Kobe Wins MVP, Proves He's Indeed a Human

I've wanted Chris Paul to get this MVP since mid-season. Kobe's candidacy always seemed to me like he was being rewarded (or patronized) for becoming a better citizen, more decent teammate, and harder-to-hate icon. I mean, he's been the consensus "best player in basketball" for at least the last three seasons. And he dragged straight bad teams into the playoffs. He could've gotten one before now.

It's almost as if, with a player this spectacular, the standards are set even higher. He doesn't just have to have the best season, he has to outdo himself. That's what I think accounts for LeBron's low finish. Bron will get his, but he's fighting against both the rest of the league and his own myth.

Anyway, if this was the year Kobe really matured on the court, this press conference shows how much 2007-08 transformed Kobe as a person:
There's no bad acting. No mugging. No over-seriousness. Not posturing. No aloofness. And amazingly, the game's cockiest, more assured player comes off as sincere and a little vulnerable. He says at one point that he'd resigned himself to never getting the award; in that same way, I think a lot of fans had assumed he'd be forever inhuman.

Yesterday, all that changed. And that, as much as any MVP trophy, is going to have a lasting effect on Kobe's legacy.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.