With top four all but set, who rounds out MVP ballot?

Dwight Howard's strong season for much-improved Orlando could lead to MVP votes. AP

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The search is on to find one for the thumb, even if that thumb eventually will be jerked not so subtly to the side, indicating that our chosen player here must go to the end of a line already four-men deep.

No one ever chants "We're No. 5! We're No. 5!'' But our goal here is to come up with the name of the performer most deserving of finishing fifth among candidates for the NBA's Most Valuable Player award, behind (in some order) Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Chris Paul.

Those guys are a lock to hog the top spots when the votes are tallied shortly after the end of the regular season -- frankly, one could argue that they should command every available vote, first through fourth, from the 125-130 writers and broadcasters who submit ballots. Based on the process' point system (10 for each first-place vote, seven for each second, five for third and three for fourth), Garnett, Bryant, James and Paul deserve to divvy up upwards of 3,125 available points in some four-cornered split.

That still leaves one spot, however. The Final Four is a college hoops thing, fine for the NCAA but only 80 percent done in terms of NBA MVP. Even though a fifth-place vote is worth a measly one point, there is a line on every ballot requiring that those votes be cast.

Now, speaking from experience, I can tell you that the league headquarters doesn't have much of a sense of humor when it comes to its procedures and policies. Anyone leaving that fifth spot blank, as a symbolic gesture to underline the gap between the top four choices -- this season's MVP Mount Rushmore, if you will -- and the rest of the field, will get a phone call from someone at the NBA corporate offices. The voice at the other end of the line will ask for a fifth name, please, and remind the voter that his entire ballot would be invalid without it.

Writing in something pithy or witty -- Greg Oden at No. 5, for instance, or Charles Barkley, LaRue Martin or Warren Coolidge -- would elicit pretty much the same response from on high. So consider this a public service aimed at protecting the integrity of the league's MVP process -- and the voting status of some fellow scribes and team voices.

Just as the fab four in contention for this award all can lay legitimate claim to it -- Garnett for Boston's turnaround and transformation, Bryant for sheer excellence (after last summer's sandbagging), James for his stats and the scary notion of the Cavaliers without him, and Paul for doing so much, at such a tough position, at such a tender age -- the men worth considering at No. 5 all are eminently qualified. On this list, anyway, they are:

Dwight Howard, Orlando

The Magic without Howard aren't just the Hornets without Paul or the Cavs without James. It is the equivalent of a day without sunshine in tourist-driven central Florida. It is hard to quibble with the Magic's improvement; they already have won 47 games, seven more than last season (with seven to go). It is even harder to quibble with Howard's contributions, from his league-best 65 double-doubles to his eight games of at least 20 points and 20 rebounds (and 10 games of 30-15) to the fact that Orlando is 26-3 when its man-child in the middle blocks three shots or more.

Then there is this: Howard has made 59.9 percent of his field-goal attempts this season, putting him within a few dunks of becoming only the fifth player in NBA history to average at least 20 points and 10 rebounds while making 60 percent of his shots. The other four: Wilt Chamberlain (1966-67), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (1979-80), Charles Barkley (1989-90) and Shaquille O'Neal (2004-05).

Tracy McGrady, Houston

T-Mac's case for a spot among the top five MVP candidates was most compelling deep in the Rockets' 22-game winning streak. But with Houston going 3-5 after that marvelous run, and waking up Friday tied with Phoenix for the fifth and sixth Western Conference playoff berths, he is less automatic. And as extreme as McGrady's skill level is as a scorer, that doesn't always translate well into voters' various notions about "most valuable.'' Consider that, while the Rockets are 9-5 when McGrady scores 30 points or more, that winning percentage (.643) actually is worse than Houston's .667 overall rate. For the first time, too, the Rockets have maintained when McGrady gets hurt. They are 8-7 this season in games he has missed, compared to 11-39 in the three seasons prior to this one.

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