Stein's ballot: 2007-08 Most Valuable Player

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The Ballots

To see the complete vote, click here.

We asked our writers to provide their choices for Most Valuable Player, ranked from 1 to 5.

Here is Marc Stein's ballot:

Marc Stein's MVP Ballot
Rank	Player	Comment
	Kobe Bryant Los Angeles Lakers Shooting Guard Complete stats	Lifetime achievement award? Stop it. Kobe is playing the team ball of his life at both ends for a squad everyone in the West deeply fears. He's also playing in an individual stratosphere only LeBron can touch. And Kobe's done it all while playing through a hand injury that still requires surgery, while Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol combined to miss more than 60 games. Add it all up and the game's best player has had the best season, too.
	Chris Paul New Orleans Hornets Point Guard Complete stats	In a conference teeming with Hall of Fame-bound QBs, Paul is having the best season of any point guard. Oh, yeah: He also might have saved basketball in New Orleans by leading the Hornets to a franchise-record 55 (and counting) wins. I'm still voting for Kobe even if they win the greatest conference race of all time, because the difference in the standings will be marginal no matter what, but no one's saying CP3 is far away.
	Kevin Garnett Boston Celtics Power Forward Complete stats	I really don't like myself for slotting Garnett this low, taking his impact for granted because of all the wildness out West. KG would be a very worthy winner, as Paul Pierce summed up beautifully when he said: "The whole face of Celtics Nation turned around when the trade happened with this guy. Everybody talks about the MVP, and they talk about numbers, but this guy has changed the whole culture around here and I think that says a lot."
	LeBron James Cleveland Cavaliers Small Forward Complete stats	This must be some kind of race if LeBron's numbers can't get him higher than fourth. But the Cavs weren't close to reaching 50 wins in a cupcake conference. Do we have a right to expect more than a 44-36 record given all of Cleveland's contract issues, injuries and adjustments after its big trade? I'd say so. You can't be the MVP without team success, because that's the ultimate measure of value. And that's not my rule: Moses Malone is the last MVP from a team that won fewer than 50 games ... 26 years ago.
	Manu Ginobili San Antonio Spurs Shooting Guard Complete stats	We've been saying for weeks that Ginobili has been the most dangerous and dependable Spur this season. That alone should be enough for the No. 5 spot, but surely you've noticed the serious strain on San Antonio's offense in the past week or so since Manu's groin buckled.

The Ballots

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