Before last night….I was all about Chris Paul for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award. And if I had to vote right here, right now, it would still be CP3. (by the way, I wrote this on November 13th 2007).

But the match-up between Kobe Bryant’s Lakers and Chris Paul’s Hornets was dubbed the game that decides the MVP race (sorry Bron Bron, you lost to the Bulls….no dice), much less an important game for Western Conference seeding. The Lakers won…..so yea, I’ll follow the crowd.

Actually, I’d rather not…..what I’d rather do is stop hearing all the bitching and moaning from those in the ‘Kobe for MVP’ court.

SIDE BAR: Advisors/Handlers/Latin Mami Wife of the Kobster:

Kob, to get back on track….you need to get the public loving you again, you gotta get gangsta with it (excuse me, I mean ‘wit’ it).

Yea papi…….you gotta get on the net and blog it out…..get ‘viral’ with it…..make a video of you jumping over a car-ra. (I don’t know Kobe’s wife, but imagine Rosie Perez’s accent in White Men Can’t Jump.)

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What do we know about these two? Well, judging by the game between the Grizzlies and the Hornets last night, Chris Paul is a superstar and Pau Gasol is a chump. Here’s why:

SideBar: My Campaign for Chris Paul, Western Conference All-Star Starter — I don’t care who you put with him, Kobe…Steve Nash….Baron Davis…..Deron Williams, just put them with Chris Paul.

CP3 – New Orleans – 2008 – It’s only right. (And you may recall my previous thoughts about Chris Paul, Steve Nash and Jason Kidd)

Oh yea, back to the WHY….

Caught the end of the New Orleans Hornets-Memphis Grizzlies game last night. Here’s the deal: Game in OT….tied @ 116 and the ball is in Chris Paul’s hands. Mind you , he has a career high in points at this junction (he finished with 43). The Hornets isolate for him, Tyson Chandler comes up to set a high screen and Chris Paul takes it to the hoop for the deuce layin with a couple ticks left. Hornets up 118-116.

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Filled out my first ballot yesterday. I’m voting for the players who I think should make the all star team judging by their performance at this point in the season. So, while I would love for Caron Butler to make the team…and if he keeps playing like he has been, he deserves to…but let’s be real, we should all go ahead and pencil in LeBron James and Kevin Garnett as the starting forwards for the East. Caron needs to keep ballin’ (along with the Wizards needing to do better as a team) and the coaches will take care of the rest.

EAST FORWARDS: LeBron James & Kevin Garnett

Richard Jefferson and Rashard Lewis are having nice seasons so far. Or course, the names Caron Butler, Zach Randolph, Hedo Turkoglu and Paul Pierce are always in the mix. I’d like to see more from Josh Smith (like maturity) and Chris Bosh before consideration.

WEST FORWARDS: Dirk Nowitzki & Carlos Boozer

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No….not really. Wait, what I truly mean is, not yet.

Ok, what do you think of when you hear the name Jason Kidd?

• Great passer (career 9.2 assist per game average).
• Deceptively quick, one of the best in transition.
• Court vision…and he takes care of the ball, 3.18 TOs per game for his career – excellent for someone who handles the ball so much.
• Best rebounding point guard (actually, best among all guards — he’s averaged 6.7 for his career).
• He’s big, (6’4″, 210 lbs.) and this is part of the reason why he can see the court so well, rebound, and post up smaller point guards causing the opposing defense to adjust.
• Before his knee injury history slowed him down, Kidd was a premier league defender, still has averaged over 2 steals per game for his career.

The negative? Jason Kidd simply cannot shoot, and leaves a lot to be desired on the offensive end in general. Partially, this is a side effect of him being such a great distributor…he doesn’t exactly need to score. But then again, his lack of range decreases the amount of offensive spacing for his team. His career FG% is a small hair above 40%, barely 33% from 3-point range.

So, how about Steve Nash?

• Experienced. He’s a savvy veteran who knows all the tricks.
• Court vision (pretty much a prerequisite for all great pure point guards) — 2.57 career TOs per game.
• Much better scoring threat than Kidd. His shooting percentages (FG & 3P),along with his scoring average has improved throughout his career
• Great transition player, and in my opinion, he is better at getting penetration into the lane than Kidd. This is probably a side-effect of him being more of a scoring option.
• And not that Kidd doesn’t, he’s great at this also, but Nash seems more astute in knowing the passing angles, along with the timing of ball distribution (not to mention that great PGs must know their personnel. — How many times have you seen a bad passer feed the ball to a lumbering big man on the break, only to see a bumblin’, fumblin’ turnover or missed shot?

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