The debate for the MVP, albeit very top-heavy, is pretty boring this year; almost every pundit and expert agrees LeBron is winning this, and deservedly so. However, if we look at team MVPs, especially on a team like the Celtics, the discussion is a little bit more interesting.

via th00.deviantart.com

Simmons has Paul Pierce in the top 5 of the overall MVP discussion, mainly for his intangibles:

Numbers can't possibly describe Pierce's all-around impact on a banged-up team that had no business winning 60 games. Since the beginning of February, when KG's knees finally went south, Pierce averaged a 23-6-3, defended the opponent's best perimeter scorer every night and carried the Celts emotionally. When Leon Powe went down in mid-March, the Celtics played their next 12 games with Kendrick Perkins, Mikki Moore and Glen Davis as their only big men ... and went 10-2 during a desperation stretch.

In terms of clutch production, no one was as good as Pierce on the court for the Cs; dude finished 9th overall in points per 48 in crunch time. Pierce clearly did show a lot of grit over these past few weeks, and he does seem to shoulder many of the responsibilities against tougher offensive players, so like Simmons says, that has to be taken into account for his diminished +/- and various other.

via th05.deviantart.com

Ray Allen: If you just look at the stats and don't factor in leadership and intangibles, he wins this outright. His on court/off court stats have him 7th overall in the league, his Roland rating's in the top 10. When he goes off the court, the Celtics are a much weaker team, whereas the Cs don't suffer as dramatically as when Pierce goes off the court.

Again, Simmons (who has him 17th overall):

After another stellar season, I have Ray Allen over Moncrief, Dumars, Westphal, Maravich, Monroe and neck-and-neck with Reggie Miller at this point. You're damn right, I just went there.

via th03.deviantart.com

Kevin Garnett: You could still make an argument that KG is the MVP of the Celtics because of the way he started the season before hitting that dreaded 1000 game barrier, and the way the team suffered when he left the floor (good against bad teams, meh against good teams). While he might not have contributed in the same way the Truth and Jesus Shuttleworth did, if he had played a full season his stats would certainly have been great in both the overall and clutch categories.

But he didn't. So unless you believe that the MVP is the player who has the most value for your team (and that KG's injury had the MOST impact), the case for Garnett is there.

Those are the only three candidates I could think of off the top. Rondo is still a passenger on this train, but he could very well be in the discussion next year (although an interesting stat to note is that his +/- against good teams is 2nd in the league).

Who do you think is the Cs MVP?