Jackson calls this Kobe’s MVP year

This year’s most-valuable-player race is expected to be close. Lakers Coach Phil Jackson’s nominee is the one he has seen up close for a while.

“Best year ever as far as an overall team player,” Jackson said of Kobe Bryant. “I think the judgment that I kind of make is, how much better do you make your teammates? This has been one of Kobe’s finest years in that regard.”

Jackson also credited Derek Fisher’s return and steadying influence as improving Bryant’s comfort level.

But of course, every nominee has someone supporting that role.

“I take a lot of the credit myself. I haven’t been playing lately, so Kobe has to have a lot of it,” Jackson deadpanned.

Jackson said he is not shocked that Bryant has not won an MVP award in his 11-year career.

“With Shaq[uille] O’Neal on his team for [eight] of those years, basically Kobe was going to be a second choice as far as the most valuable player on that team,” he said. “Since that time, not making the playoffs the subsequent year, there wasn’t an opportunity.

“The following year, he really had an exceptional year. He led the league in scoring. He had some outrageous games . . . that was the year that I would have guessed he could have been named as MVP, but with [Steve] Nash coming and the really unbelievable season Phoenix had, you had to consider that as a factor.”

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Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak, who was cheered at an annual “town-hall meeting” with season-ticket holders Tuesday night at Staples Center, provided a few additional revelations from that session.

He suggested it would be a quiet off-season for the Lakers, whose acquisition of Pau Gasol (three more years and $49.4 million) launched them well into luxury-tax territory.

“We won’t be in the free-agent market for a significant star player,” Kupchak said. “We’re looking for a veteran who can maybe play 15 minutes a night.”

Kupchak also blamed a string of poor defensive efforts on attrition, pointing out that the Lakers had been without three 7-footers and injured forward Trevor Ariza, who he said was the team’s best defensive player.

“You extend and extend and it finally catches up with you,” Kupchak said. “Give Phil credit with the players we’re missing, especially in the games in Dallas and Utah.”

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With a herd of reporters staking out Gasol before the game, Sasha Vujacic sneaked in among them with a borrowed microphone.

He asked Gasol how his ankle was faring.

Gasol smiled and responded, “No comment.”

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Times Staff Writer Mike Bresnahan contributed to this report.

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com