NBA mid-season report

It's the halfway mark of the NBA season and we now have a pretty good idea of what to expect the rest of the way. Sure, there is a lot of basketball to be played, but we do know these 41 things:

(Why 41? Why not? Besides, 41 games are half of an 82-game regular season).

41. LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, the last two league MVPs, are again the top two players in the NBA and are head-and-shoulders ahead of the rest of the MVP contenders again this season.

40. James, who won the MVP honors last year, currently has the edge to win it again over Bryant. James' cause has been aided by the fact that his Cleveland Cavaliers swept the two-game season series over Kobe's Lakers.

39. Denver's Carmelo Anthony is having the best all-around season of his career and would probably finish third in the MVP voting if it were being done today.

38. The Milwaukee Bucks' Brandon Jennings got off to a faster start in the NBA than any rookie in a generation — just missing a triple-double in his first game and then scoring 55 points in his seventh.

37. Jennings, while a fine young player, still has plenty to learn.

He's averaging nearly 18 points per game to go along with 6.1 assists, but he's shooting less than 40 percent from the field and looked lost at times while scoring just five points on 1-for-8 shooting last week against the Jazz.

36. Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings has taken over from Jennings as the favorite for Rookie of the Year honors. Evans, a 6-6 combo guard, is averaging 20.8 points per game.

35. The big question in Sacramento is whether Evans and Kevin Martin can coexist. Martin had been the Kings' best player, but Evans started to really flourish when Martin was out for 32 games. After Martin returned recently, the Kings lost five straight games.

34. Lionel Hollins of Memphis and Scott Brooks of Oklahoma City are currently the top two candidates for Coach of the Year honors. Both of their teams are above .500 and in the thick of the race for a playoff race in the tough Western Conference when not much was expected out of their teams.

33. The Western Conference is much better, top to bottom, than the East — once again. There are 11 teams in the West at least four games over .500. Three of those teams won't even make the playoffs.

32. The East, meanwhile, has just four teams that are currently four or more games above .500.