Dwight Howard for MVP?

The NBA's MVP award has seen plenty of controversy over the past 10 years or so. After all, Steve Nash has two MVP awards while Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal each hold one, and while we all love Nash, nobody in their right mind would claim that Nash belongs in the same conversation as either of the former Laker teammates by any stretch of the imagination. After all, Bryant will likely be the only player for the next 20 years to sniff the fabled Michael Jordan comparison, while outside of Tim Duncan's underappreciated greatness -- Shaq is the closest thing we've seen to a player of Wilt Chamberlain's stature until a certain goofy center landed in Orlando.

And as the current landscape of the NBA gives residence to the dying supernovas of Bryant, Duncan, Shaq, and a who's who of one-time NBA champions, only two players have the pure physical talent to be transformational like Bryant, Duncan, and Shaq were – and like Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, and the heroes of the 80s were before them.

Those two players are Dwight Howard and LeBron James. If they want to go right, they can go right. If they want to go over you, they can go over you. And if they choose correctly at most forks in the road, they'll get their way.

Ironically enough, both are taking the same type of lumps. They can't lead, they can't win the big game, and they don't have the mental toughness to hold the metaphoric jock straps of those that built the game before them. Both are deservedly in the MVP chase, and both are losing ground to the Golden Boys of the NBA, Derrick Rose and Kevin Durant.

So why are they losing ground? Isn't the most valuable player the player that has the most value? Or is it something else?

If you had to hold a draft today for a winner take-all playoff, who would you select?

Many of you would select Kobe Bryant for the fact that he hasn't handed the crown off just yet. Some of you would select LeBron for his game-changing athleticism, that is, unless you opted for Dwyane Wade because he's the better player right now. Many of you would select Kevin Durant simply because you think he's better than all of them at this stage of his career. And there would even be some of you that take Tim Duncan, because at the most important position on the floor, center, his wily ways still command tremendous value on the basketball court. Besides, who's arguing with four championships?

And let's say that your livelihood was on the line. How many of you would care about Le Decision, or that Wade and James cancel each other out, or that Rose's humility and conference leading record make him the safe choice, or that Howard should be dominating with his God-given gifts, that Durant says all the right things, that a player's numbers are either up or down, or that they have teammates who are better or worse than the next guy?

You would take the guy that can win you four games in four straight series. Period.

Now James has shown his warts on a nationally televised loop that, in my mind, keep him from being the most valuable. If you consistently come up short when it matters most, then you're not the ambassador of Kwan. And with Miami stumbling through their early days as a living, breathing basketball organism, I could not in good faith give an award to Wade, who I believe has played better than James this season. Kobe has played very well this season, and there's no reason why he shouldn't be in the discussion, along with Durant and Rose.

And then there's Howard.

Howard, like James, is basketball checkmate. Like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar before him, Howard has the ability to beat you every time. Should he learn to make the baby hooks and convert on the drop steps, you cannot stop him. Should he learn how to make foul shots, you can't hack away at him. On both ends of the floor, he has been a force, and to me – just by being who he is, he cannot be excluded from the final round of the MVP decision-making process. It is impossible to ignore that for every game, he is going to get 14 possession-saving rebounds, score 23 points to impact the final tally, block 2.4 shots and alter many more while taking away a team's best post player, and space the floor so the team can make nearly 10 threes per game.

And while it's neither polished nor perfect, it is what it is, and just like Bill Clinton waxes poetic on what the definition of the word 'is' is – MVP voters parse with the same voracity.

But nobody questions the impact Howard has on the game. Howard is the reason guys like Hasheem Thabeet get drafted No. 2 overall, as a dominant figure in the post is The Fifth Element.

Derrick Rose can control the game on offense, but the jury is still out on his defense. Kobe Bryant is the most lethal closer of a generation, and Kevin Durant can score in so many different ways that Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson stopped crashing weddings to take notes in Oklahoma City – but where does their influence stop on the other side of the court? Even with Howard's warts fully on display – the bad free throw shooting, the whining, the lax attitude of a silver medalist, and the lack of a go-to move – he still impacts the NBA more than any other player in the league.

And while I'm not holding my breath in wait for the NBA to grant me an MVP vote, if I had the choice, I'd be sure to throw away any 'Most Valuable Persona' or 'Must Validate the Press' accoutrements. I wouldn't be voting with a need to pick a guy from a winning team, or a need to pick a guy whose surrounding cast would flounder in his absence. I wouldn't pick a guy because he's not a jerk, or because he doesn't do stupid things, or because I don't have an axe to grind with him. If I was voting while Michael Jordan played, I'd have voted for Michael Jordan for 10 straight years.

And if Dwight Howard played like he did last night, every night, scoring 33 points on 11-of-15 shooting with 11 rebounds, one steal, and three blocks while hitting 11-of-13 freebies – I'd vote for him every year, too.

Because I'd draft him No. 1 overall to start the playoffs.

More on why Rose shouldn't be the MVP. This is a good read from Dave Berri at Wages of Wins:

Should Kyle Lowry be part of the MVP discussion in 2011?

College Wolf wrote:
That article reminds me of the infamous OKC is better off without KD article. More power to Kyle Lowry he is having a fantastic year, but he is not Derrick Rose. Berri isn't even talking about defense which is where the other MVP candidates separate from Rose.

I'd still vote for LeBron and Dwight over Rose but that is beside the point.

David Berri is a joke. For like the past 3 years he says that Kobe isn't any good either