Skiles says it best. That is exactly the way I feel. Nash has improved since he left the Mavs. He didn't step up to become a dominant player until leaving Dallas. The Mavs also plugged in Jason Terry which helped fill the void. Meanwhile, the Suns got a whole lot better when Nash came on board. Giving him 3 MVPs in a row sounds like a reach, but he is so good I can't believe it sometimes. There has never been a player quite like him.
3 MVPs or not is not that big of a deal. It's a subjective award given out by sports fans that isn't that important in the greater scheme of things like winning championships...just my opinion. David Robinson won MVP when Dream was better. Barkley won MVP when Dream and Jordan were better. Jason Kidd would be good with the Suns, but not as good as Nash because Nash is damn efficient with his jumper. I have both on different fantasy teams, so I follow their games as much as possible. PGab is right. It is the perfect storm. Q-Rich and JoeJohnson get replaced and the don't miss a beat. Are the Suns good without Nash? Sure. Would Nash be good on another team? Sure. But together, they are great. That's a great team. People always put them down by saying they don't play well in the playoffs, but they've had more playoff success over the last 2 years than every team out there other than Detroit, San Antonio, and Miami.
So are you saying that Warren Moon was a great QB because the Oilers used the Run and Shoot offense? Or Earl Campbell was a great RB because he got a good offensive line and they gave him 30+ carries a game? Like A_3PO said, it's chicken and egg. The Suns obviously play to the strengths of Nash and build suitable talents around him. Would they have done that if Nash weren't that good? I am not saying that he should be the MVP this year. There are indeed other guys who deserve the honor. I am saying that Nash being in MVP consideration is not so far fetch as some people here think. Nash is a great offensive player. The way he is playing, I think it is not unreasonable to argue that he is the best offensive player right now.
Steve Nash is a freak...averaging close to 20-10 this season while shooting very efficiently from the field. As someone pointed out, Phoenix plays a brand of basketball that is highly entertaining and plays to his strengths. The Phoenix Suns today is like a version of the Lakers' Showtime. It would not surprise me if he gets a 3rd MVP award. The real question is, can he lead them to a title?
It's hard to quantify Nash's play the last 2+ years vis-a-vis the greatest point guard play ever. Here's a recent ranking for all time of top 10....you could probably argue after the top 3, ut those guys do seem to be top 3 for sure. Nash is moving up, though. I think after this year he'll definitely be ahead of Kidd and Archibald. And you could argue that Stockton is ranked too high, though he did it more consistently, and for longer. M. Johnson O. Robertson I. Thomas J. Stockton B. Cousy W. Frazier J. Kidd T. Archibald S. Nash G. Payton http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/dailydime?page=dailydime-GreatestPointGuards
Stop hating on Nash. The only requirements for an MVP award are that you put up great numbers on a team that wins a lot. That's it. Prior seasons have nothing to do with this year. Nash is putting up 20 and 11 on 53% shooting and 51% from behind the arc. Those are great numbers. His team has the second best record in the league. If all of that stays constant then you can't say he shouldn't be in contention for another MVP.
can i say the word "another" should never be there when he puts up 15 and 11 or when he puts up 18 and 10 and his team wins 54 and still gets the mvp? with their talent they're going to win a lot of games for a while and with their offense and his role in it, he's going to put up similar numbers. should he just win it from here on out as long as he can top 15 and 11, even though that wasn't really mvp-worthy? should all the other great players in the league just be shut out while nash reigns? shouldn't mvp's former teams not have their best season ever 2 seasons after they leave while getting nothing in return? why couldn't flopton pick up a few mvp's in his day (may God have mercy on my soul for saying that)? from 89-91, he averaged 17.2 and 14.1 while playing much better defense and averaging 2.9 steals and having a 23.4 PER. nash in his mvp seasons had 17.2 and 11.0 with below average defense and .8 steals with a 22.6 PER. same true shooting percentages basically and a better A/TO for flopton. and the spazz won like 53 games per year. he didn't even make the all-nba 1st team with those numbers (i assume magic did). but nash gets the mvp both years. it was cute in year 1 when shaq, who put up a mediocre 22/10 and wasn't even the mvp of his own team, was the only competition the writers were willing to consider, but not in year 2, and especially not now. now of course i'm not saying flopton should have gotten an mvp, but i just don't understand why the standards have suddenly changed for nash. suddenly great but not mvp worthy numbers get him an mvp every year b/c the suns have a great offense and he's a big part of it, even when you've got lebron being one of 4 guys to ever put up 30/7/6 and kobe being one of 4 to ever average 35+ and wade doing everything in between and leading a team to a title (based on his numbers this year, he should be the mvp, imo). maybe i'm just the only one who really cares about mvp's and think they should mean something (aren't we trying to reward guys and recognize all-time greatness?) and thus am getting so worked up about it while everyone else just loves the uptempo and fancy passes and sits back and relaxes and doesn't care if other guys get screwed out of it, i don't know. but it seems if there was a draft of everyone in the nba for one season only, no gm would take nash first b/c they'd know they'd have almost no chance of reconstructing his perfect situation in phoenix (since marion and amare would also be gone in the first round) and would have to pick the guy most likely to make any team better, not just an offensive juggernaut looking for it's perfect point guard. wouldn't i hate everybody equally based on that criterion?
Life is not fair. If Stockton played today, he might have won the MVPs. Too bad he played in the same era as Jordan/Bird/Magic/Hakeem etc. who are far more dominant than Stockton. As for this year MVP, so far, who has a better season than Nash?? Lebron?Duncan?Wade?Kobe?Arenas?Yao & T-Mac? All these players are either having so-so seasons compared to their previous seasons or their teams are above averaged. The only legit threat to Nash's 3 peat MVP will be Dirk Nowitzki who again having another great season and his team are the best in the league!
lebron, kobe, wade, dirk, duncan, etc aren't exactly chumps. duncan, dirk, arenas, wade, lebron, garnett, kobe's about tied. only garnett and wade are on bad teams and wade should get huge credit for making sorry miami as competitive as it is when he plays. if their so-so is still better than nash, what does that matter? it's not fair if he starts from a lower point and just besting himself is enough of a reason to vote for him. i don't think anyone would take nash over duncan on their team, duncan is having a huge PER year with nice overall stats, and the spurs are doing their usual thing with winning but i doubt he'll get any consideration b/c apparently the spurs being talented works against him but not nash. dirk is having a better year and is leading the hottest team right now. he may have had the best regular season of anyone last year and was the lone star on a great team but he didn't get much consideration. the lakers and cavs are both doing well with less talented rosters and kobe and lebron are having very good years, just not as statistically crazy as last year. arenas has been a monster and is obviously hugely important to washington. and yet they are all seemingly tossed aside because the suns score a lot.
Sorry for not making myself clear, it shouldnt be so-so... it should be those players i mentioned is either more or less same output or worse than previous year, stats wise, this season. Example like Kobe and Lebron is playing poorer this season(stats wise) or Duncan having more or less same stats as last year(2 more point but 1 less rebound). Whereas Nash has increased both his points and assists for the third consecutive year! Kobe and Lebron was having amazing season last year yet they still lost to Nash. There is no reason the voters will vote for them, who like i said are having lesser season compare to last season, this season. It is obvious that the MVP is given to a player whose have great individual stats and his team is at least the top five teams in the league. So we can basically forget all the eastern conference players(yes, Arenas is having a great and Wade is keep heat title chance alive but please tell me any previous MVP winner's team records is below 0.600. Of cos all this is based of records as of now, things may change in the second half). Like i said, if the MVP voting starts today, it will be race between Dirk and Nash! Duncan will get some consideration, no doubt about it. But clearly is will be either Nash or Dirk! I know you are big fan of Kobe/Lebron but you have to admit Nash is having a better season so far unless kobe and lebron pick ot up in the second half. The season is still long anything is still possible!
francis 4 prez The standards haven't changed. The MVP is about: A) Putting up great numbers B) On a team with a very good record Nash is doing that this season. His numbers are great and his team is the 2nd best in the league (record wise). Him winning in the last two seasons has nothing to do with him winning this season, as this is a new year. Other people with better numbers in previous seasons (i.e. Stockton) hve nothing to do with this year, as they aren't playing this year, and they probably lost to other great players on winning teams. It's not Nash's fault that players like Jordan, Hakeem, Magic and Bird aren't playing today. It's not Nash's fault that other great players (like Kobe, Wade or LeBron) are playing on teams with worse records than the Suns. I don't know what your criteria is for the award, but based on what it usually takes to win it Nash deserves to be considered for this years award based on what he has done for his team this season.
