Last week I made a promise to completely avoid any topic dealing with the NFL and I fully intend to keep that promise even if it means not talking about how much I have struggled through the bye week, not mentioning how watching football players answer the same questions 87 times annoys me so much that I want to stuff my ears full of cotton yet for some reason I watch every bye week press conference every single year, or not discussing how Peyton Manning is going to carve up the Chicago defense. I won’t bring up any of those things, because NFL football is strictly off the board. So without further ado, onto the column.

A few days ago, I received an email from one faithful reader who happened to disagree with my opinion about Gilbert Arenas deserving the NBA’s Most Valuable Player honor and also believed that Dallas Maverick’s forward Dirk Nowitzki is the only legitimate MVP candidate for this season. While there is no doubt that Dirk is an elite player and is certainly in the running, he is far from being the leader in the MVP race. Statistically, Dirk is having a great season, averaging 25.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, good enough for ninth in the league in scoring and 13^th in rebounding.

However, the award isn’t Most Talented Player, its the Most Valuable. The Mavericks are one of the three best teams in the NBA and while Dirk is a large part of their success, I’m not completely convinced that they would be much worse without Nowitzki. The Mavericks would still be among the top ten teams in the league and would almost definitely make the playoffs even in the powerful Western Conference.

So which NBA superstars are absolutely pivotal to their teams’ success? I am only considering players from sure shot play off teams so right away that eliminates players such as Ray Allen, Chris Bosh, and Kevin Garnett. In my mind, there are several players that all make very strong cases for the MVP award but only three that have any real shot at winning, those three being Kobe Bryant, Gilbert Arenas, and Steve Nash.

Most players, coaches, and general managers from around the NBA will tell you that Kobe Bryant is the best player in the game. Bryant’s scoring average is down from last year’s numbers but he is doing more by doing less. The main criticism of Bryant in the past has been his reluctance to trust his teammates which in turn takes them out of the game both physically and mentally. However, this year Kobe’s assists are up as is his shooting percentage, the point being that Kobe has learned that a true leader makes the players around him better by getting them involved in the offense and that he is taking better shots. Without Bryant, the Lakers are cellar dwellers but with him they are only three games out of third place in the West.

The Phoenix Suns are a three ring circus on the parquet with offensive power that can not be contained by opposing defenses, but that power is somehow harnessed and unleashed by point guard Steve Nash. The knock against Dirk is that there is enough talent around him that his absence would not be devastating and some would try to make that argument against Nash considering all five starters for the Suns rank in the top 50 in the NBA in scoring. The Suns do have a collection of great individual offensive talent but the glue that makes them such a dangerous unit is Steve Nash. There is a reason why he is the reigning two time MVP and it is no secret that he alone makes the Suns run the court with such blazing speed and machine like effectiveness. Having another point guard run that offense would be like letting a 15 year old with a learner’s permit drive a Formula One car. Nash is very deserving of the MVP award, but might not receive it because winning a third consecutive MVP has never happened in the history of the NBA and many people do not want him in the same company as other three time MVPs such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, and Bill Russell.

Now to let my East Coast bias shine through. If I were in charge of selecting the MVP, and I see no reason why I shouldn’t be, my pick would be Washington Wizards point guard Gilbert Arenas. Agent Zero has been a star on the rise for several years and has finally achieved some public recognition. No player has been more clutch than Arenas, who drains game winning jumpers like he was taking pre-game warm up shots. Arenas is directly responsible for several of the Wizards’ wins, and if he wasn’t hitting those buzzer beaters the Wizards would be ranked significantly lower than second place in the East. Arenas is second in the league in scoring, averaging 29.6 points per game, and 12^th place in assists per game with 6.3. Arenas has scored 40 or more points seven times this season, including two games over 50 points and one game over 60 points. There is no more lethal scorer throughout the league and if I could have any one person take the final shot of a game, I would take Arenas in a heart beat. Hibachi!