AJC > Sports > Hawks > Blog > Archives > 2006 > April > 12
Wednesday, April 12, 2006
Who’s your NBA MVP?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I hate to shout out any products here but today I have to give a nod to the folks who came up with satellite radio some love. If you love the NFL, they talk about it all day. If you love the weather, politics, heavy metal music or whatever else, you can get it all day long on satellite radio.
Me, I’m an NBA guy. So I love the constant chatter about the league. And today there was a great discussion on one of the stations about the league and the MVP race. Somehow LeBron James has stormed to the front of the pack because he’s played so well of late. King James will be on my ballot, but he’s not No. 1.
There was an argument made for Kobe Bryant, Dirk Nowitzki, Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash and someone even had the stones to mention Paul Pierce.
Yet no one said a word about the guy I’m casting a vote for. How anyone can dismiss what Chauncey Billups has done this season stuns me. If the criteria’s the same it’s almost always been (Jordan should have won the thing every year after Magic and Bird left the league), then Billups should be a no-brainer pick.
Nash won it last year on the strength of being the best player on the best team in the league. Same thing for Kevin Garnett before him (remember, we’re talking the best regular season team). Charles Barkley and Karl Malone earned their hardware the same way. So why wouldn’t Billups be the choice this year?
If you have a candidate you feel deserves it ahead of him, make your case now. I want to know your feelings before I unveil the AJC’s second annual NBA awards in Sunday’s paper. But this honor is supposed to go to the guy who has the best season. And as fantastic as all these other guys have been this year, Billups has been the best player on the league’s best team all year!
