Basketball, Basketball and Basketball

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For those of you who know me, this is my main passion, not writing, but the sport basketball itself. From the day I got my very own net to the present I've spent countless hours playing out there on the street and when it gets too cold, I'll play indoors. But I'm not here to preach about my love for the game, directly at least!

So the panelists are STILL talking , analysing and comparing, trying to figure out what team is going to win the NBA Championship and hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy in 2011. As a recent ESPN poll, of their panelists shows, the majority believe that the Lakers are going to three-peat... Who else said that? I'll definitely leave a link below for you guys! But another subject arose that intrigued me. Who is going to win the NBA MVP award in 2011?

In my opinion, the three main candidates were also the top three finishers from 2010. If you were not aware, Lebron James took the award, as per a landslide finish ahead of Thunder forward Kevin Durant. Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers finished a distant third. I believe all three of those guys are the top contenders for this prestigous award.

Of course only one guy can win it right? Well technically two COULD split it... But that is not going to happen. Instead of announcing the winner right away I'm going to slowly eliminate the other two!

Lebron James. Yes the reigning M.V.P, and King of basketball will not get another shot at the award. Why? Well Lebron is playing with two other great players, and along side Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, his points per game are going to drop from very high 20's (29.7) to low 20's. With so many large options, wade will drop to what I see being 19-22 a night. Now I wouldn't be surprised either to see him and wade average their 30, and have the rest of the team only pitch in 30 some a night, but I'm not expecting that. Main point I would like to make is that with his ppg dropping up to ten, even with his assists going up, as he'll run the offence, he wont be able to compete with the winners stats. As we saw with Captain Canada, Steve Nash, the NBA journalist's who vote for MVP jerk off to points as opposed to the assists...

Kobe Bryant. For a guy who finished third in the voting, you could say this is over. He is dwindling his career. He should ride it out for as many possible shots at a title, make Shaq take em ALL to the bank and retire a legend. This guy will average his 30 points a game. We can all agree on that! Hopefully anyways! But Kobe realised this year, that for his team to win, he doesn't have to be the go-to guy. There are many great players on that L.A squad and he can rely on them. He won't win another MVP title, only because simply put, the Lakers are too deep. Other options can score, and other options can shut down opposing stars, so Kobe doesn't have to match Anthony's or any other players 25 points a game for the Lake show to dominate.

The final candidate is the one who I believe is the most likely of the three to win the Most Valuable Player award for the 2010-2011 campaign. Kevin Durant has it all going for him. He has a team that will make the play-offs and compete. Most of the MVP winners have took their team at least to the post season if not beyond! He also while being on a good team, is the main option, another reason why he should be the MVP. His team is honestly only really good because of him. Sure he has other ballers, but take lebron outta miami, you have two good players ready to roll, take Kobe out of LA such as for injury, which we have seen, and you have a solid line-up that can win!

So as you can see, KD has it going. Fan relations, solid foundations and an important role in his franchise. Just as I called the NBA Champs for 2011, I follow suit with the MVP! Just remember where you heard it first!!!

Just a few things here!!! Please check out my friend Mark Brook's site. Its baseball orientated, but if you even REMOTELY like mine, you'll LOVE his. It's legit, it has a blog, tips, a forum and everything else!!! Link RIGHT below ! Check in later, including this weekend for some new posts!

PS!!! Vote in the poll I REALLY want to know what you guys think about ads! And suggestions are greatly welcome, whether they are general or about topics! You can email me at penguinfan_8787@hotmail.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?page=SummerForecast10-NBAChamps ESPN take LA!

http://www.artofbaseball.net/ Mark's site. Definitely a good read!