Michael Ventre

The most common criterion offered to evaluate a most valuable player involves the kidnap scenario. In other words, if you kidnapped a candidate for the award, how would his team fare without him?

Of course, if no one on his team offered to pay the ransom, then he must not be all that valuable. But let’s assume for the sake of argument that everybody in the organization passed the hat around and raised the cash necessary — but not until after a lengthy period of time had elapsed whereby the public could evaluate the missing player’s impact on his team.

No one is suggesting a real kidnapping, of course. That would be wrong. But let’s imagine, say, six scantily clad supermodels pull up in a limo, lure the player into it with the promise of some good clean fun, and then make good on that promise over the course of several days or even weeks.

The team would never be the same. Neither would the player.

The NBA season is in playoff mode now, and it’s time to apply the kidnap scenario to determine which candidate deserves the league’s MVP award.  If you snatched all the top players away from their respective situations, it would result in one fairly obvious conclusion:

Kobe Bryant is the MVP.

If Kobe were kidnapped by a half-dozen smoking hot supermodels, it would not only require the Los Angeles Lakers to pony up the ransom, it would probably cost Kobe dearly as well. His last indiscretion forced him to fork over more than $4 million for a diamond ring to calm wife Vanessa. Multiply that by six and we’re starting to talk real money here, even for an NBA player.

But that wouldn’t be nearly as costly as losing Kobe would be for the Lakers.

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A similar argument can be made for the other hopefuls as well. If you kidnapped Steve Nash away from the Phoenix Suns, LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dirk Nowitzki from the Dallas Mavericks, Elton Brand from the Los Angeles Clippers, Chauncey Billups from the Detroit Pistons, Dwyane Wade from the Miami Heat, Jason Kidd from the New Jersey Nets and Tim Duncan from the San Antonio Spurs, there would be a noticeable drop-off in success in each case.

But it’s a matter of degree.

In Kobe’s case, the drop-off would be reminiscent of what happened to Enron stock.

Much is often made of Kobe’s ability to drill last-second shots to win ballgames. And it’s true, the man’s arteries are like refrigerator coils. He craves the basketball at crucial junctures, and he often delivers.

But dwelling much on his late-game heroics obscures the fact that the Lakers are in games they wouldn't be in if they didn’t have Kobe. The back-breaking jumper would not be sailing through the net in the final seconds if Bryant had not submitted a Herculean effort to keep his ragtag band of misfits and outcasts in the game in the first place.

The Lakers certainly have lost some games this season they should have won — Feb. 15 at home vs. Atlanta, Feb. 26 at home vs. Boston are two of the most notorious — but because of Bryant they’ve beaten teams like Detroit, Miami and San Antonio and others.

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And I never thought I’d say this, but the kid finally seems to be getting it. Perhaps it was the massive reaction, pro and con, to his record-setting 81-point effort Jan. 22 at home against Toronto. After that, he could have gone either way. He could have interpreted it as a green light to challenge Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time single-game mark of 100 points. Or he could have said, “Enough,” and concentrated on becoming more of a team player. Fortunately for the Lakers, he chose the latter.

I never thought I’d say this either, but he’s making the other players around him better. Usually that requires passing, which he's been doing more of, especially as teammates such as Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown and Luke Walton become more comfortable and emerge as offensive options.

Yet Bryant's improved decision-making — like not trying to break down three guys off the dribble, for instance — keeps defenses on edge because they’re not sure if he’s going to be the old Kobe and jack up shots, or the new one who will get the ball to the more sensible option at the right time.

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He still has an annoying habit of trying to split two defenders for a drive to the basket, but there’s less of that these days.

But more important in regard to the kidnap scenario is the wreckage that would be the Lakers if Kobe weren’t there. Lately, he’s been getting more help. But the light bulb has only turned on in the heads of Odom and Brown since around the trade deadline of Feb. 23. Before that, it was Gladys Knight and a bunch of guys auditioning to be Pips.

Other Lakers have shown no inclination toward consistency. Chris Mihm, who has been out with a sprained ankle since March 12, was maddeningly up and down. So was Odom, Brown, Smush Parker, Sasha Vujacic, Brian Cook and Devean George. First-round draft pick Andrew Bynum, all of 18, has been no help. Neither has veteran point guard Aaron McKie, signed as a free agent last summer, who has played only a handful games because of injury.

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If you took Kobe Bryant off this team, it would qualify for a FEMA loan.

Naturally, if you removed any of the other candidates from their teams, the results might be ugly as well. But they would at least survive. In the case of each of them, their teams would have enough left over to make a run at a playoff berth, at the very least. Without Bryant, the Lakers would not be a playoff team. Not even close.

If you kidnapped him, all the other teams would chip in to make sure he never came back.

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