A lot of people are pushing for Kevin Love to win MVP honors this year, but if you ask our Mark Milner, those people are nuts. Love him or hate him – LeBron James is performing at a level far beyond that of Love, and he’s doing it on a winning team, too. He breaks down the numbers for you.

A few months ago the world was overrun with a case of Linsanity. The story since has come back down to earth, prompted by the unceremonious return of Carmelo Anthony. By comparing the Knicks to the NHL’s Maple Leafs, Mark Milner questions who truly runs the show: the players or the coaches.

Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are among the top combinations in the NBA, and they’ve led their Oklahoma City Thunder team to first place in the Western Conference. Each finds himself among the league’s best in many statistical categories, but is it fair to select one over the other as league MVP, or is their respective success due as much to the other as it is to themselves?

When the Seattle SuperSonics lost their franchise a few years ago, many fans held on to the dream of a triumphant return of the NBA to King County, WA. With news of trouble in several other markets, this dream may come true sooner than later, but a lot of that is up to the city itself and resolving the issue of a desperately-needed new arena.

Is it better to have personally and emotionally invested in the prospective success of an unorthodoxly generational hero and lost than to have never done so at all? We take a good hard look at the cultural impact Yi Jianlian has had on the NBA this month. Wait, that doesn’t sound right.

Toronto’s Andrea Bargnani has been hampered by a calf injury for much of the season already, but when he’s on the court, he’s shown a tremendous improvement in his defensive game compared to years past. What’s the cause for this change? Is he finally ready to lead the Raptors back from extinction?

It’s almost game time at the GM Centre in Oshawa. Downtown, in the shadow of the car factories to the south and the university at the north, is a changing place. The city invested heavily in revitalizing the downtown and it doesn’t look much like the place I left in the spring of 2009. I’m back to get my first taste of the upstart National Basketball League of Canada.

The NBA lockout cost millions of fans the opportunity to sit back and enjoy some hoops. The NFL and NHL seasons comforted a few people, but many, like The Good Point’s Mark Milner, waited on basketball’s millionaires to settle their differences so they could get back to watching the sport they love.

The NBA lockout has been running on for months, but there’s been a surprising amount of apathy where the every day fan is concerned. Percentage points between millionaires and billionaires mean little to the Average Joe. Even if the league salvages a season, will anybody care?

What once started as a quiet tradition with Lefty Driesell and the Maryland Terrapins 40 years ago has blossomed into a wildly popular media frenzy. Now, one night every year marks the official beginning of the NCAA season, fully equipped with fan entertainment, team orientation and – don’t forget – practice. Who needs the NBA? College basketball is finally back.