Kobe Wins First MVP Award

After twelve seasons, it appears that Kobe Bryant is finally going to be selected as the NBA’s most valuable player, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Despite his illustrious career, Bryant never gained much MVP support until this season. He was third in the voting last season, fourth two seasons ago, and did not receive a vote three years ago when the Lakers failed to make the playoffs.

The MVP award, selected by NBA writers and broadcasters, figured to go to either Bryant or New Orleans point guard Chris Paul, who guided the Hornets to second place in the Western Conference during the regular season.

Despite seeing his scoring average drop from 35.4 to 31.6 point per game, Bryant undoubtedly had his best all around season. His defense was notably better and he averaged 6.3 rebounds and 5.4 assists, numbers that are the second and fourth best outputs of his career. However, what made number twenty-four more efficient in 2008 was the fact that he also deferred to his teammates much more than in the last few seasons. When the games were on the line he rarely forced shots on offense, a tendency that hampered him in the past.

“MVP nowadays is not an individual award,” said Kobe in an interview last month. “You really have to make your teammates better and elevate your ball club. For me to be nominated in that race is a tremendous honor because that’s really been one of the criticisms that people have had of me, is how well do I make my teammates better. From that standpoint, I feel like I’ve already won.”

Bryant is the fourth Laker to capture the elusive MVP trophy. Shaquille O’Neal won in 2000, Magic Johnson won three times, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won the MVP three times as a Laker.

Hopefully Kobe can use this as motivation going into the next round against the Utah Jazz, who are not going to go down as easily as the Denver Nuggets did. The Lakers will certainly will have their work cut out for them this time.

Tags: Kobe Bryant