• E-mail

It's time to hand out my awards for the 2007-08 season.

Well, they're really not my awards. They belong to the NBA. I'm not the sort to paste my head on an Oscar or devise some supposedly clever name to give the impression my awards mean more than any of the other voters. I kick it old school.

I've found that comes with being old.

So here we go. No glitz. No glamour. The focus is on the players and coaches, right where it should be.

But if you want to read more of my articles or pick up a David Moore key chain, you can ...

We could print the letter we received from LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss as to why Bryant should be the MVP.

Don't worry. We won't.

We intend to take a different approach. No hard sell. No screed about how it's an injustice that a player as transcendent as Bryant has never won the award because frankly, that has nothing to do with his performance this season. We'll simply ask a few questions.

One: Is there a player who strikes more fear in the heart of the defense with the ball in his hands late in a game?

Two: Is there a better perimeter player on both ends of the court?

Three: Is there a player who can match his fierce will to win?

Four: Is there a player who has won more games this season with less talent around him? Pau Gasol is a wonderful player, but he didn't join the Lakers until February, and Andrew Bynum has been injured for the majority of the season. Could you push a team to challenge for the No. 1 seed in the West with Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic?

You decide.

Any player who has New Orleans sitting atop the Western Conference entering the final weekend of the regular season deserves something more than an MVP trophy. Has the Nobel committee been notified?

Paul has had a better season than any point guard in the league – and that's saying something. He will become the first player in 15 years to average 20 points and 10 assists. He's exciting to watch, impossible to defend and tough.

Few players have this sort of impact on a franchise this early in their career. Paul is special. He reminds some of a young Isiah Thomas.

We believe that doesn't give Paul enough credit. He's a better shooter and does a much better job of protecting the ball. The guess here is that he'd be a better head coach as well, but we'll have to wait a few years for that scenario to unfold.

Paul has done what many considered impossible heading into this season. He has made the Hornets relevant. He has forced a city that was largely indifferent to the NBA to take notice.

New Orleans isn't favored to win the championship.

But Paul gives this franchise hope that it can in the near future.

Boston's turnaround with Kevin Garnett has been historic, but he has had some help. ... LeBron James was our early favorite. But you can only give a guy so much love when 12 teams finish with a better record. ... Amare Stoudemire's scoring continues to climb and his defense is improving dramatically.

No team in league history has made a more dramatic improvement from one season to the next.

We know, we know. Not every team adds players as good as Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen in a conference as suspect as the East.

But the Celtics have been better than anyone envisioned because the role players have embraced their niche and the team is playing outstanding defense. Rivers deserves credit for pulling all this together into a special regular season.

This was decided, oh, about the first week of November.

Greg Oden's injury meant there was no question as to who would win this award. Al Horford put up nice numbers in Atlanta, and Luis Scola helped solidify Houston's front line, but Durant was often brilliant and always entertaining. He will be a star for years to come.

Now, the league must hurry and put the award in his hands. Why? It must beat the moving vans on their way to Seattle to relocate the franchise in Oklahoma City.

There is no statistical evidence to state Garnett's case. There are interior defenders with more rebounds and blocked shots. There are some with more steals.

But Garnett's impact is undeniable. The Celtics take their emotional and physical cues from Garnett. He's not afraid to mix it up inside and still has enough range to cause trouble on the perimeter.

When a team's best player makes this sort of commitment on the defensive end, the trickle-down effect is profound.

Ginobili defines what this award is about.

He puts his ego aside and comes off the bench even though he's one of the team's top players. On more and more nights this season, he was San Antonio's best player.

When the Spurs hit a rut and coach Gregg Popovich needed to shake things up, he inserted Ginobili into the starting lineup. Once things got back on track, Ginobili returned to his familiar role.

No sixth man has a greater impact in more areas of the game.

The philosophical debate on this award is always the same: Do you reward a lower draft pick who has exceeded expectations or a player who has made the jump from good player to star?

Then there's the bigger question: Is this award significant enough to warrant a philosophical debate?

Probably not. So let's go with Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu, who had a better season than high-priced free agent Rashard Lewis who wound up playing next to him.

The NBA's official awards ballots were distributed around the country to people who cover the league on a regular basis.

MVP is the only category where you're asked to name five players, with 10 points awarded for first, seven for second, five for third, three for fourth and one for fifth.

The other categories ask for three names with a 5-3-1 point scale. Ballots are due Thursday. The winners will be announced during the playoffs.