HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Marc Narducci

With approximately 30 games played the early frontrunner for the MVP award clearly is Cleveland’s LeBron James. This is no shocking statement.

It doesn’t mean that the award should be suddenly shipped to Cleveland, because there is too much time left, but James has zoomed into the favorite’s role for a number of reasons.

In James’ case, the numbers don’t lie. He is playing like an MVP for a team that began the week having won 26 of its first 30 games. James was averaging 27.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.4 steals, 2.0 steals and 1.13 blocked shots while shooting 50.9 percent from the field.

With James, the numbers don’t begin to tell the entire story of his dominance. He has shown the ability to make his teammates better while accumulating those eye-popping statistics.

James of course can’t afford to relax because of the competition he will face in maintaining his frontrunner status.

Oddly, Kobe Bryant isn’t getting anywhere near the mention that he did last season when he won his first-ever MVP award.

James actually may benefit from not having won it in the past. For some reason that seems to be a big deal to voters, but it shouldn’t factor in the equation.

And what might have helped Bryant last year, is possibly hurting him this season. Make no mistake about it, last year wasn’t a lifetime achievement award for Bryant. He clearly deserved the award. This year he should also earn serious consideration.

Bryant was averaging more than 26 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for a Lakers team that won 25 of its first 30 games.

The difference this year is that Bryant is playing with a better supporting cast for the entire season. His scoring is down two points a game from his average last year, but Bryant doesn’t need to provide as much offense, especially with Pau Gasol on board the entire season.

Any team that has Lamar Odom coming off the bench, has the type of depth that James certainly doesn’t enjoy in Cleveland.

Usually teams that are battling for the best record in the conference boost most of the major MVP candidates, but how can anybody dismiss Miami’s Dwyane Wade?

He was leading the NBA in scoring, averaging nearly 29 points. Wade was also averaging nearly seven assists, while already helping the Heat surpass last season’s meager victory total of 15.

After missing 31 games in each of the previous two seasons, Wade showed he was back during an outstanding performance in the Olympics, leading the gold-medal U.S. team in scoring (16 ppg.).

Wade has taken his game to a new level during the NBA season.

And that brings us to some other players who are enjoying truly outstanding seasons, but are overshadowed statistically by the dominance of James and to a lesser extent Bryant and Wade.

Few players have made a greater impact than Denver’s Chauncey Billups since his trade from Detroit.

The Nuggets improved to 19-8 since acquiring Billups after a 117-110 win at New York on Dec. 28.

With Denver, Billups was averaging more than 18 points and nearly seven assists per game. He has brought stability and direction to the Nuggets and has been a major upgrade over Allen Iverson, who was traded for Billups to Detroit.

One player who is receiving almost no mention for the MVP award is Boston’s Kevin Garnett, simply because he doesn’t have glowing statistics, except in one category – wins.

The Celtics won 28 of their first 32 games and what Garnett brings to the defensive end is as important as his offensive contributions.

Unselfish to a fault, he has averaged 16.6 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.4 blocked shots and was shooting 53.9 percent from the field.

He is the reigning defensive player of the year and could win the award again this season. Because Garnett isn’t averaging 25 points per game, his contributions tend to be overlooked, except by those who know that he’s the most important player on the defending NBA champions.

Last season Chris Paul finished second to Bryant in the MVP race and the New Orleans Hornets point guard is again a viable candidate.

Paul was averaging more than 20 points and 11 assists along with three steals per game for a Hornets team that began the week with the second best winning percentage in the Western Conference.

Two other candidates, both from the Eastern Conference are Orlando center Dwight Howard and Atlanta guard Joe Johnson, one of the most underrated great players in the NBA.

Howard is leading the NBA in rebounding and blocked shots and more importantly, the Magic had won 24 of their first 30 games.

Johnson was averaging more than 23 points and five assists for an Atlanta team that was nine games over .500. He is also averaging 40 minutes per game and has yet to show any sign of fatigue.

The competition is so stiff, that we haven’t even mentioned two-time MVPs Tim Duncan of San Antonio and Phoenix’s Steve Nash or 2006-2007 MVP Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas. It also leaves out players such as Houston’s Yao Ming and Toronto’s Chris Bosh, who were both averaging more than 20 points and nearly 10 rebounds per game.

There is no shortage of worthy candidates, but right now, none is more deserving than James.

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Few teams received more accolades during the offseason than the Philadelphia 76ers. Coming off a late-season run, earning a playoff berth, extending the heavily favored Detroit Pistons to six games and then enjoying what appeared to be a wildly successful offseason makeover, the bar was raised considerably.

President and general manager Ed Stefanski spent approximately $160 million, signing Elton Brand as a free agent and re-signing Andre Iguodala.

The team also spent another $25 million to re-sign Lou Williams and added veterans Royal Ivey, Donyell Marshall, Kareem Rush and Theo Ratliff, while drafting forward Marreese Speights.

So the Sixers definitely felt they upgraded the talent pool and there was talk about possibly being among the top four in the Eastern Conference.

As most know, the expectations and team spirit became deflated by a 9-14 start that eventually cost coach Maurice Cheeks his job.

Cheeks was replaced by long-time Sixer employee Tony DiLeo, who will guide the team for the rest of the season, according to Stefanski. DiLeo hopes to change the culture while adding a few more W’s. His biggest goal is to get the Sixers back to their fast-breaking ways.

Was Cheeks made the scapegoat for the Sixers’ poor start?

Sure, but as the old saying goes, you can’t fire the entire team, although several Sixers players are certainly worthy of receiving termination notices.

Cheeks was known as a players’ coach. He never put one of his players under the bus, always taking the blame.

And the fact that the Sixers started slow continued a pattern under Cheeks, so he did indeed receive blame.

In 2006-2007 the Sixers began 6-19. While much of the turmoil centered around Allen Iverson, who was traded in December of 2006, the Sixers rebounded to go 29-28 in the final 57 games.

Last season the Sixers started out 18-30 and eventually righted the ship, going 22-12 after that and earning the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.

This year Cheeks wasn’t given the benefit of the doubt with the Sixers languishing through the first quarter of the season.

“It’s not just the coach’s fault,” Stefanski said. “It’s a change of direction and we felt we had to do it and go in a different direction and felt progress wasn’t there.”

The question now is, what type of team has DiLeo inherited?

Both Stefanski and DiLeo said how they hoped to make the Sixers more of a transition team, something that helped them claim that postseason berth last year.

Yet as they showed in the playoffs, teams can rarely win in the postseason with this style.

The running masks the Sixers deficient perimeter game. Without better shooting one wonders how much better the Sixers will become.

There could be natural improvement if the players actually live up to expectations.

Brand has been a disappointment even though he’s averaging a double-double (16.4 ppg., 10.0 rebounds).

He missed all but eight games last season with a ruptured left Achilles tendon and has played like somebody still attempting to shake off the rust.

The other thing about Brand that one has to wonder is whether the expectations were out of control, despite his big contract.

This is his 10th NBA campaign and he has played eight full seasons, with only one playoff appearance. Granted Brand played on some horrid teams with Chicago and the Los Angeles Clippers, but it’s still a less than impressive postseason resume.

Iguodala has also played below his standards until recently. He was switched from shooting guard to small forward and that has seemed to help.

The biggest disappointment has been center Samuel Dalembert, averaging 5.8 points and 8.3 rebounds.

Dalembert has been known for his inconsistency, but last season he played well, averaging 10.5 points, 10.4 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in a career-high 33.2 minutes per game.

“We have to get Sam playing at a high level,” DiLeo said in the season’s biggest understatement.

Andre Miller has been solid at point guard, but he’s an unrestricted free agent after this season and if the team doesn’t show significant progress, it won’t be a good selling point to keep him.

Williams, who has the ability to create instant offense off he bench, has been inconsistent. Actually the Sixers’ best player has been second-year forward Thaddeus Young (13.1 ppg.).

Besides Brand, the Sixers other off-season acquisitions have given minimal contributions.

Whether it’s a coincidence or not, Brand and Dalembert played well in DiLeo’s first game, a 104-89 win over the visiting Washington Wizards. Brand had 27 points (12 for 19 from the field) while Dalembert added five points and 17 rebounds.

Those two must be able to mesh together on the court both offensively and defensively for the Sixers to improve.

With the woeful shape of the Eastern Conference, the Sixers should still contend for a playoff spot.

Yet just contending for one of the back-tier positions wouldn’t be a sign of progress. The Sixers are looking for major improvement.

Changing coaches won’t do much unless the players who are expected to produce, can considerably step up their game on a consistent basis.

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