Who is Your NBA MVP for 2007?

My personal criteria for picking an MVP candidate in any sport comes down to one simple thing, who makes the players around them better?. Now, this usually eliminates potential candidates from teams that didn't have successful seasons as well. In some ways this ends up penalizing players that have had terrific seasons for "also ran" teams which can spark sometimes heated debate, but for me the answer to those arguments is simple, a player who achieves great individual success on a lesser team most likely did it without the added pressure of doing so during a a potential playoff run.

So, with that aside, using my simple thought process, five NBA MVP candidates are clearly head and shoulders above the rest and although none of them will surprise you much, my thought process on arriving on who I think the ultimate winner will be might give you some new perspective. I also will not be using statistics to support my views, instead I will be using "body of work" reasoning to support my cases.

Lets start with Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks. Nowitzki may be the most unique, interesting player in the NBA today. He is a 7-footer that can run the offense like a point guard, shoot 3-point shots just about as well as anyone else in the league, plays terrific defense, passes as well as any big man in the game, and is an overall "nightmare" match up for virtually every NBA team. Each time I watch him play I am truly amazed at how he, from the opening tip, forces teams to do things defensively and offensively they have to do to match up, that they don't have to do for any other team in the league. His presence allows for everyone else on the Mavericks to operate smoothly within coach Avery Johnson's system,