Sure it’s early in the season. Quite early actually. But that doesn’t mean speculation can’t begin on who the MVP of this year’s basketball season may be. Naturally, at the top of the list is LeBron. Quite no one in the NBA is quite as impactful as is this young player. The frightening thing is that he hasn’t even necessarily peaked yet. He’s only in his early 20s. Aside from James, Kobe seems like a solid number 2 candidate. With a near 24 PPG average and solid all around play, Kobe is probably less concerned with MVP than he is with winning a championship without Shaq. There are also a few solid contenders behind Kobe including Chris Paul, Dwight Howard, and Dwayne Wade: three more players all with PPG averages of over 20.

Even though the Utah Jazz is riddled with injuries this early into the season, they have still posted a 9-5 overall record, with a perfect 6-0 record at home. Whoever comes out on their home court seems to get the job done, even if it’s not the usual starters. But now it comes to Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls to try and snuff out this flame of perfection while playing at home. The Bulls, 6-8 overall, are definitely not the prime candidate to accomplish this task. Get the full story right here.

Jerry Stackhouse is starting to make some noise about his position within the Dallas Mavericks organization these days.  He feels that he is more able to play than the team seems to be using him for. He has emphasized that he doesn’t have any personal problems with the team, coach or management.  He says he’s just realized recently where the Mavs strategy is taking them and he can’t imagine his role in that situation, and can’t imagine that he’d be happy with that role anyway. So he says that his agent is looking around at some other teams to see what kind of interest there is in the league for a player his age, but with such talent as his. Stay tuned, it should be interesting.

Kobe and the Los Angeles Lakers just refuse to be beaten thus far into the NBA season. There’s no way that it will be an undefeated season but it will be interesting to see how long this can carry on. Most would agree that it will be at least one more game as the Lakers will play against the struggling Chicago Bulls next. Check out the NBA website and stay up to date with all the professional basketball news.

Antonio McDyess has been waived by the Denver Nuggets, barely a week after being traded to the western team. He was traded to Denver with Chauncey Billups and Cheikh Samb for Allen Iverson, who went to the Detroit Pistons.  Since he was cut, people expect him to go back to Detroit, which he will be able to do after 30 days, when all conditions of the trade have been satisfied. This is a rather odd move, but it happened with a San Antonio player last season as well. McDyess will also be allowed to talk with other teams after a 2-day window, and according to his agent, there have been several teams checking in.

Here’s the inside skinny on the NBA so far. As could be expected, the LA Lakers have come out of the gate quite Kobe-tastically. With a 4-0 start to the season, it seems that the Lakers are intent on finishing last year’s business at the NBA finals. But there’s already some clear cut roadblocks…most notably the returning champion Boston Celtics. Their form has not seemed to be lost in the offseason and they undoubtedly won’t give up their trophy without a fight. Detroit, Cleveland, and Atlanta have also proven themselves thusfar to be quality contenders. However it pans out this season, getting NBA basketball tickets would be a smart move.

On ESPN, there’s a new interview with Shaquille O’Neal, of the Phoenix Suns.  He talks about his future and retirement and the teams he plays with.  He might be looking at retirement in the next few years, though he’s not willing to commit to that quite yet.  He still feels able to play, not like he could when he was 20, but still pretty well.  He thinks that as long as he can still contribute to the team and not just be a bench sitter, then he’ll keep playing.  He also talked about why it is that people always blame him if his team doesn’t win a championship.  It seems to bother him, but he seems also to be more or less used to it. Take a read if you get the chance.  It’s here.