LOS ANGELES -- If anything undercut Tuesday's news conference at which Kobe Bryant was formally announced as this year's NBA most valuable player, it was that there was no real "news" about it.
For reasons known only to NBA officials -- because they certainly aren't going to come out and discuss them -- the league routinely leaks the winners of its major end-of-season awards to the largest paper in the winner's city, thereby undercutting the actual news value of the event.
It happened in New Orleans when Byron Scott won the coach of the year award, it happened in Seattle when Kevin Durant was named rookie of the year, and of course it with Bryant's MVP award, as the L.A. Times was handed the news last Friday.
Needless to say, this irked all other media outlets no end, in part because -- from where the rest of us sit -- it's a form of blatant favoritism that favors one company in a competitive industry. We would have liked to ask an NBA rep some pointed questions about this at Tuesday's news conference, but perhaps sensing the way the wind was blowing, they stayed in the background and let Lakers broadcaster Stu Lantz serve as the MC. It remains to be seen if we'll have a chance to quiz anyone at tonight's presentation before Game 2 of the Lakers-Jazz series, or just have to be content with the ritual booing of David Stern, if he does in fact do the presentation.
Now, this bit of griping may not seem important to, but I'm going to suggest you should care a little bit. First of all, by handing the story to the Times, the NBA has made the decision that you, as readers and fans, are not as important as the Times' readers and fans. Other leagues manage to announce their award winners to everyone at the same time, respecting all of us -- and therefore all of you -- equally.
Second, it's worth noting that the NBA is the subject of more conspiracy theories and general suspicion than any other professional league, ranging from the decades-old griping that the draft lottery was fixed to land Patrick Ewing in New York to the annual grumbling that the league goes out of its way to get the most television-friendly finals pairing.
I've never bought any of this -- the regular Finals appearances by the talented but ratings-killing Spurs are strong evidence to the contrary -- but these awards leaks are just the sort of underhanded way of doing business that provide reason to be skeptical about the way the league operates.
It's a minor-league way for a major league to operate.

The presentation itself suffered from a bit of a cheesiness factor given that a car company sponsors the MVP award and three other "performance awards," meaning the three people on the podium Tuesday were Bryant, Phil Jackson, and a PR guy for said car company. (Only because the company deserves credit for donating an SUV to the East L.A. Boys & Girls Club in Bryant's name will I give Kia even the slightest plug).
That minor flaw aside, the award presentation was actually a pretty entertaining, what with Luke Walton taking the microphone to ask Bryant if he'd give his teammates anything as a thank you for their part in the award, and Tex Winter standing to ask Bryant what he really thinks of the triangle offense. (Breaking news: He told the inventor of the triangle that he likes it.) Bryant was funny and self-deprecating and humble and thankful -- a winning performance from a guy who, outside of the Lakers faithful, hasn't always been the most popular of individuals.
If that's changing -- and the award itself stands as Exhibit A in that regard -- it may reflect the fact that Bryant himself has changed, not just because he's been through some turbulent times, but because just about anyone should, at 29, be a little more polished and well-rounded than he was at 21 -- which was his age when he won his first NBA title.