Fresh-faced phenom must show MVP staying power

In 2003, I was in Saitama, Japan to watch the erstwhile Seattle SuperSonics take on the Los Angeles Clippers in one of those jubilant overseas junkets that coaches hate because it takes everybody out of their routines -- except, apparently, Reggie Evans, who 10 seconds after he arrived at the hotel was asking the non-English speaking concierge where he could find a Pizza Hut.

Sonics star guard Ray Allen was just being diagnosed with an ankle injury that required surgery and would keep him out for the first quarter of the 2003-04 season.

And the Sonics were wondering how they were going to replace his 25 points.

Then we watched as Flip Murray wowed and amazed. Murray, who was literally a last-minute throw-in in the trade that brought Allen to Seattle from Milwaukee for Gary Payton and Desmond Mason, scored at least 20 points in 10 of his first 11 games, including 31 against Miami and 29 against Minnesota.

He averaged 24 points for those first 11 games and suddenly people were wondering if the Sonics should try to trade the hobbled Allen yet again because the team clearly had stumbled onto his replacement.

The point of this story is that it is rather easy to fall in love with the new kid on the block and bestow upon him rather grandiose expectations, even when the sample size is not that revealing.

Which is to say that The Race is trying to be rather cautious when it brings up the name Brandon Jennings. After all, The Race would hate to look back on past performances and think that he may have once overhyped Murray, who, it turns out, was (and is) a selfish scorer with few other attributes beyond that stretch of 25 games when he replaced Allen.

Having said that, Jennings' initial act on the grand stage has been nothing short of remarkable, highlighted by his 55-point outburst against the Golden State Warriors last week, the first time since 1968 that a rookie has scored that prodigiously in one game.

And since The Race is looking at the players who are most valuable to their teams, Jennings should not go unnoticed. After all, the Bucks, without Michael Redd, are 6-3. Nobody, not even team owner Sen. Herb Kohl, expected Milwaukee to be over .500. And yet this Jennings kid has them sitting pretty and has generated interest in the long-suffering Bucks; they are talking about Jennings at every George Webb in Wisconsin.

One coach to whom The Race spoke about Jennings pointed out that he not only dropped a double nickel on Golden State -- which is a little like boasting you beat the crap out of a one-armed man -- but that he had 32 against Denver the previous game and 28 against Dallas the game after. The Bucks' upset against Dallas was thwarted only by Dirk Nowitzki's buzzer-beating shot that banked high off the glass in overtime -- after which The Race saw way more of Dirk's tongue than was necessary.

However, the coach also cautioned: "The NBA is a long season, and teams start to study players and pick up tendencies once players make a name for themselves. He's going to have to make adjustments once defenses are designed to stop him."

Murray never was able to do that. But Jennings is not a one-dimensional player like Murray. He is fast. He can distribute. And, most important, he can shoot.

"You are going to have a grace period," Mavericks guard Jason Kidd said. "When teams adjust to you, how you react to that is what separates you. If I was going to make a comparison, I like to think of him a little like Nick Van Exel. He can shoot the 3, he can penetrate, he can find the open man. And he's left handed."

1. Steve Nash, Suns (10-3)

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
13	33.3	16.8	2.6	11.8	0.2	0.2	.506	.440	.929

Last Week's Rank - 2
For the third consecutive week, The Race has a new frontrunner. While Kobe Bryant, last week's No. 1, lost consecutive games to Houston and Denver, Nash led his team on a trifecta of success, allowing the Suns to garner the second-best record in the NBA. Nash had 16 assists against Houston, bolstering his league-leading 11.8 figure, and 23 points against Toronto. Even in a loss to New Orleans Thursday night, Nash had a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists.

2. Kobe Bryant, Lakers (9-3)

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
12	38.1	30.2	5.2	3.3	2.1	0.2	.474	.192	.861

Last Week's Rank - 1
The Race found it rather humorous when Kobe was asked about his reaction to losing to Houston and he deadpanned, "Mortified." Who knew he had such a dry sense of humor? He probably feels the same mortification about slipping in these rankings. But what's The Race to do when Kobe goes only 5-for-20 from the field and scores just 18 in the loss to Trevor Ariza's new team? Having said that, he also became only the third player in NBA history to have triple-digit 40-point games in his career, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan. And speaking of Kareem, Kobe passed him as the Lakers' No. 2 all-time scorer and now has 24,182 career points.

3. Joe Johnson, Hawks (10-2)

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
12	37.9	23.6	5.3	4.7	0.8	0.1	.464	.345	.870

Last Week's Rank - N/A
The good and the bad thing about The Race's early rankings are that players can jump in and out and up and down with alarming frequency and volatility. Such is the case for Johnson, who struggled two weeks ago to drop out of the rankings but came roaring back with stellar play and six consecutive victories that have everybody taking notice of what's happening in the A-T-L. In the week that the Hawks secured the best record in the league, Johnson averaged 28.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists.

4. Carmelo Anthony, Nuggets (8-3)

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
11	35.6	29.9	5.8	3.0	1.6	0.4	.468	.360	.847

Last Week's Rank - 6
He brazenly said that no one defender can stop him, and sort of insinuated that no two defenders can stop him. The Toronto Raptors certainly couldn't. In a showdown with Chris Bosh –- who has been evicted from the rankings after three consecutive losses –- Carmelo hit 12 of 15 shots and scored 32 points. Please let's hope Nuggets coach George Karl is joking when he says he'd consider bringing back Allen Iverson.

5. Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks (9-3)

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
12	38.5	27.5	9.3	2.6	1.1	1.6	.447	.364	.902

Last Week's Rank - 10
Let's see, he hits the buzzer-beater against Milwaukee in overtime, then has a tip-in near the end of regulation against San Antonio that sends the game into overtime, then scores 11 points in overtime and a season-high 41 to avenge the loss to the Spurs a week earlier. He's at the top of his game right now. He says he sat around for four months this summer to rest his body; it looks like that regimen has worked.

6. LeBron James, Cavaliers (8-4)

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
12	37.8	28.3	6.6	8.1	1.7	0.8	.516	.364	.774

Last Week's Rank - 4
A trusted confidante of The Race this week commented: "I just don't like that team. You've got Shaq in the middle. You've got Delonte West's issues. And LeBron just doesn't look comfortable to me." Granted, it would be rather nice to be "uncomfortable" and still average roughly 28 points, eight assists and six rebounds a game. But LeBron's barrage of poor play in the second half against Washington attests to the confidante's observation: Something seems a bit amiss in Cleveland. Having said that, being able to dunk left-handed like that is rather mesmerizing.

7. Dwyane Wade, Heat (7-4)

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
11	38.6	27.6	4.8	5.2	2.1	1.2	.431	.267	.772

Last Week's Rank - 5
It's a difficult call with this Wade character. The Miami Heat have lost two of their past three games –- including at home to Oklahoma City –- and should have lost three in a row except for Wade's 3-pointer at the buzzer that kept New Jersey winless. Isn't that what an MVP does and is supposed to do? On the other hand, is there any way a Wade-led team should even be within two seconds of losing to the Nets? Plus, the Heat got thumped by Joe Johnson and Atlanta, a game in which Wade missed 12 of his 18 shots.

8. Paul Pierce, Celtics (9-3)

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
12	34.5	18.4	4.8	3.9	1.2	0.3	.511	.478	.809

Last Week's Rank - 3
Pierce is admittedly the most confounding of players to rank because his numbers are never eye-popping, yet his team has one of the best records in the league. He averages only 18.4 points and 4.8 rebounds, yet he commands the most attention on the 9-3 Celtics. Having said that, Boston also lost twice last week, including a game to Indiana when Pierce scored only 15 points on 4 of 10 shooting.

9. Brandon Roy, Blazers (9-4)

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
13	36.7	20.3	4.8	5.1	0.3	0.2	.448	.370	.830

Last Week's Rank - 8
No other player among The Race's Top 10 has been as topsy turvy as Roy. He scored 42 against Houston this year, but also had just two points in a win over Minnesota. How does a team's best player score just two points in 26 minutes in a blowout victory? Yet, his team recently went on a six-game win streak and he is the focal point of most defenses. He has a well-rounded game of 20.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Plus, he has the endorsement of Paul Allen, not an easy thing to get.

10. Brandon Jennings, Bucks (6-3)

G	MPG	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3P%	FT%
9	34.8	24.8	5.8	4.7	1.1	0.2	.477	.558	.786

Last Week's Rank - N/A
Who knows how long Jennings will be included among The Race's mainstays? But The Race voted for Kobe for MVP the year he scored 81, so some similar recognition must be devoted to Jennings' 55, which included 29 in a quarter. Can you say Sleepy Floyd? Incredibly, Jennings is 12th in the league in scoring, plus dishes five assists a game. We'll jump on the bandwagon for now but are careful not to go too crazy.

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