As the season enters the stretch, the MVP race has boiled down to Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Chris Paul and Kevin Garnett.  All are worthy, and I won't be upset over any of them winning the prize.  I fully expect it to be LeBron or Kobe, but it's still pretty amazing that Paul, in his third year in the league, has already entered the discussion.

Anyways, I was poking at various stats while the Hornets were running around with 5 bench players for long stretches of the Knicks game and came up with a few interesting/amusing stats.  As a result, I'm going to present three new awards: the Hornet's Most Vital Player if You Only Care About Shooting(MVPYOCAS), Most Consistent Player(MCP), and Most Perverse Player Who Inexplicably Plays Better in Losses(MPPWIPBIL).

Most Vital Player if You Only Care About Shooting(MVBPYOCAS)
This award goes to our very own Jannero Pargo, he of the energetic defense, over-dribbling and streaky shooting.  In wins this season, Pargo is firing away at an impressive 47% clip from the field.  In losses, he shoots an ice-cold-cover-your-eyes 30%.  This, of course, confirms what we knew all along – if we have one player on the bench who can come in and score efficiently, we're hard to beat.  As much as I love Pargo at times, he's too streaky to count on to do this.

Runner-up: Ryan Bowen.
Ryan Bowen actually has the biggest differential on the team – 54% in wins and 27% in losses, but since he doesn't even average 2 shots a game, it's a stretch to call his shooting percentage vital – or even call him a shooter.

Note: Stojakovic and Peterson both have a 9% difference in their shooting when comparing wins to losses.  The team as a whole shoots 7% worse in losses, so this isn't that much of a variance.

Most Consistent Player(MCP)
The award of Most Consistent Player(MCP) goes to the player who's initials make up part of the award acronym: Chris Paul.  The difference in his shooting between wins and losses is a mere .6%.  47.9% for Losses and 48.5% for wins.  That little pithy statement announcers use – "He's going to get his" is entirely accurate in Paul's case.  No team is going to take him off his game, even if they slow the rest of the team.  LeBron is the same way – 49% in Wins and 48% in losses.  Kobe, the so-called greatest player on earth,(this irritates me, can you tell?) can apparently be taken out of his game.  He's at 49% in wins and 42% in losses.

Runner-Up: Rasual Butler
Butler is a close runner up in the consistency award.  Unfortunately, he consistently sucks, shooting 34% in losses and 35% in wins.  What the hell, man.

Most Perverse Player Who Inexplicably Plays Better In Losses(MPPWIPBIL)
Good ol' Melvin Ely has somehow managed to shoot 52% in losses, and only 41% in wins.  I'm not sure what that tells us.  Maybe that he's the only one on the team who responds well to adversity . . . or that his offense doesn't really matter.  I'll leave it to you to decide.

Runner-Up: None
Ely stands alone.

It appears the Birdman will be joining the Hornets – as long as he is able to pass his physical and the other Health-related matters.  I can't say I'm upset to add another big man.  Hilton and Ely are WAY to inconsistent.