With the regular season complete, it's finally time to stop talking about the MVP race and just vote already. But first, let's look at who didn't crack our top 10. Manu Ginobili (pictured), Tony Parker, Deron Williams, Amar'e Stoudemire, Russell Westbrook. All were invaluable to their teams (for Williams, two teams), but that just shows how deep the league is with valuable commodities.

What separates Rose from the pack isn't his eye-popping stats, it's his leadership and performance with the game on the line. No one was more cold-blooded in crunch time than Chicago's 22-year-old assassin, who made far more big plays this season than Kobe, LeBron, Durant or anyone else. The Bulls finished with the NBA's best record and Rose will win his first MVP award, both of which were wholly unexpected at the start of the season.

It's hard to imagine anyone being more valuable to his team than Howard. The Magic surround him with lousy individual defenders and rely on him to clean up their mess. On offense, they need him to command double teams in order to free spot-up shooters. He's done both jobs extraordinarily well, yet only his own coach seems to be championing his cause for MVP. Orlando's nondescript season might be his biggest problem. If the Magic were legit contenders in the East, Howard would be fully deserving of the honor.

His numbers are still good enough for a third straight MVP and he went on a shooting tear down the stretch as Miami finished strong. But while LeBron led the Cavaliers to the most regular-season wins the past two years, he wasn't able to do the same for the Heat. Most of Miami's problems aren't his fault, but he failed in enough late-game situations to scuttle his candidacy.

The sweetest-shooting big man in NBA history never shot better than he did this season. His value to the Mavs also might never be greater considering their struggles without him. But a second MVP at the age of 32? Dirk's slowed down too much on defense and Dallas tailed off too much in the last month of the season to warrant that.

Durant entered the season as the popular MVP pick and all he did was run away with the scoring title again. So why isn't he going to win? Well, it has something to do with teammate Russell Westbrook, who has emerged as a bona fide star in his own right. But Durant's stats also dipped slightly in virtually every category, so the improvement everyone expected after his monster summer never quite materialized.

Kobe's fans might think this spot is a little low, and perhaps it is. Bryant still had a magnificent season by almost anyone's standards, but he rarely produced the late-game heroics that would burnish his MVP credentials, plus it is Andrew Bynum who keyed the Lakers' second-half surge. But Kobe's still Kobe. If he wins Finals MVP again, he'll be perfectly happy.

Amid the devastation of Greg Oden's latest season-ending injury and the disappointment of Brandon Roy's latest knee surgery came the revelation that the Blazers still have a rising star. It's Aldridge who, in his fifth NBA season, emerged as one of the most unstoppable big men in the league. Especially dominant since the All-Star break, he gives Portland something it was beginning to lose: hope for the future. After all, he's still in one piece.

Any notion that Wade would take a backseat to LeBron James in Miami this season has been laid to rest. Despite some initial struggles and an assortment of minor injuries, he's been as relentless and effective as ever attacking the basket. Third in the league in scoring, he also set career highs in field-goal percentage and rebounding.

Where would the Hornets be without Paul, who led the league in steals and controls a game as much as any point guard in the league? They wouldn't be heading to the playoffs, that's for sure. And to his credit, Paul has squashed talk about his 2012 free agency to focus on what he can do for New Orleans now.

For most of the season, Rajon Rondo was the most valuable member of the Celtics. While his awful March dropped him out of the MVP conversation, it may have helped us appreciate how good Garnett has been all season. Nearing his 35th birthday, KG averaged 15 points and nine rebounds while shooting 86 percent from the line. More importantly, his defense and durability continue to make Boston a legit title contender.