Shaq: Nash MVP’s Tainted
By Angelo | Related entries in News From Off The CourtShaq has been known to say and do some funny things but he recently made a comment about Steve Nash that I think is just unfair.
After Miami’s loss in Dallas on Thursday, O’Neal was engaged in an MVP discussion as it related to the Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki. O’Neal questioned how the media picks MVPs and said the award has been “tainted” the past two seasons. O’Neal was the runner-up for Nash’s first MVP in 2005.
Nash won those two MVP’s fair and square. He truly deserved those awards for his role in revitalizing the Suns team right when he first came in and even leading the Suns deep in the playoffs without Amare Stoudemire. He made his team mates better as shown by the performances of Boris Diaw, Raja Bell and even Tim Thomas when he was there. How can Shaq ever say it was tainted? By criticizing how the media selects the MVP he then admits that the process that gave him his MVP’s is flawed too. Shaq, just shut up ok.
February 25th, 2007 at 10:46 am
How do you feel about the team’s performance w/o Nash? More support for him as MVP this year again?
February 25th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
I think Nash is having another MVP season this year with the way he’s led the Suns to one of the top teams in the West and the whole league. He has stats really close and probably slightly better than last year so I think Nash deserves to be in the running once again.
February 26th, 2007 at 2:43 am
As good as Shaq “was”, this self proclaimed embassador to the NBA is talking out of his a** as always.
btw, looks like Nash is close to getting his 3rd MVP. His absence during the past couple of weeks reinforces this the inevitable.
February 26th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
For the last three years, many who have played for the Suns have had career years (Marion, Diaw, Bell, Barbosa, Stoudemire, Q. Richardson, Joe Johnson. For the last six, the team with Nash has been the highest scoring team in the league. Steve Nash makes the players that run along side him better. Shaq can say whatever he wants, and so can the critics, but the Suns were two wins away from going to the NBA Finals last year (WITHOUT Staudemire and Kurt Thomas). And the Heat are very fortunate. Pat Riley often said that the Heat didn’t match up well against the Suns. In both games last season, the Suns ran Shaq right off the court and Riley decided to bench him because he could’t keep up with the pace of the game. Dallas squandered their chance last year. Because if the Suns had just a little more gas in their tanks, they would have won last year. A healthy Suns team equals a trip to the finals. No one can run with a healthy Suns in a 7 game series. Sorry, Tim Duncan, Mark Cuban, and Charles Barkley!
February 27th, 2007 at 7:09 am
Nash has deserved the MVP the past two years. But I think he won it by default. No one else stepped up until playoff time to lead their teams. Duncan and Wade led their teams to the championship the two years Nash got the MVP. Nash is a great player but the Suns don’t have what it takes to win it all. A healthy Suns team would be hard to beat. But the thing about basketball is there will always be a few unhealthy players on your team. If the Suns are waiting to be healthy to win the championship they’ll just have to keep on waiting until they decide to stop making excuses for getting run out of the gym by the Spurs in ‘05 and the Mav’s in ‘06. I would rather have the finals MVP on my team than the regular season MVP any day. The MVP of the finals comes to play when it really matters. If the Suns and their fans could learn that they may become champions some year.
February 28th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
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March 7th, 2007 at 4:02 am
You people all sound like a bunch of Nash lovers.
Steve Nash has to be the only player in NBA history to leave a team and the team gets better. Think about that. The MAVS have improved as a team since Steve Nash has left the team.
I keep seeing articles and blogs talk about how much better he makes his teammates. Amare and Marion are all stars without Steve Nash. Barbosa plays the same position and is probably the 6th man of the year. So basically you have three all stars and the 6th man of the year on the same team and you don’t even have the NBA’s best record. Yet you want to TAINT the MVP award by mentioning Nash in the same breath as Wilt, Jordan and Larry Bird? Come on people.
Steve Nash is and will never be better then John Stockton. How many MVP’s did John Stockton get? 0, At least Stockton went to the finals, something Steve Nash will never do. Steve Nash is a product of his system. He played a similar system in Dallas under Don Nelson. It looks good in the regular season but will not get you anywhere in the playoffs. Writers and fans like the flashy offense. Nobody wants to see a grind it out defense. But defense wins so the Suns will never win anything meaningful. They are the early 2000 Mavs and the early Warriors that featured three all stars in RUN TMC.
Your MVP is Dirk. Plays on the best team with the best record and has no other all stars on the team. Remember Howard was an injury replacment.
Next would be either Kobe, Mcgrady or Lebron. All three of these guys have doen more with less.
Nash, WHO CARES!!
March 7th, 2007 at 10:55 am
I too believe that Dirk is the top man this season but you can’t deny Nash is having one heck of a season. He’s still one of my favorites this season and I really don’t mind seeing him win it again except that Dirk really deserves this and nash already has 2.
I just want to comment on “Steve Nash has to be the only player in NBA history to leave a team and the team gets better.” True the Mavs did get better when he left but it’s not his leaving that caused it. If you really think about it, Avery Johnson has a lot to do with it. Under Nelson the Mavs were only a great offensive team that could had poor defense. They could be up 20 and down 20 (or vice versa) in the same game. Avery Johnson gave that team more stability by emphasizing defense more than ever and actually pulling it through. Also with Nash leaving, it forced Dirk to tap into an even bigger leadership role that even changed his game. Notice how much of a better passer he became and he now fearlessly plays inside whereas he would play mostly outside before He had to adjust to fill in the void left by a guy of Nash’s talent.