Joe Manganiello’s Trimester all-NBA selections: First Team

First Team all-NBA

G- Kobe Bryant (5th place in my MVP voting)

Kobe Bryant is still doing it, man.

Surrounded by more question marks than any Laker roster since the Malone/Payton experiment in ’03-’04, Bryant has been forced to watch injuries, roster changes and a monumental coaching switch derail the first third of the season. The Lakers are a losing team, stuck behind the upstart Warriors and cross-town rival Clippers in the Pacific division. Nash has missed over 90 percent of the season, Gasol is having far and away his worst season in L.A., Howard is missing free throws at a horrendous rate, affecting his entire game and ruining the Lakers fourth quarter efficiency, and the Lakers have been exposed as one of the thinnest teams in the league.

Left to deal with these enormous concerns and attempting to lift the Lakers up over them is Bryant, and the league’s best two-guard has done a heck of a job. The Black Mamba is scoring at his highest rate since ’06-’07. His shooting splits (.477/.381/.865) are the best of his career, while taking two full shots less per game than a year ago. His turnovers are a bit high (3.8) but credit that to his extended point guard duties without Nash on the floor. Meanwhile his assists, rebounds and steals are right where they’ve been his whole career.

Watching Lakers games this year, it’s hard not to notice how much effort Kobe has exhausted trying to keep this team from sinking too far out of the playoff picture. With every missed foul shot, costly turnover, defensive miscue or disappointing loss, Kobe has been absorbing the blows, as any captain should. He knows that its best to wait out this storm, because what is on the other side of it is far greater than the pain of November and December losses.

And that was on full display last night in the first real game of the Nash-era in Los Angeles. Finally with the starting five the Lakers have been trying to put on the floor since the summer, the Lakers battled back on the Warriors court, making up for a 13-point deficit entering the fourth quarter by claiming the victory in an action-packed overtime affair.

Kobe, finally equipped with all of the weapons bestowed to him by Lakers management, looked amazing in the final twelve minutes of the game. From the time he entered the fourth quarter at the 6:58 mark, Kobe scored 13 points, including a series of three mid-range jump shots in overtime that kept the game just far enough away from the Warriors. Kobe and Nash looked more than comfortable sharing the backcourt. The two HOFers assisted each other often throughout the night, and Kobe gave Nash the freedom to take several crucial shots, none bigger than Nash’s step back jumper with 16 seconds left in overtime to give the Lakers a three-point lead.

While many critics are already fixated on Kobe’s shot totals against the Warriors (41 FGA, 8 3PA), it was Bryant who often times had the best matchup for the Lakers: drawing Curry or Thompson onto the weak-side, all alone, where Kobe could then go into attack mode in the one-on-one game. It was also a night where Nash was very much shaking off the rust of 24 consecutive games missed and Dwight was on and off the floor with foul trouble. Most games, those guys will warrant more shots.

Look, the Lakers do not win that game without Kobe’s offense. And that’s the story for the trimester in Laker land. They are a 13-14 team who could be Kings/Wizards/Bobcats bad if it wasn’t for Kobe’s unbelievable start to the season. With Nash, Howard, World Peace and Gasol (for now) on the floor beside him, Kobe can now afford to gear down a bit.

Whether the Black Mamba ever opts to gear down is a completely different story, but I wouldn’t count on that anytime soon. Not while his sixth championship remains the task ahead.

G- Chris Paul (4th place in my MVP voting)

The Clippers are having their best season in recent memory. The league’s smartest player and best lead guard is the top reason why.

Chris Paul’s numbers are not all that flashy in comparison to some of his past seasons. But I don’t think the league is ever going to see the ’08-’09 CP3 model that scored 23 points a night for a lacking Hornets team, not while he has so much talent around him in L.A. anyway. So Paul’s 16 ppg sit well with me, as does his 9.4 apg and his 4.30 assist-to-turnover ratio, which is best among starting point guards. Paul has everyone involved this season, including his own backup, Eric Bledsoe, who has exploded onto the scene as a potential superstar-waiting-to-happen off the bench. There are seven players averaging at least nine points a night for the Clippers, and Paul’s job is to make sure everyone is getting the ball in the right spots.

The Clippers have won 12 straight games and own the best road record in the NBA. Paul might never have the numbers to pry an MVP trophy away from his peers on the wing, but his team might have the last laugh in May/June the way he is playing the guard position.

F- LeBron James (3rd place in my MVP voting)

The reigning NBA finals MVP is the best player in the world for a reason. I could break loose on a tangent about how his team has underachieved on both ends of the floor so far this season and looked hungover from their championship run, particularly on the road. But that would make it seem like LeBron is to blame for that, which he isn’t. His production is, par the usual, incredible and basically unprecedented.

LeBron is having his best shooting season (.542/.434/.681), scoring 25 ppg, pulling down a career-high 8.5 rpg and passing out 6.8 apg. He only turns the ball over 2.6 times per game, and is very much among the league’s scariest perimeter defenders.

I would like to point out he is only getting to the line 5.9 times per game, where he is then only hitting 68 percent of his shots. That means that LeBron is scoring four points a night at the charity stripe, an insanely low number for the most physically gifted player in the league. To compare, 34-year-old Kobe Bryant scores 7.6 points a night off free throws.

But the Heat are in first place in the Eastern Conference and will remain in first place. They are so very good, largely because of their shooters and athleticism, and mostly because of number six. As long as LeBron continues with this level of production – and he undoubtedly will – he remains a leading candidate for his fourth MVP award.

F- Kevin Durant (2nd place in my MVP voting)

The league’s best scorer three years running, Durant has been very proactive this season in the wake of his first NBA finals appearance and the trade of James Harden. He is doing all of the little things. He is pulling down a career-high 8.4 rebound per game; he has a career-high 4.2 assists per game; and his turnovers are down from a year ago. More involved in the other facets of the game, Durant’s shot totals are down 2.4 attempts per night from a season ago. Durant’s relatively low shot totals allow the team’s other elite scorers – Russell Westbrook and newly acquired wingman Kevin Martin – to be aggressive in looking for their own shot. The result is the league’s second highest scoring offense (105.1 ppg) and second most efficient shooting offense (.481/.402/.845).

Durant is shooting at the best rate of his career. He is hitting 52 percent of his shots from the field, second only to LeBron among players who take at least 17 shots a night. Durant is second in the NBA in points per shot, with every Durant field goal attempt equating to 1.61 points. Durant is only behind Tyson Chandler in this category, who averages just under seven shots a night, all of which are twos around the basket. The next closest player who attempts at least 17 shots per game is James Harden with 1.51 points per shot, a 6 percent drop off.

Most importantly for Durant, the Thunder are winning basketball games. Durant is the best player on the league’s best team. The Thunder have the second best scoring differential league wide, the league’s best home record, and are one of only two teams with three losses on the road. Durant has made up for the loss of Harden by stepping up his intangible game, becoming one of the league’s most affective rebounders and diving even further into the unselfishness category that might as well be named after him.

This has been Durant’s best season to date. And yet, there is something odd about the whole thing.

Call me crazy, but it doesn’t sit well with me that Durant is in the mix for his fourth consecutive scoring title yet he does not lead his team in shot attempts. Yes, he is taking high quality shots and making them at an unbelievable rate of efficiency. He is taking more twos this season, with only 21 percent of his shot attempts from behind the arc as opposed to 26 percent last season. But does it not feel like Durant is constantly concealed?

The thought has crossed my mind that maybe Durant is not comfortable being a 20+ shot per game player. Every once in awhile, Durant takes 20+ shots and allows his world class scoring ability to breakout. In his first game against the Rockets since the Harden trade, Durant “jacked up” 22 shots on 59 percent shooting to finish with 37 points. In his last two games against the Hawks and Timberwolves, Durant averaged 22 shots ironically on 59 percent shooting, scoring 33 and 41 points respectively.

Durant could average 33-35 points a night easier than any player since Jordan. Kobe and Iverson made it look difficult, needing many more shot attempts than Durant would need. With his career percentages and his knack for making the amazing seem routine kept in mind, Durant could take 4-5 more shots per night and flirt with 35 ppg. Why doesn’t he?

Meanwhile it’s Westbrook who is the emotional and vocal leader on the court for the Thunder. Westbrook is the fearless offensive weapon, bringing the ball up and down the court, wearing his emotions on his sleeve and playing both sides of the court with reckless abandon. It’s him who takes the most shots on the team and nobody demands he does otherwise.

This is why Durant is not my MVP, not yet anyway. The best scorer on the planet can’t be doing his job appropriately if his lead guard outshoots him. While it has been valuable to his team that he has rebounded, assisted, played defense and shot as well as he has, Durant is leaving his best production off the table if he is failing to shoot and score at the level he is capable of. Durant needs to be able to shoot 20 shots a night for his team. It is his greatest skill. The Thunder will not be able to reach their full potential without the world’s best scorer playing as such.

F- Carmelo Anthony (The trimester MVP)

Nobody pegged the Knicks to play like this in the pre-season. I certainly didn’t. Credit must go to head coach Mike Woodson for the job he has done preparing this team. The oldest team in the league has played heady on both ends of the court, to the tune of the league’s fourth best scoring differential. It goes without saying that the play of Jason Kidd and Raymond Felton in the starting lineup has gone a long way to improving this team, along with Novak/Smith’s shooting touch, Chandler/Brewer’s defensive instincts and the surprising play of savvy veterans like Pablo Prigioni, Rasheed Wallace and Kurt Thomas.

With all that said, this Knicks team doesn’t have the star power of the Thunder, the Heat or the teams of Los Angeles. They don’t have the camaraderie of teams like the Spurs or Celtics. This is a wise collection of hungry NBA players playing for a smart head coach preaching intangibles. Most of the players on the Knick’s roster are past their prime, and while Chandler is an all-star and an Olympian, the argument can be made that there is only one player on the team who is at the peak of their game.

Carmelo Anthony is the most valuable player in the league thus far for a pair of reasons. There is absolutely no one on the Knicks that can perform his role in his absence, and no player in the league has elevated their play with as much urgency as Anthony has. Anthony is well aware that what he can accomplish with this core of players over the next few seasons will define his career.

And so without Amar’e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert – arguably the next two most talented players on the Knicks roster – Carmelo has led by example and with a demeanor unique to any of his previous nine seasons. Anthony is averaging 28 ppg for the first time since ’08-’09, with terrific shooting splits of .472/.448/.820. Carmelo’s field goal percentage is his best since ’07-’08, and his three-ball has been better than any season in his career, which has rubbed off on his team. The Knicks lead the league with 11.7 made threes a night on 40 percent shooting, which is the third highest percentage in the NBA.

Carmelo remains close to his career averages in rebounds, steals and blocks, but there is a different energy from him on the defensive end. He hasn’t been a liability this season. This has reflected back onto the entire team. It is very easy to tell the level of confidence the Knicks are playing with this season. Carmelo’s drive is contagious. He needs this collection of guys to play at a certain level so he can contend for a deep playoff run. He needs them and they are all responding to him.

But what’s most accurate is that the Knicks need Carmelo. There is not a team in the championship hunt that needs their best player like the Knick’s need ‘Melo. I’m not saying that Miami could win a title without LeBron or the Thunder without Durant. But the Knicks would not even be in the discussion without Carmelo playing at his peak level night in and night out.

My definition of the MVP is the individual player who raises his team’s performance the most. The Knicks are a 7-19 team without Carmelo; with him, they have had the best start to their season in the Eastern Conference.

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