency and aptly defending all five positions, lifting the Heat while Dwyane Wade has sunk to (relatively) unfathomable lows. Well, he's broken out of that slump. So my money's on him.
Good luck with your bets, and enjoy your winnings responsibly.
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