Chicago ? I’m one of about 100 voters on the NBA’s annual awards for excellence over the course of an 82-game season that everyone will tell us means nothing when the playoffs start Saturday.

Kevin Garnett is this season’s MVP. That will be my vote, but if the Minneapolis Star-Tribune wants a scoop, they can report: “Kevin Garnett will be the 2003-04 NBA Most Valuable Player, according to sources …”

You can count on this one. Tim Duncan has missed a bunch of games and is down in scoring and rebounding, if only barely. And who else is there, really?

Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant each have missed more than a dozen games and their statistics are down. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle called all the voters and asked them to select Jermaine O’Neal, though I have the feeling if Carlisle were coaching the Bulls, I would get a call to vote for Eddy Curry.

Peja Stojakovic? Heck, the league’s top two scorers, Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson, quit on their teams and took the rest of the season off.

This should be a landslide for Garnett, who has been excellent and consistent with his team leading the league’s best division. And looking back at last season, perhaps we’re all feeling a little guilty he didn’t get it then given the Timberwolves won 51 games with that team.

So, the envelopes please:

MVP: Garnett, Minnesota Timberwolves.

Coach of the Year: Jerry Sloan, Utah Jazz. Everyone’s saying this one is so hard with Hubie Brown’s Memphis Grizzlies winning more than 50 games, Stan Van Gundy reviving the Miami Heat, Terry Porter guiding the surprising Milwaukee Bucks, the usually overlooked Flip Saunders in Minnesota and Jeff Bzdelik pushing a recovery in Denver. The mistake everyone’s making is thinking the Jazz is the team that’s made the playoffs the last 20 years and the Grizzlies are the team that never has made the playoffs. Look at the rosters.

Rookie of the Year: LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers. This shouldn’t even be a debate. No one has come into the league with so far to fall who has stood up so well. Denver’s Carmelo Anthony played in relative anonymity in comparison, and that’s much easier. With Miami’s Dwyane Wade, Toronto’s Chris Bosh and the Bulls’ Kirk Hinrich, it’s a great rookie class.

Defensive Player of the Year: Ron Artest, Indiana Pacers. Probably in large part because he is a little wacky. Artest doesn’t know you don’t have to play defense right after the jump ball in the NBA. He’s a relentless defender, probably not technically as good as San Antonio’s Bruce Bowen, but more bothersome because he’s stronger.

Most Improved Player: Brian Cardinal, Golden State Warriors. This is a statement, though probably a wasted vote. The favorites are Portland’s Zach Randolph, who still acts like a bit of a jerk, and Cleveland’s Carlos Boozer, who was pretty good last season even though he was overlooked in the draft.

Sixth Man: Desmond Mason, Milwaukee Bucks. Perhaps if Iverson had come off the bench, but … Dallas’ Antawn Jamison, San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili and Indiana’s Al Harrington have been getting support. Mason and Sacramento’s Bobby Jackson are true sixth men, the energy guys who play both ends of the floor off the bench. Jackson has been injured too much.

All-NBA first team: Bryant, Jason Kidd, Garnett, Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal. Second team: Michael Redd, Sam Cassell, Jermaine O’Neal, Stojakovic, Ben Wallace. Third Team: James, Steve Nash, Lamar Odom, Andrei Kirilenko, Yao Ming.