[King Glorious]

Few thoughts on the NBA season as we reach the halfway mark:

Early on, everyone basically gave the MVP award to Kevin Garnett. I like KG and as a Celtics fan, am very happy he's here and with what he's doing for the team. He's a deserving candidate. But he's not the winner. That's got to either be LeBron James or ...........Chris Paul. LeBron is simply the best player in the league and I think he's closing the debate up with each game. He outplayed the guy generally acknowledged as the best closer in the game the other day, Kobe Bryant, as his team beat Kobe's for a fifth straight time. He scored 14 in the fourth, 41 for the game, and he defended Kobe in the fourth when Bryant went 1-6 from the field. LeBron is averaging 30 and over seven boards and seven assists a game. His team went winless (not even competitive in losses) while he was out 5-6 games with injury earlier but with him, they are back on pace to win around 50 games again. Sure, it's the East but don't hold that against him. In my opinion, the MVP should be a combination of the best player and most valuable to his team. Kobe might be the best player. The most valuable to his team might be LeBron, Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, Paul, Al Jefferson or Jason Kidd. But the top combination of the two is clearly James. Chris Paul is my surprising runner up. I've doubted this kid since he came out of high school. I mean, it's obvious that he can play but you keep saying to yourself "he's not THAT good." He is. He's led the Hornets to the best record in the Western Conference. He has taken a team of good to ordinary players and turned them into far more than anyone could have expected. He has great floor leadership and controls pace of the game like a great point guard should. He knows who to get the ball to and when at all times..or when to take it himself. Without Paul, that club would be a lottery team. With him, they are turning into serious contenders in the West.

My top five:
James, Paul, Nash, Nowitzki, Garnett
Honorable mention to Bryant, Dwight Howard, and Brandon Roy

I know, how is Bryant so far down? Simple. Have you seen that team since Bynum went down? Struggled to beat Seattle (in overtime), Memphis, and New York. Lost to Cleveland, Dallas, San Antonio, and Phoenix. Without Bynum, this team is no better than they were last year. Bryant is a brilliant player with all the skills in the world.....except for one. He doesn't show any ability to make teammates better. The keys to that team this year has been the development of Bynum and the return of Fisher. This is obvious to just about everyone. In the tough Western Conference, with Bynum that team had risen to the best record in the conference. Without him for the next 4-6 weeks, they are in danger of falling out of the top eight.

San Antonio is not looking good. Take away their third quarter against the Lakers and they have been actually looking pretty bad. Losing Parker for a bit is going to make them look even worse. They just lost at Seattle with Parker out, the same Seattle that had lost 14 straight. I know that this is a veteran team that knows what it takes in the playoffs and they can't be counted out. But this team is looking lost these days, especially on the road and it might be more important than ever for them this year to have home court advantage against some of the really good teams. If they don't have it against a Dallas or Phoenix, I don't think they can win it.

Can't believe that Chris Webber is going back to Golden State to play for Don Nelson. Talk about life repeating itself.

Jason Kidd wants to be traded. Shaquille O'Neal needs to be traded. Because of contracts, probably neither one will be traded. One guy that could turn out to be a big factor in who goes to or wins the title is one of the smallest players in the league, Damon Stoudamire. He's not going to be a starter for any contender but could play a big role off of the bench, especially for a team like Boston or San Antonio.

The Blazers had a great run but will fall back to Earth and miss the playoffs. Also likely to miss the playoffs are the Houston Rockets. The experiment with McGrady and Yao has failed. Both of them miss too many games to keep any consistent form going with that team. You don't trade a 7-6 all-star center so look for McGrady to be sent somewhere this offseason.

Everyone is conceding that the East will come down to Boston vs. Detroit but I wouldn't count out Cleveland just yet. They beat Detroit last year and I see no reason why they couldn't do it again.

Gilbert Arenas is going to come back and Washington is going to suffer because of it. Sounds silly to say that adding an all-star player of Arenas' caliber can hurt a team but they have really blended together to play a style of basketball that is successful in the East while he's been out. When he comes back, it's going to take the ball out of Butler's hands too much. Also, defensively, they are really going to be hurt because Arenas doesn't like to play that end of the floor.

Kevin Durant is a talented offensive player. Before he came into the league though, I predicted that he'd be just another Rashard Lewis type of player for the Sonics. Other players I compared him to were Tim Thomas and Loul Deng. He's just not strong enough at this point and I don't know if he ever will be. He doesn't have the ability to play inside. He didn't have it in college either. He's always going to be able to get you 20-30 on any given night but he doesn't seem to be the kind of guy that has a real impact on the game. Some guys get you numbers (Lewis, Zach Randolph) but don't have much impact on the game. That's Durant right now.

Speaking of Lewis, what a waste of money that was for Orlando. $100+ million for a guy that's 6-10 and can't rebound any better than any of us can? All he's good for is shooting open jumpers. He's unable to create his own shots, doesn't rebound, doesn't pass, and doesn't play defense. I tried to tell them but they wouldn't listen.

I hope Minnesota doesn't make the same mistake with Al Jefferson that they did with Garnett. This guy is a potential superstar but if they don't get the right talent around him, they will waste his really good years.

How bad is Miami? They play the Celtics without Garnett and Allen, at home......and lost by 30 in a game that wasn't even that close. Boston led by over 30 for much of the game. This is how bad it was. The score was 60-34 and Pierce hadn't even scored a point. That was the worst effort I've ever seen from an NBA team. Ever.

I think there is hope though for the Heat. No, not this year. They should sit Wade for the rest of this year. O'Neal too. Both are hurting. In the offseason, I'd offer O'Neal a buyout. It would cost them big money but it might be the best move for both sides. For the Heat, they aren't going anywhere as long as he's there. Let him go, use some money to try to lure a free-agent. Doesn't have to be a superstar but just some veteran that can play. This year is also going to be a good lottery, I think. They could end up with a really high pick and the right addition could help make the Heat contenders in the weak East as soon as next year. For O'Neal, it gives him a chance to end with some dignity. He could find a team that's close but needs a little bit more. He's nowhere near the player he once was but he's still able to give a team 14-8 and shoot nearly 60% a night. Sadly, there aren't that many centers that can do that these days. I'm sure Dallas would love to have him in the middle instead of Dampier and Diop.

We know that Dirk Nowitzki is the heart and soul of the Mavs. As he goes, so goes the team. But has Josh Howard moved past him as the best overall player on that team?

The East will be represented by the Celtics. The West by the Mavs. The Celtics win it all.