Lebron James = Midseason MVP

During ESPN's NBA Shootaround show on Friday night, both Avery Johnson and Jalen Rose chose Lebron James as their "Midseason NBA MVP". Avery Johnson said he considers Lebron as having a shot at the MVP as well as Defensive Player of the Year. Jalen Rose agreed with Avery's midseason MVP, and added in that the best closer in the game is Kobe Bryant while the best point guard is Chris Paul. Host of NBA Shootaround, Looking at King James' stats in the chart below, it's clear he's on pace for the award as he's helping out with just about every important stat on the floor, offensively and defensely.

ESPN featured a doubleheader afterwards with 4 of the top 5 MVP candidates from 2007-08 as well as the 3 top teams from the league in action. Lebron's Cavs faced Chris Paul's Hornets in Game 1. Game 2 featured Kobe Bryant and the Lakers versus Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. One of these four players could be the surefire MVP as the 2008-09 award is handed out. Last year saw Kobe take the award over Chris Paul. In reviewing the stats below each of these players is statistically sound and quite capable of putting up the tough-to-achieve quadruple double in stats. All four men were also a part of last year's Gold Medal Summer Olympics squad and according to Jalen Rose are setting themselves up as legendary Hall of Fame players.

Current stats for the four MVP candidates:

Lebron James 27.7 PPG, 6.90 RPG, 6.7 APG, 2.0 SPG, 1.3 BPG
Cleveland Cavaliers (30-7)

Chris Paul 20.8 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 11 APG, 2.91 SPG, 0.1 BPG
New Orleans Hornets (23-12)

Kobe Bryant 27.2PPG, 5.3 RPG, 4.7 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.4 BPG
Los Angeles Lakers (31-7)

Dwight Howard 20.2 PPG, 13.8 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 3.2 BPG
Orlando Magic (31-8)