[ESPN] Nash for MVP: Pat Riley is dead and Jeff Van Gundy is on life support.

By Eric Neel
Page 2

Let's hear it for Steve Nash for MVP.

Let's start the campaign right here and now.

Steve Nash for MVP.

The Suns won 29 games all last year. They're going to win that many by mid-January this season.

Steve Nash for MVP.

It's only December, but groundswelling and grassrootsing take time. On a thing like this, we have to get the ball rolling early.

He isn't your typical candidate. He's averaging just about 16 points a night, and MVPs are usually good for well above 20. He's playing the pure, pass-first point, and you can ask John Stockton and J-Kidd how much hardware that's been good for over the years. (Magic didn't win an MVP until he bumped his scoring to 23-plus in '87).

He's a long shot, but he's the right call.

The Suns score 109 points a night these days (14 above the league average, seven better than their closest competitors). They run good teams into the ground. They come in waves, they go on 21-0 runs (against Golden State last week) that turn NBA games into spirit-crushing, basketball-bully scenes straight out of "The Great Santini."

His numbers aren't the gaudiest -- but he still deserves some hardware.
Nash makes it happen.

He's as fast from circle to circle as anyone in the league, and he's pushing the ball up the floor like he's got the hounds of hell at his back. He averages 11 assists a night, and 15-plus per 48 minutes. He hits guys filling lanes and guys spotting up; and when the defense sags, he calls on his own junebugging jumper to the tune of a .533 field-goal percentage (and .414 from 3).

Look at those last two numbers. Think on them a minute. Tape 'em to your set for Wednesday night's game against the Jazz; and while you watch, try to reconcile them with the speed and aggressiveness of his approach. (You might need that TiVo slo-mo feature.) They do not compute. But there they are.

The game is flowing off his fingers. He's crackling. Think Mickey the Magician at the heart of the "Fantasia" storm. Think of popcorn going bang under the Jiffy-Pop foil. Ask Amare, who's up six in-perfect-stride points a night over last season, what I'm talking about. Ask Shawn Marion, if you can get him to come down off his alley-oop cloud. Ask Joe Johnson about his career bests from the field and from beyond the arc. Ask the good people over at 82games.com, who'll tell you the Suns, with the addition of Nash at the helm, are thus far 69 points better than the next-best five-man unit in the league (San Antonio's starting five). Ask the fans in Phoenix, many of whom, rumor has it, are growing their hair out and wetting it down on game days in the hope that some of the Nash magic might wind its way into their lives.

Because, see, Nash's first pass, the selfless, quick-draw way he's kicking the ball to open space and to open teammates, is infectious. Look at highlights from the beat-down the Suns put on Orlando Monday night. Quentin Richardson's rising up for what looks like a Quentin Richardson jump shot on the right wing, but he's just duping ... in mid-air, the shot becomes a little dump-down to Stoudamire, which becomes a big ol' dunk, which becomes five smiles on the way back down the court.

I'm telling you, Steve Nash isn't a Sun, he's the culture of the Suns (as a team, Phoenix is averaging a fourth-best 23.09 assists per game). He's who they are. And what they are is 18-3.

Amare Stoudemire's got to love getting dunks off Nash's dishes.
I'm telling you, Steve Nash for MVP.

He's worthy. He's worthy on his own merits; and he's worthy because his energy, style, and skill have done a remake on the Suns that puts the surgeons and stylists at "The Swan" to shame.

And just think of the way the vote strikes a symbolic blow.

Here's a guy who turns the MVP tradition inside out. Here's maybe the least predictable winner in history. You don't have to be a dominant big man to win. You don't have to lead the league in scoring to win. You don't have to dunk to win. You don't have to be KG, Shaq, Kobe, or T-Mac. You can be a wiry, hang-dog, thirty-something, 6-foot-3 point and be the center of the basketball world.

A vote for Nash is a vote for the points of old, too. It's a vote for Cousy. It's a vote for Kevin Porter and Tiny Archibald. It's a vote for Isiah and Stockton, and for Kidd, as well.

Call Steve Nash the MVP and you recognize a whole team. You acknowledge all the players who flow with his flow, from Amare to Bo Outlaw, and every Casey Jacobsen in between. More than that, call Steve Nash the MVP and you recognize the whole idea of team. The Suns have five guys averaging more than 14 points a game right now. There are stars on this team, to be sure, but there's no traditional superstar. They are balanced, and a threat from every corner and angle.

If Steve Nash is the MVP, basketball is fun again.
Up-tempo ball is back.
Pat Riley is dead and Jeff Van Gundy is on life support.

If Steve Nash is the MVP, we're not about wars of attrition, muscle-bound match-ups, and watch-the-paint-dry isolations. We're about pace, about play, about players, and about the game we know and love from the schoolyards and those grainy Showtime games on NBA TV.

Steve Nash has simply transformed the Suns in his first season in Phoenix.
It's a statement vote. It's a style vote. It's a philosophical vote.

So who's with me?

Steve Nash for MVP! Steve Nash for MVP! Steve Nash for MVP!

Make it a movement. Make it a shibboleth, one of those code phrases by which believers of the same faith recognize one another and gather together.

And let the word go forth.

Paint a sign on a wall somewhere. Write it in the dust on somebody's back windshield. Get a tattoo. Put it on your answering machine.

And kids, next time the teacher asks a question, raise your hand, flip a no-look eraser pass to your friend in the next aisle, and say ...

"Steve Nash for MVP."

 

How funny would it be watching this core of players (Rox) try to play uptempo ball, it would be a comedy of errors and probably much more enterntaining than anything we've seen from them this year , save TMAC's 3 point explosion.

 

if the Suns continue as they have so far and put up a plus 60 win season and continue scoring as they have i certainly wouldn't have a problem giving it to Nash

but of course MVP is really decided on what you did in the previous years playoffs... no one from Detroit or the Lakers will get it, so i guess it will be KG again

 

It will be interesting to see if Nash runs out of gas again like he has every other season.

 

Nahh, MVP is more of a "turn" thing - Barkley's turn, Hakeem's turn, Robinson's turn (oops), Karla's turn(actually turns which was a travesty).

Not sure who's turn it is this year. KG had his, as has Duncan. Kobe might have been up for it had he not gone to the crackbaby school of PR the last year or so.

 

I agree with the turn line of thinking but don't remember Nash ever being in line.

He should be considered, but I think it more likely the award will go to KG again or Duncan again, with Dirk, Lebron, Kobe and even potentially Ray Allen getting more MVP votes than Nash.

 

Remember how Bobby Jackson and Peja used to get first 1/3 season MVP votes in last two years? Look how they finished. Nada...

 

Nash should get it for sure. He's turned a terrible franchise around into the best in the league.

 

kidd finished 3rd a few years ago, i don't see how nash is any different this year.

 

because he brings more hair, more exciting basketball, and he's canadian .

 

It looks like its Dirk's turn to me.

 

I'm down with Nash getting it - that team wouldn't be nearly as good without him. Plus I'm Canadian, so I might be a little biased....but look at his numbers! IF the Suns continue at this pace, there's no question in my mind.

 

If the Suns come out with about 60 wins and Nash can have about 10 assists and shoot 50% from the field, he would definitely have my vote. As much as I dislike the Suns, Nash is one of my favorite players and I find him an easy guy to root for.

 

Do you think this Suns team is better than the 02 mavs? The mavs that blew people out for the first 15 games in the season?

My point is, Nash will not win the MVP unless he wins the championship this year.

 

then he only wins the Finals MVP

the MVP i believe is determined before the Finals even start

 

MVP is decided before the playoffs start I believe. Playoffs have no bearing on the award at all. He's made everyone on that team so much better they are all having career years. That's MVP material!

 

i'll go with Famous Quotes by David Robinson for $500 Alex.

 

MVP's dominate. Nash is as good as his teammates. He had great teammates in dallas and now in phoenix. he is able to maximize his talents and makes his teammates better. Its a pity becoz he is already pushing in his 30's. If he could just have started much earlier, we're talking here of a future hall of famer. Good shooter, unselfish player, seldom makes mistakes, tenacious, big time player. But i give my vote to TD. Very consistent, double double player. Night in and night out, leads his team to victory. Nash would make the All nba 1st team thats for sure and thats bad news for kobe, tmac and lebron. One of the three should give way for the best pg in the game today.

 

Thank you. And also other guys who pointed this out to me.

I actually knew this at one point, but forgot. hehe

It will be hard for Nash to win though.