Pipe Dream’s Drew Wolin (MVP2008KB24) and Justin Salkin (CP3mvp2008) have been debating the merits of NBA MVP candidates all season. They’ve finally narrowed it down to two choices, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets. This is a transcript of their AIM debate.

cp3mvp2008: Chris Paul earned the MVP this year. He completely changed the complexion of that team, that city. New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina, and was a complete mess. The Hornets just moved there and had no hope. Paul injected life into that entire organization.

MVP2008KB4: It’s great that Paul was such a help to the city, but this year’s MVP award should go to the best player in the league, Kobe Bryant. Even with a mid-season roster shake-up and injuries to key players, Kobe was not only able to keep his team in the hunt for the playoffs, but lead them to the best record in this year’s Western Conference — possibly the most competitive conference we have ever seen.

Cp3mvp2008: Chris Paul needs to win the MVP award this year. Where would the Hornets be without him. Their second best player is David West, a jump shooter without a great all around game. The Hornets are not an amazing team, but Paul makes them amazing by making everyone better and he has taken all of his teammates to a level that would have otherwise been unattainable.

MVP2008KB4: Kobe was invaluable to his team this year, like he has been for years now. It’s insane that he has yet to win an MVP award! He’s been the best player in the league for too long. You already know about his scoring, but he plays both sides of the ball; you’ll probably catch him on the all-defensive first team this season for the sixth time in his career. Even before his team traded for one of the league’s best centers in Pau Gasol, making them a legit championship contender, they were among the league’s most competitive teams during the regular season. Being one of the best regular season teams is the only claim you can make for Paul’s team, anyway. Agreed?

cp3mvp2008: I feel Paul has made the Hornets a contender. On the subject of Gasol, his addition to LA is why Kobe is not the MVP. Kobe was more impressive in 2005-2006 (when he should have won the award) than this year. That year he made the playoffs with people like Smush Parker starting by putting what really was 20-win team on his back. This year he took solid talent to elite status; he’s playing with another star player.

MVP2008KB4: Take Kobe off of the Lakers and they are not quite as unimpressive as you may think. Just look at how Pau’s Grizzlies did with him at the helm … Lamar Odom is another good role player, though he and Pau are not able to lead a team. Overall, Kobe is in his prime right now between his near-peak athleticism and great smarts for the game. When his team needs him to score, he does just that; if they need him to distribute, he’ll still drop 20 points, but set up teammates and assist 20 or more points. Not to mention Chris Paul’s underrated supporting cast of players who fill their role as well as any collection of players in the league. David West doesn’t miss mid-range, Peja Stojakovic is wet from three, and Tyson Chandler is one of the league’s best big-man defenders and rebounders.

cp3mvp2008: Come on now, Drew. Paul took David West, an unheralded player, and made him an all star. He took Peja Stojakovic, a player who was becoming more insignificant to the NBA landscape by the day, and revived his career. He took a chronically underachieving Tyson Chandler and all of a sudden Chandler is one of the most hardworking players in the NBA. It’s like Charles Barkley said on TNT on Tuesday, “every time Tyson Chandler gets his check he should take Chris Paul out to dinner.” Paul has changed the entire culture of that team and turned a losing culture into a winning environment. And his teammates genuinely love him. They are lobbying for him to be the MVP; Chandler even wrote about this in a blog on NBA.com. Bryant’s teammates always seemed somewhat threatened by him.

MVP2008KB4: Now don’t overestimate Paul’s mystique, Justin. David West is in the fifth year of his career, and he has made the natural progression of a maturing player. He went from 18 and 8 last year to 21 and 9 this year. As for Tyson, where he makes his money is on the boards and defensive end. Chris Paul can’t help him much there. Peja, unfortunately, is taking daily pain-relieving injections for the back that was responsible for his poor play the past few years. Chris does a nice job of setting up his teammates for a lot of open shots, though can he really compete with Kobe’s defense and ability to single handedly win a game for his team?

cp3mvp2008: Another great thing about Paul is when you take a look at the team’s winning in the playoffs they have more talent than this Hornet squad. Kobe’s Lakers, the Jazz, the Celtics, the Spurs, the Celtics, the Pistons, and the Magic all have more name players than these Hornets. And if anyone does not think Paul can lead a team by putting the ball in the basket in the fourth quarter, they should be aware of the magic he pulled off in the fourth quarter of the closeout game against the Mavericks. Paul noticed his teammates were struggling and he knew he had to take the game over with his scoring, so he did just that. Even though he usually prefers to set up others, he sensed the team needed him to get selfish, and he did. He can singlehandedly win games too.

MVP2008KB4: Good thing Byron Scott won Coach of the Year! He established defined roles for the Hornet’s great role players. Anyway, just watch Kobe play. He’ll look like he’s trying to get his teammates involved and still drop 40. Denver was his latest victim: 49 points, 10 assists one game. That means by himself he was responsible for at least 69 points … include threes and free throws and he accounted for 80 points.

cp3mvp2008: Well, on that note, Paul is leading the league in the postseason in amount of team points a player is responsible for (their points per game plus assists per game). So he is responsible for as much of what his team does as what Kobe’s team does.

MVP2008KB4: The bottom line is we’re voting for the regular season MVP, and Kobe’s team finished with the best record in the West, despite all of the injuries to his teammates. Regardless of whether they had Gasol, Odom, Andrew Bynum or Kwame Brown, they won ballgames.