BY TODD DYBAS / SEATTLESPORTSONLINE.COM

No MVB this season.

Admirable. Impressive. Needed. Those words describe Sue Bird's second-half effort. Raising her scoring average, pulling an injured Storm team to a franchise-best win mark.

Bird was what she needed to be. She needed to become a scorer, an aggressive one at that. A role she proved to have the skill set to fulfill, just one she hadn't chosen in the past.

But she's not the league MVP. Her body of work too short. Her statistics not filling enough categories.

The same can't be said of Los Angeles epiphany Candace Parker.

Yes, the Sparks underachieved. They were supposed to win the conference, dominate the league. Didn't happen.

That's not Parker's fault. The rookie has been nothing short of astonishing from the opening to the end of the season.

Halftime of the Storm opener WNBA President Donna Orender was talking about Parker's first-game performance from earlier in the day. A definitive statement of 34 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.

It was the start of a transcendental season for Parker. She's the new WNBA. The more versatile, more athletic, more mainstream player.

Certainly public palatability does not produce an MVP. But persona plays a part. As much as Bird helps the Storm navigate, Parker dominates in too many facets of the game to be denied in the MVP debate.

First in the league in player efficiency. First in rebounds, likely the most crucial part of basketball. Second in blocks. The season-high in points, 40. First in double-doubles, 17. Second on her team in assists, trailing the lead by a minuscule one tenth.

Parker played every game after coming from Tennessee's title run, into the preseason, regular season, the Olympics and back. Through it all she scored less than 10 points in a WNBA game once, and that was the last of the season when she scored nine points in nine minutes against the Storm.

Bird's ascension into this debate came from a seven-game run. For Parker, it's been a season-long journey.

Seattle's point guard disappeared at times with the Storm at full strength early in the season. Particularly in early June when a 2-for-10 was followed by a 4-for-12, then 1-for-12. The Storm won two of those three games.

Parker never endured a comparable lull. Grinding out minute after minute, rebounding, blocking shots. Her unmatched versatility allowing coach Michael Cooper to put Parker and Lisa Leslie in high pick-and-rolls with Parker handling the ball, a nightmare scenario to make Wes Craven envious. Parker's skills making teammates better simply by giving the coach so many new options.

Not be lost as part of Bird's candidacy is her leadership. In those three consecutive June games when Bird was doing masonry work from the field, she distributed 22 assists. No lull in responsibility, certainly, as she logged an average of 37 minutes in those three games.

Bird's ability to lead, unquantifiable with numerics, doesn't go unnoticed by opponents.

"If you take Sue from Seattle, I know Lauren is the MVP, but if you take Sue from Seattle they're in trouble," Sacramento point guard Ticha Penicheiro said in late August. "I think she does so many things well and she's in great shape. She can pretty much run around for 40 minutes like nothing has happened. She doesn't sweat a bit, ponytail still looks great."

Parker's hair may get a bit mussed, but remove her from the Sparks, and where are they?

If the question for MVP is best player, Parker is the answer this season. If the best player needs to be on a winning team to be MVP, it's Parker again. If the MVP needs to show value, however that is defined, it's Parker because of her all-around ability.

Not San Antonio's Sophia Young or Becky Hammon. Not Connecticut's Lindsay Whalen. Not Phoenix's Diana Taurasi.

Despite a magnificent year, not Seattle's Sue Bird.

They all fail in some aspect of the argument. Parker does not.

Todd Dybas is the editor of Seattlesportsonline.com. Contact him at tdybas@seattlesportsonline.com