<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">With almost everyone in the league having played at least 27 games as of Friday morning, except for the slowpokes (Denver, Minnesota and Sacramento) stuck on 26, it's time to take stock of the season's opening third: West MVP of the Trimester Steve Nash, Suns I don't think he can win three straight MVPs. Nash certainly doesn't think so, either. But the first trimester says otherwise, even with at least five serious co-candidates in the West alone: Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Yao Ming and the gate-crashing Carlos Boozer. As Suns assistant coach Dan D'Antoni points out, one reason Nash somehow gets better as he gets older is that he has seemingly no ceiling when it comes to getting smarter and more efficient, as long as he avoids serious injury. Nowitzki and Duncan have to be right up there using the same criteria -- backbone of an elite team -- and Boozer probably would have trumped them all if Utah hadn't wobbled lately. But I can't ignore what Nash is doing, statistically and otherwise, to bring cohesion to the Suns through a period of complicated transition just because people might be sick of him winning Podoloff trophies. East MVP of the Trimester Michael Redd, Bucks Biased? Guilty. It's no secret Redd is one of my favorite players -- LEFTY! -- on the planet. Allow me, nevertheless, to channel Hickory's Norman Dale here, because I apologize for nothing. With Detroit and Chicago taking an ensemble approach to winning, Cleveland and Miami too close to .500 for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to get us salivating just yet and Dwight Howard not quite in this stratosphere, it's clear that the two best players in the East to date have been Redd and Gilbert Arenas. How to choose between them? Arenas was shaky in November before this otherworldly December; Caron Butler has been Washington's most consistent player. Redd doesn't even have that much help in Milwaukee but is starting to play a more diverse game, as the Spurs would tell you. Redd found plenty of ways to hurt them in San Antonio, on a night when he didn't even have his 3-point stroke, so he's the early choice until LeBron and D-Wade make their inevitable move. Coach of the Trimester Jerry Sloan, Jazz We take Gregg Popovich, Avery Johnson and Mike D'Antoni for granted -- Phil Jackson, too -- but we've been taking Sloan for granted for almost two decades. Even though the new rules are supposed to punish the teams that have relied on clutching and grabbing, as we've seen from Utah for years, just take a look. Sloan has Boozer and Deron Williams, both of whom were openly doubted by countless skeptics throughout last season, standing up to the ghosts of Stockton-to-Malone and challenging each other for Most Improved plaudits, even with Andrei Kirilenko still somewhat out of sorts. As always, there's never a shortage of contenders here; Portland's Nate McMillan is an interesting case just getting the Blazers within reach of .500 in spite of Brandon Roy's lengthy absence. Yet even his peers, I suspect, would be voting for Sloan at this point. With a so-so Kirilenko and a big hole at shooting guard, Sloan's Jazz have more wins than all but two other teams. Rookie of the Trimester Randy Foye, Timberwolves Like a lot of Wolves fans, I wish Foye played more. Yet I've seen enough from this guy in a couple of crunch times -- at Dallas in November and Tuesday when he scored the game-winner to save the Wolves after they had blown a big lead to Chicago -- to pick him out of a struggling group that only has one rook (Adam Morrison) averaging better than 10 ppg. Truth is, I don't think the NBA can really claim to have a Rookie of the Year race at the minute. Andrea Bargnani is making some progress in Toronto alongside the underrated Jorge Garbajosa, Morrison and Utah's Paul Millsap have had their moments and Jordan Farmar has unexpectedly claimed a rotation spot with the Lakers, but it's not really a race yet. The biggest rookie story, besides Roy missing so much time, has been Foye ... as much for his feature role in the Allen Iverson Sweepstakes as anything. Sixth Man of the Trimester Ben Gordon, Bulls My preseason pick, Phoenix's Leandro Barbosa, looks like an inspired choice ... until you remember what Gordon is doing in Chicago. Only two sixth men in history have averaged 20 points for a whole season: Ricky Pierce and Eddie Johnson. Gordon entered Friday's play at 20.1 ppg after hanging 40 on Miami. Defensive Player of the Trimester Alonzo Mourning, Heat The sad reality is that the Heat need even more than Mourning can feasibly give them with Shaquille O'Neal sidelined. But Zo being Zo, he's trying anyway to give them more than what's humanly possible at age 36, so he gets the early nod here as the league's No. 2 shot-blocker (2.9 bpg) in just 23.4 minutes per game. There will be plenty of time to sort out the long-term race featuring the usual suspects: Kevin Garnett, Duncan and Marcus Camby, perimeter aces like Bruce Bowen, Shawn Marion and Kirilenko ... and the underrated Emeka Okafor, Jermaine O'Neal and Howard. Comeback Player of the Trimester Amare Stoudemire, Suns In the NBA, as we repeat every year at this time, there is no Comeback award. But we're moved to maintain this category this season more than usual, watching Stoudemire's gaining-speed recovery from surgery on both knees. Here's hoping, furthermore, that Denver's Kenyon Martin occupies this space next season. K-Mart will be trying coming back from two microfractures -- Stoudemire only faced one -- but just imagine how well his game could complement the Melo-Iverson tag team if he can make it back to a reasonable standard.</div> Source
