Brian Wheeler, Blazers Broadcaster

NBA coaches will often deflect credit headed their way by saying, "it's all about the players." And it's true while there are many bright minds patrolling the sidelines in the league, rare is the coach that can win consistently without some talent on the floor.

Perhaps no head coach in the history of the NBA has been more fortunate in his career than Phil Jackson. While in Chicago, Jackson was at the helm of 6 World Championship teams, all led by future Hall-of-Famers' Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. After leaving Chicago, Jackson has had the continued good fortune of once again piloting an NBA club with two future Hall-of-Famers.

Now of course it's the Lakers with Shaquille O' Neal and Kobe Bryant. So far in L.A., it's been 3 World Championships for Phil, Shaq, and Kobe. And the scary part is that Shaq is only 30 and Kobe is just 24 so they may not be done collecting championship rings. It's certainly a thought that's kept Phil on the sidelines as he closes in on one NBA coaching record after another.

So with the Lakers favored to win another championship and knowing that quite often the regular season league MVP comes from the best team, it shouldn't be too hard to narrow the field to come up with a projected winner this time around. There's no doubt in my mind that Shaq is the league's most dominant player.

He may be the toughest man to defend in NBA history and I realize that takes into account a lot of talented players. So he's my choice for MVP, right? Well, in a word, no. He's already missed a good chunk of the start of the season and I'm not convinced that his surgically repaired toe isn't going to act up again at some point between now and June, maybe more than once. So I just don't think he'll play enough games to justify earning the MVP.

But I think Kobe will. And he's already shown the ability to expand his game. When Lakers' assistant Tex Winter questioned Kobe's willingness to sacrifice for the good of the team, Bryant went out and secured triple-doubles in the next two games he played in and missed a third straight by one assist in the next game.

Kobe added 15 pounds of muscle in the off-season to better deal with the pounding he takes from other teams on a night in, night out basis. I think that will serve him well as the season goes on, especially if he is asked to shoulder more of the scoring load if Shaq heads to the injured list again.

Now I will say the Lakers would win more if Shaq was healthy and Kobe was injured, rather than the other way around. But Kobe will do just enough in Shaq's absence to keep the Lakers afloat and then when the two are healthy at one time, the Lakers will once again be the league's most dominant team. And when all is said and done, Kobe's numbers will be too much for the voters to ignore.

And let's remember in addition to numbers, Kobe's been on the NBA's All-Defensive Team for the last 3 seasons as well. So he's been a complete player for some time and now with Shaq saving himself for the playoffs, the time is right for Kobe to step up and be recognized as the NBA's MVP for the first time in his career. And considering he should have a lot of seasons left in him, it probably won't be the last time he receives such an honor.