The sad part about Nash vs. Dirk is that you can tell in the game on ABC right now that both team's half court offensive strategies are: Mavs: Go to whoever Nash is guarding Suns: Go to whoever Dirk is guarding. I remember when the MVP candidates used to be pretty good defensively, as well. Looks like those days are long gone.
Jordan should have won it instead of Barkley and Malone - I mean, we saw the Bulls without him, heck, we saw the league without him. He finished with 5 but I think he deserves 7. MVP to me is the most valuable player to his team AND to the league. It's the guy who does it all. He scores, he leads, he is the complete player, he dominates, and is the guy you want the ball in the last few seconds of a game. I don't know if I feel that way about Dirk. He gets you points and 9 boards...but so can Yao. Nash doesn't deserve 3 in a row. And Kobe is making a mediocre team competitive all by himself. Give Kobe some players and Lakers would be scary. I mean, he's by himself and he's scoring 50. Imagine if he has some decend players! Swap Him for Dirk and Dallas would be even scarier. As for Nash for Kobe - well the Suns are built around Nash - a perimeter pick n roll jump shooting team. But I think Kobe playing point with Barbosa would do some serious damage as well. Like someone said earlier - put Dirk or Nash on the Lakers - and they wouldn't be any better. The Lakers have Kobe, and then Odom, but that's it. Dallas and Phoenix are stacked. You look what Kobe is doing - and his teammates aren't complaining one bit by the way. You look what he is doing - and I say give the man props. He's earned it.
Lakers record without Kobe is 3-2, for a winning percentage of .600, or better than they are overall. They would still be in 6th place in the west (assuming those numbers held up). Nash does a lot more for the Suns than Kobe does for the Lakers. The Suns entire offense is built around Nash handling the ball, leading the break, and dissecting the defense to get guys open looks. Kobe scores a bunch of points and freezes out his teammates.
Nash definitely deserves it. But that has nothing to do with the win this afternoon. Suns were possessed like no other. Every shot they put up went in. I have never watched a game where they lost. I wonder how they play in those situations.
The most valuable player to their team is Kobe, without him the Lakers are the Memphis Grizzlies. Now as much as I hate Kobe, I still think that's the truth, the suns and mavs have other stars on their team. Lakers have Odom? no one really in my opinion
Um, what? 25 ppg, on 0.503 FG%, 0.426 3P%, 0.902 FT% (an insane overall shooting efficiency of TS% 60.9) on the 4th slowest-paced team in the league isn't "that impressive?" Granted Nash has an even more insane TS%, but his individual ppg is a lot lower (and yeah, I know it's because he's a passer). But Nash's numbers have to be adjusted downward for his team's fast pace (3rd in the league), while Dirk's have to be adjusted upward because his team slows things down. The argument often made in Nash's favor is that his team performs a lot better when he's on the court, vs. when he's absent. But looking at 82games.com, Dirk's net points per 100 possessions is +15.3, while Nash's is +14.5. Both of these guys are spectacular players this season, but I really feel that a lot of people give Dirk the short end of the stick, while Nash is often assumed to be default MVP until proven otherwise.
I wouldn't trade Tracy for Kobe. I also wouldn't trade Yao for Kobe. It's not that either of them are necessarily better players, but I just don't think that Kobe would work in this system.
Sorry. Kobe, Nash, and then Dirk - that means 1st is Kobe, 2nd is Nash, and 3rd should be Dirk. Wait, is that confusing you still?
I really don't think there is any doubt anymore that Dirk will get the MVP trophy, only for Duncan to demolish him in the playoffs and show him who the real MVP is (shades of Dream vs. the Admiral).
You could build a team around Rafer Alston, and watch him score 30 points a game. Would that make Rafer Alston the MVP? Given, Kobe's got more talent than Rafer, but any all-star in the league, put on that team, putting up that many shots will come close to scoring what Kobe does. I'll actually go as far to say that Yao would score MORE than Kobe. In fact, what legitimizes the fact that Kobe SHOULDN'T be MVP to me, is the fact that the Lakers were forced to build a team around him, because he could not coexist with Shaq. Couple that with multiple suspensions this year, and the recent sour taste his complaining and whining to the officials has left in my mouth, and I don't even think Kobe deserves to be considered.
interesting, Laker won 126-103 vs. king, with kobe having 13 assist. K. Bryant 6-14 FG, 19 Pts, 2 Rebs, 13 Assists his team was 50-81 FG (62%).
Who would you pick as his teammates to make Rafer the MVP? Hmmm, let's see: At center....Jake Tskalidas! At power forward - VIn Baker!!!!! at small forward - Shannon Anderson! playing the shooting guard position: Derek Anderson! Put rafer on that team - and yeah, he's score 30 a game, be the MVP, and win a total of 3 games the whole season. It'd be record setting. Of course....he's have to take 50 shots to get those 30 points....but hey - who cares....!
I'm not even going to read the rest of this thread if there's more stuff like this. The NBA doesn't submit any guidelines to the MVP award, and it "isn't" anything specific. So drop the bold tags. I mean, if you really want to go down this route, why not vote LeBron the MVP: he means nearly as much to Cleveland as Nash does to the Suns, and yet makes 1/4th what Nash makes while bringing in way more revenue. Wouldn't LeBron be MVP under those guidelines? Save for the first month of the season when he was neck to neck with Yao (or something like that), Dirk Nowitzki has been the best player in basketball, all season long. Kobe didn't even get on track until late December, but people with short memories forget that. And people bent on the whole "where would Phoenix be without Nash? 40 wins" thing are just wasting their time. Where would Washington be without Arenas? 25 wins. Does that mean he gets the MVP? Regardless of Dallas' record, put him in a vacuum: Dirk has been the best player in basketball since late October, when the NBA season started.
You do recall that the Suns and the Mavs tied the season series, right, with Dirk dominating the first two games? Or did your season start in late February?
With national, non-NBA columnists and TV guys voting, it would be a fluke if Nash won again. The dude won in a landslide last season, and that was with Dirk playing great ball, LeBron having a season for the ages, and Wade having just as good a year as any of them. And it wasn't even CLOSE.
So did you actually mean it would be a fluke if Nash didn't win again because of the vote last year? Who would you vote for?
