Shaq: Nash MVP’s Tainted
Shaq 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.
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12 opinions for Shaq: Nash MVP’s Tainted
amy
Feb 25, 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?
Angelo
Feb 25, 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.
KL
Feb 26, 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.
Joe
Feb 26, 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!
Jerry
Feb 27, 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.
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Jeff
Mar 7, 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!!
Angelo
Mar 7, 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.
NBA Obsessed » Nash To Three-peat as MVP?
Mar 10, 2007 at 4:34 pm
[…] I would like to share an article I read with you guys and I’m sure you Stave Nash and Suns fans out there should be happy to know that someone out there is giving Nash some love! Nash is one of the strong candidates for the MVP award this season and if he gets it, it will be his third and in a row too, putting him in the same breath as Kareem, Magic and MJ - an honor many believe he is not worthy. This is also why some guys like Shaq believe that his previous MVP’s are tainted somehow. Nevertheless, when you look at the numbers you can’t deny that Nash still has a strong campaign for the award even though former Mavericks team mate Dirk Nowitzki seems to be the favorite. […]
Kev
Mar 19, 2007 at 12:19 am
Nash surely deserves another MVP. Winning the MVP more times doesn’t mean being better at all, it just means being very fantastic in that particular season or at least more fantastic than most / all players. There’s no such thing as tainting the award, because all the mvp’s in the history were amazing players. Plus Nash is probably one of the best POINT GUARDs and international players, and Jordan isn’t (not saying Nash is better as whole, but a better point gard, better at passing and making plays).
and the mavs do better mostly because of Dirk is so much better now, absolutely not because Nash left. And Nash improved too, all the stats speak for themselves. statistically Nash should be another MVP, Dirk ain’t leading nothing in the stats except being 4th in free throws. Nash is doing good in free throws anyway, and he is 1st in assist (as usual, that’s why i said he’s best in it almost in the nba history), and 47% in 3! can anyone else accomplish that? and also a 89% in free throw (not as good as 92 last year, but better than most of the people i believe).
If Nash keeps the stats up, i don’t think it is an issue if he deserves the MVP, he does the best in what he does, which is like Shaq, best at what he does. they just do different things, but both the best at what they do.
Jeff
Mar 19, 2007 at 9:03 pm
“Nash surely deserves another MVP”
I can’t believe you even wrote that response given the way the Suns played after the Mavs game. The Suns came into Dallas and played one game like it was game 7 of the NBA finals. Nash gets to sit for an entire quarter and then turn it on at the end. Bill Walton and the rest of ESPN like state that the MVP will be decided at this game? What about the rest of March and April?
One ESPN guy stated that Dirk has no heart since he missed a free throw and missed the game winner.
Guess that guy didn’t watch the real finals last year with the MAVS against the Spurs.
So after the Mavs-Suns game, what happend?
Nash and the Suns disappear while the MAVS win two straight.
Dirk scores 19 in the 4th against a Boston team on it’s way back up and then goes out yesterday and scores 20 in the second half of the Pistons game.
I am convinced that Nash will probably win the MVP again, not because he deserves it but because the media just loves the guy. So the MVP is now a JOKE.
You mention that Nash leads ONE catagory in the NBA and Dirk doesn’t lead any?
Well I challenge you to tell me where Nash ranks in efficiency???? Well since you probably won’t do it, I will do it for you, Nash ranks 10th in efficiency in the entire NBA.
Hmmm now where does Dirk rank? 3rd, right behind Dwyane Wade and Kevin Garnett, now Wade has been out for sometime and Garnett plays for a horrible team. Dirk is #1 in efficiency ranking per 48m among the top 10. So there is your number one.
Another thing I think is funny is Nash doesn’t care one lick to play defense.
Dirk has at least improved in this area, getting both his blocks and steals up this year and taking the hard fouls.
Also to Angelo, the Mavs improved by from 52-30 under Nash in 2003/2004 to 58-24 under DON NELSON the year Nash left. Avery took the team over at the end of the year. Avery left his mark on the MAVS last year by guiding them to the finals and a 60 win season.
I know the Nash lovers still think he should get the award. I don’t blame you as fans. After all Phoenix does not have anything else worth mentioning sports wise, right?
My dream is to see Nash get the MVP and the Mavs get the title with Dirk getting finals MVP.
Kev
Mar 19, 2007 at 9:57 pm
Right now at this point in the season, I wouldn’t disagree that Dirk deserves to win more than Nash. It’s true that the Suns play horrible defense, but they still managed to get a pretty good record.
I like Dirk and how he can make those shots that are impossible to block, but I really think the effeciency has a lot to do with his height which results in his natural ability to rebound; so he’s good at rebounding. Nash is not, in fact he’s terrible at rebounding compared to all other candidates. so what? he’s good as a point gard, I would also challenge you to find a true point guard who has a higher effeciency than Nash in the recent decades. It ain’t hard to be effecient when you’re a 7 feet power foward, like KG or even Bosh, or obviously Dirk.
It’s true that my comments are biased since I’m a Nash fan, and would like to see him make his way to another level of achievements, but I’d find it fair if either Nash or Dirk wins it. I’d be angry if Lebron wins it this year since he’s been so inconsistant.
btw Nash is 3rd in double double, which is amazing. I think the reason why people want him to win is that he’s playing as good as he’s been if not better. I find it unfair since Dirk is also making career numbers. and Nash is like Point guard to the superior, and if Dirk can rebound like KG then he’d be the best of PF. anyway, I’m just worried things go wrong in the playoff since they usually do…
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