What do you do when you start the season 0-14? Do you write off the season already and take the record for the worst ever start to give yourself the best chance in the draft? Or do you try hard to save some face and give your fans something to cheer about?

If you pick the former then you probably have a good understanding of American sporting culture. American sports generally go through a cycle and to become competitive you have to go through a period of adversity.

Once a team has been bad for a few years and has stocked up on good young players from the draft then it can start becoming competitive again, unless you are a team with great history and can attract good free agents year after year.

This is the situation the New Jersey Nets find themselves in currently as they remain on course to break the all-time worst start in an NBA season. The draft must already be on the Nets’ radar and they must be thinking which one of the top three picks will be theirs.

They are now just three games away from tying the worst ever start to an NBA season by a team, a record which is held by Miami and the Los Angeles Clippers, and it very much looks like they will at least equal that record.

The game against the New York Knicks last Saturday was supposed to break the losing streak, but it was not to be. Following another defeat to the Denver Nuggets, the Nets will now be looking at the game in Sacramento as their best chance of not creating history, assuming of course that they lose to Portland in the preceding match.

It seems inevitable that the Nets will go on to match the worst ever record, with their 17th game of the season being on the road to the current NBA champions the LA Lakers. A win at Staples Center is unthinkable and it seems as if the NBA will have a bit of history early on this season, albeit the wrong kind.

So what has this got to do with the Race to the MVP? Well it’s quite possible that this year’s MVP could be playing for the Nets next year.

LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh all have a chance of winning this year’s award and all three are free agents in the summer. But why would any of the three move to the Nets? Well there are three good reasons for that.

The first is the Nets will have the most salary cap room of anyone in the league, meaning they can sign one player to a max contract and still afford to sign one or two good squad players.

The second is the Nets already have a very solid young base in the team. Devin Harris is one of the best point guards in the league and Brook Lopez is establishing himself as a dominant centre. Don’t be fooled by their historically bad start, the Nets have been dismantled by injuries this season. But add someone like Wade or James to the mix next season and the Nets would instantly become one of the best teams in the league.

The third reason to join the Nets next season is; at the moment they are on course to have a very high lottery pick in the draft. If they manage to get the No. 1 pick, potentially you are looking at a team that will have four top quality starters, and with the drafted player playing amongst so many superstars he will improve his game immensely. Also consider that the Nets will be moving to Brooklyn, New York in a few years time and they become a very attractive team for players.

It remains to be seen what happens with the Nets this season and if they will sign one of the top MVP candidates next year but if they do, expect them to become a force in the Eastern Conference.

With that being said here’s a look at where the potential MVP free agents line-up this week.

1- Kobe Bryant, 30.1 PPG, 3.6 assists, 5.2 rebounds, .188 3pt%, 2.14 steals.

Groin strain, what groin strain? Kobe scored 21, 26 and 34 this week helping LA to extend their winning streak to four games. Even with the return of Pau Gasol his numbers remain as solid as ever. Against the Knicks he scored 34, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and had three steals, and did you see the show he put on in-front of all the celebrities against Oklahoma?

2- Steve Nash, 17.1 PPG, 11.6 assists, 2.4 rebounds, .442 3pt%, .524 FG%.

As long as Nash and the Suns continue to win he will remain in the top two. He continues to shoot above 50% from the floor and is shooting 93% from the free throw line. He dished out 16 assists against the Rockets making it his sixth double digit assist game of the season.  The Suns play Memphis, Minnesota, Toronto and New York this week so expect Nash to increase his stats and lead the Suns to four wins.

3- Carmelo Anthony, 30.2 PPG, 3.4 assists, 6.2 rebounds, .333 3pt%, 1.64 steals.

He leads the league in scoring and simply put he is dominant. He has helped Denver to first place in the northwest division and is the only player in the league to have scored a minimum of 20 points in every game this season. If he continues this way Kobe better look over his shoulder because the Melo-man is coming.

4- Josh Smith, 15.6 points, 4.3 assists, 9.3 rebounds, .540 FG%, 2.64 blocks.

You may not agree with this pick but I genuinely believe Smith has been this good for the Hawks this year. Some will argue that Joe Johnson is the better player, probably, but by that rational Kobe and LeBron would be at the top of the list every week. Yes Johnson is a quality player but Smith has been doing everything. Last week’s numbers? 13PPG, 10.4 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal. How can you argue with that? The man just does everything including a tip in dunk with less than a second to go to win the game against the Rockets.

5- Dirk Nowitzki, 27 PPG, 2.9 assists, 9 rebounds, .353 3pt%, 1.57 blocks.

He’s led the team to a 10-3 record and scored a season high 41 points over the Spurs this week. And how about this for a stat, Dirk has not missed a single free throw in the fourth quarter or overtime this season, did I hear someone say clutch?

6- LeBron James, 29.4 PPG, 8.1 assists, 6.8 rebounds, .371 3pt%, 1.50 steals.

LeBron keeps dominating the numbers game but still something is keeping him back from being in the top three. The question is has he been as good as last year? No, has he been as good as the other five ahead of him? The numbers say yes the eyes say no. Saying that, if he leads to Cavs to a five game winning streak he might just propel himself right up the list.

7- Dwyane Wade, 28.1 PPG, 5.2 assists, 4.9 rebounds, .296 3pt%, 2 steals.

Wade took his Miami Heat to Atlanta last week and got completely shut down. He scored 15 points on 6-18 shooting and only went to the charity stripe twice. He did rebound in the next game scoring 30 but it was against Toronto who have one of the worst defences in the league. The Heat went on lose that game and it will take some extra effort from Wade to see him rise on this list.

8- Brandon Jennings, 24.2 PPG, 5.7 assists, 4.3 rebounds, .465 3pt%, 1 steal

Jennings will get a pass for the San Antonio game in which he only scored 12 points on 6-21 shooting. In four games this week Jennings has led the Bucks to three wins, scoring 19, 29 and 26 in those games. 29 points 7 assists and 4 rebounds was his line against the Bobcats and just look at that 3pt%. Crazy stuff from the rookie.