Whatever “artistic differences” caused Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel to split in the ’70s were surely regretted soon after by both. Simon carried on his career by telling everyone listening to the radio to call him Al. Garfunkel dabbled in Hollywood and traveled the world writing poetry.
Shaquille O’Neal is the Garfunkel to Kobe Bryant’s Simon. Yeah, Simon’s career was still pretty impressive after Garfunkel left. He stayed popular and had some catchy singles — as did Bryant (i.e. dropping 81 points in a single game).
However, Bryant proved not to be the MVP of the NBA when all by his lonesome in the big, bad West. Surrounded by sometimes solid but mostly mediocre talent, Bryant never elevated his team. Now that his bridge-over-troubled-water, Pau Gasol, has arrived, Bryant’s records are spinning in every trendy bar in the major cities of the America — much like Simon’s were when he and Garfunkel partnered up in 1981 in Central Park.
Everything has changed for Bryant. Andrew Bynum emerged. Derek Fisher returned. Pau Gasol arrived. Therefore, nothing should change in regard to Bryant when it comes time to vote for the MVP. Although extremely valuable, he does not elevate the Lakers as highly as others lift their teams.
Remember when Kevin Garnett won the MVP in 2004? The Big Ticket did everything he could for his team and made everyone around him better. Take one look at the 2003-2004 Minnesota Timberwolves’ roster, and you realize that team should not have won 58 games.
Garnett was working with a recessing Latrell Sprewell, an overachieving Troy Hudson and a solid, but in no way miraculous, Sam Cassell.
Sound familiar? No, I’m not talking about KG. Try CP3.
Chris Paul is lighting up the league for 21 points and 11.6 assists per game. He has been instrumental in nearly every Hornet win this season..
New Orleans head coach Byron Scott knows how to let a tremendous point guard do his own thing. While with New Jersey, Scott let Jason Kidd carry his team to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. Sometimes the best thing a coach can do is let someone else take control.
In his third year in the league, Paul is forming a championship-caliber team out of just two all-stars — himself and David West, who was selected by the coaches as a reserve this season. Outside of that, CP3 is working with an over-the-hill Peja Stojakovic and a defensive-minded Tyson Chandler.
There is no Garfunkel to Paul’s Simon. Still, the team is slated to be the two-seed in the unworldly cutthroat Western Conference when the playoffs begin.
Even some Lakers have to be singing, “Chris Paul, you’re breaking my heart. You’re shaking my confidence daily.”
The MVP is in no way a lock for Bryant. If the league wants to make this trophy into a lifetime achievement award, fine. But if it wants to take an honest look at this season and determine which player was most outstanding and critical to his team’s success, then CP3 is the only logical choice in the MVP race.
