Alright, final day of the regular season and there's only one spot up for grabs with plenty of positioning still left to do before we prepare for the only postseason that takes a backseat to the college folks.

I mean think about it, do you see brackets being made for the NBA Playoffs? Big office pools that has Rick Neuheisel ready to mortgage the farm or his career on the Mavs taking it all? Nope. But my grand Playoff Prognostication piece will come in about 48 hours from now, one day prior to the start of things on Saturday. [How does it feel TNT to be stuck with the Leastern Conference Finals while ESPN gets the Best-ern Conference Finals? I sincerely hope that's a rotating thing among the networks, because the best pregame in the business shouldn't have to be stuck selling a series *Detroit/Miami* that most of the basketball world could care less about.]

Anyhow, it's time for the Gotti Awards.

Rookie Of The Year- Brandon Roy, Portland Trail Blazers. Well, the good news is he'll have a piece of hardware as a consolation prize to probably the most excruciating season he has ever experienced. The bad news is not only is he stuck in the best conference on the planet, he doesn't have a ton of help on the way [since the Blazers probably don't figure to win the lottery…but IF THEY DO…whoa].

I don't really dally in the whole Sixth Man crap, so onto the Big Three of sorts.

Coach of the Year- Sam Mitchell, Toronto Raptors.

Someone has got to tell me how Avery Johnson deserves this award over a man who's got ten new players on his roster that he didn't have a year ago and wearing the ever prestigious Lame Duck label as he headed into this season. Someone's going to have to tell me how being the coach of the best team in the league makes you the Coach of the Year. A damn baboon could walk the sidelines in Dallas and the Mavs would still average about 60 wins a year. And if anything, Avery should really be praying to the Basketball Gods he doesn't win this thing. Because if the Mavs do not win the Larry O'Brien Trophy in June, he's going to come away looking like the biggest underachiever since himself a year ago.

Defensive Player Of The Year- Marcus Camby, Denver Nuggets.

I'm going to go on record as saying this right now. If the Nuggets can find a way around San Antonio in the first round, do not be shocked if the Nuggets run to the Finals. Matter of fact, the Spurs and Nuggets figure to be the best first round matchup this year because it's going to be Melo A.I. versus The San Antonio Patriots. Duncan and Camby are familiar with each other from their days at Wake Forest and UMass respectively, Melo's still trying to get out of the first round of the playoffs, the Spurs want people to respect them again and get their crown back. But still, Camby's been the man this year on a team that couldn't define defense without the help of Webster's.

Most Valuable Player- I think I did this about a year ago, but allow me to define what a legitimate MVP is. An MVP isn't the guy on the team with the best record, as ESPN and most of the world will lead you to believe. An MVP is that guy who will put his team on his back and carry them to victory. It's not about being the best player on the best team, it's about being the best player PERIOD.

Steve Nash is just that. That's not to take a thing away from Dirk, who has seriously evolved into the single toughest one on one matchup in the game, but he cannot do what Steve Nash does on the floor. I'm talking about the intangible things that don't show up in box scores and don't get gauged by some type of scout (at least not as accurately as it should be anyhow).

Now before I sat down to write this, Chris Broussard argued that the only other members of the MV3 club all led their teams to a title. Okay, I get that. But Dirk had his team about 6 minutes away from one and blew it, then the series in short order fashion. In the last two games this year between the two leading candidates, I didn't see Dirk playing like an MVP would. Big Stevie Cool aka Steve Nash, Canadian Hardwood Destroyer, did. And yes, the road to the Finals will go through Big D this year. But here's what has me going with Nash…

1) Nash has a lot less than Dirk does talentwise and the Suns are still the second best team in the league. In their last two encounters this season, Nash hands down, beat Dirk. Mark my words, if Dirk wins the MVP and the Suns play the Mavs in the playoffs I want everyone to think back to 1995. David Robinson went on a scoring spree that year, won it over Hakeem Olajuwon and even though it wasn't openly said, Hakeem was furious. The Admiral got his trophy prior to Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals against the then reigning champion Rockets in front of Olajuwon. Long story short, it was the only hardware The Admiral got that year.

The Rockets beat The Spurs, Olajuwon absolutely owned The Admiral and demoted him to lowly grunt. Keep this in mind if the Suns and Mavs hook it up in a month for the Western Conference crown.

2) If you break it down to the numbers, the Suns are absolutely rudderless without Nash. That showed this year when Nash sat out a few games prior to the All-Star break and the Suns were eclipsed by lowly teams they should've ran out of town before opening tip. If you took Dirk out of the lineup in Dallas, you've still got a very talented group with The Jet running point and Josh Howard doing his best poor man's impersonation of Scottie Pippen, minus the stifling defense Pips was known for. Again, when you're on the best team in the league, being the best player is like saying you have the best knockers in Hooters. It's great, but doesn't add up to much in the long run.

So yeah, my choice for MVP and the next member to join the MV3 club alongside Russell, Chamberlain and Bird is Steve Nash. Had Kobe decided to go all Jack Bauer on the competition a little earlier in the year and the Lakers finished a little higher than 7th, I would be a little tempted to go the other way with this one. But all told, Nash is the Truth people. He'll send Kobe Bauer home in the first round, have a fairly tough series with the winner of that Spurs/Nuggets series and then, provided Nellie doesn't have his ultimate revenge in sending protégé and Hasselhoff's biggest fan home earlier than expected, we'll get Dirk/Nash II in the Western Conference Finals.

And if Dirk walks away with the MVP trophy, Nash will get the Western Conference crown. Oh and for those of you who disagree with Nash over Dirk, allow me to quote the venerable Charles Barkley as I say…

"If you don’t think Steve Nash should win the MVP, you ain't been watching basketball."