NBA MVP

Obviously everyone is gonna vote for Steph Curry: he scores like nobody's business, he's fun to watch, he's already the defending MVP and he seems like a cool guy. My only problem is: I'm not convinced he's the most valuable player of his own team! If you take Curry off that team, they'd still be really good. Curry is not what makes them good, he's the difference between the Warriors winning by 5 or winning by 16. But, anyway, he scores a ton and he is unstoppable so I guess I'll take him to win the MVP.

In 2nd place, though, I gotta go with Curry's teammate: Draymond Green. Green plays suffocating D in the paint and on the perimeter, he's a great passer, a helluva shooter, a big guy that you can trust with the ball. And, while Curry is the face of the Warriors, Draymond is the true heart and soul of the team, that fire inside that wills everyone forward. I think he's the most important player on the team...but, clearly I can't take him 1st, so I'll take him 2nd.

3rd: Lebron. People take him for granted but this guy controls everything on both ends of the court (and off the court) to a degree that's just not like anyone else. Lebron is still the man--maybe more than ever!

4th: Chris Paul. The Clippers would've been absolutely nowhere without CP3 this year and he did it all by himself. Blake was hurt for most of the season, Austin Rivers was hurt, Lance Stephenson and Josh Smith ran themselves out of town, Deandre Jordan is still a supremely one dimensional player and he gets so, so little help from the coach. Really, a marvel of a season for CP.

5th: Kawhi Leonard. He just calmly, cooly plays his game, casually excelling on both ends of the court. This was a topsy turvy year for the Spurs...and they just finished with a franchise high in wins and the best (tied) home record in the history of the league. Kawhi is the bedrock on which Popovich is building his new church.

6-10: Russell Westbrook/Kevin Durant (either way, they're both amazing badasses), Kyle Lowry (really stepped forward and balled out this season, good for him), Damien Lillard (Aldridge left town and Dame is still under appreciated...smh), James Harden (while I think he deserves a lot of blame for the Rockets mediocrity, I also have to acknowledge he is equally responsible for all the good things that happen to that team, too).