Nash, early mvp title?

[vinnieponte]

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."


Eric Neel is a columnist for Page 2. His Basketball Jones column will appear each Wednesday during the NBA season.

[EricaLubarsky]

here

[sike]

the argument can be made...

but I'd still argue that KG, Dirk, Lebron all have a better claim...

[rakesh.s]

Originally posted by: sike
the argument can be made...

but I'd still argue that KG, Dirk, Lebron all have a better claim...

with the way the mavs are playing and with don nelson planning to stick around next season too, there is no chance dirk will win mvp this season or next

[jayC]

Rakesh,

Its not how you start, but how you finish. Two Dirk has been great this season except for the last two games he has been magnificent. In my opinion Lebron is the MVP. 25.2 ppg 6.7 apg and 6.8 rbpg. He is also doing it on 52.2 percent shooting.

[FilthyFinMavs]

You gotta give Bron his props. He could've took a step back like Carmelo but instead he took 3 steps foward and he's definately MVP right now. But yea it is how you finish. I expect the Suns and Sonics to both have some losing streaks that will put the Spurs back to the top of the Conference. Only way Dirk wins MVP this year is if the Mavs have the best record in the NBA. The league would then be forced to give him the award. Otherwise, if Lebron makes the playoffs and he keeps up his play I see no reason why he doesn't win this year. He's the face of the NBA. It's amazing he's only 19. And with concerns to Nash will they honestly vote a unselfish point guard who averages 15/10 a game? I defintely think they should but I just don't see that happening.

[jibikao]

It really depends which team has better record. If Mavs has the best record (which I doubt), Dirk will definitely be considered as a MVP 'cause Nash isn't on the team to "split" the votes.

As for Suns, Nash is definitely the MVP on that team but Nash will be sharing votes with Amare. Although something tells me that the league is really rewarding small ball teams and if Suns can keep up this #1 record, Nash has a high chance of winning it. It's funny that everybody keeps saying if you don't have a good center (inside game) and good defense, you are GOING TO LOSE in the playoffs. But how many teams are small teams right now? There are more and more small team, fast-pace teams than previous years. Suns, Lakers, Magic, Kings, Sonics and even Denver are all considered fast-pace, small teams. They don't really have a legit inside threat defensively.


So something tells me that if Suns can keep playing like this, Nash has a high chance of getting a lot of votes from the media especially Nash has helped Suns from the worst west team last year to the #1 team at this moment. That's quite an improvemnt!

I just think people should not look at stats that much. KG and Duncan have much better stats 'cause they are tall and they play inside most of the time. Those Double Double are almost "given" to them. But not this little white guy Nash.

Jimmy

Jimmy

[seal614]

just by definition Nash is the leader right now.

Look at the turn-around and you KNOW it's 99% him.

Pretty valuable if you ask me.

- Brian

[Bayliss]

Lebron has put up great numbers. But there is no way he should win MVP considering that his team (in the West) would be like 6th or 7th.

It is still Garnett's or Duncan's to lose.

[dirno2000]

He could've took a step back like Carmelo but instead he took 3 steps foward and he's definately MVP right now.

After a slow start, his numbers are almost identical to last year and Denver has a better winning percentage. While he hasn't made the leap that Labron has made, he hasn't regressed.

That being said, he's made some horrible decisions off the court. I get the feeling he doesn't have the support system Labron has.

[FilthyFinMavs]

Originally posted by: dirno2000

After a slow start, his numbers are almost identical to last year and Denver has a better winning percentage. While he hasn't made the leap that Labron has made, he hasn't regressed.

That being said, he's made some horrible decisions off the court. I get the feeling he doesn't have the support system Labron has.

Maybe a step back is the wrong choice of words but I honestly think last season he was alot better thus far. His performance earlier this season was atrocious. Granted, he also very young but at 19 Lebron is already the captain of his team. He's already the leader. I guess it's unfair to compare the two right now because Lebron is learning the game wayyy too fast but i'll just say Carmelo hasn't gotten any better. As far as support systems I think Lebron has a bigger support system than Carmelo. When you read stories about Lebron he has a pastor, mentor and his mother always by his side. You sort of get the feeling Carmelo is just by himself.

[jayC]

Nash has also helped the Suns increase their scoring by 14 points a night. He is a great shooter, but I think you have to be a great defender as well. Besides Nash and the usual suspects Duncan and KG. Ray Allen is having a great season. As Jimmy pointed out it might come down to who leads their team to the best record. And really it is way too early to be talking about MVP.

[Dirkenstien]

I think in order to win the MVP you have to pose some type threat of on both the offensive and the defensive end.

Nash's inability to do anything significant on the defensive end dramatically hurts his MVP chances.