'Nash not so valuable?' - Bob Young/Arizona Republic

[V2M]

Nash not so valuable?
Valley fan doubts Suns' title shot with 2-time MVP at the helm
Bob Young
The Arizona Republic
May. 7, 2007 12:00 AM

He is a back-to-back Most Valuable Player of the NBA and an All-Star.

We just read where he shows up at hospitals in the middle of the night after a big game and hugs strangers.

He helped build a pediatric wing at a hospital in Paraguay.

His mom told us once that he always ate his vegetables, even as a little kid.

He works hard, he plays hard, he comes through in the clutch.

And if you don't think he is tough, you did not see him trying to play with his nose hanging off his face in Game 1 on Sunday.

So how can anybody who loves the Suns hate on Steve Nash?

OK, to be fair, Marc McCain, a Valley attorney and lifelong Suns fan who sits not far from the Suns bench, does not really hate Nash.

He said he does not dislike coach Mike D'Antoni, either, although he often snipes at him about his game strategy.

But he is not convinced that Nash and D'Antoni are headed toward a championship, either.

"I'm 39, and the Suns came here in 1968," he said. "In my mind, we're no better than the Cubs. We're still looking for a championship. I want to win a championship.

"My point on Nash, if you look at the stats - and I did a whole statistical analysis on it - he tends not to outplay the opposing team's point guard when they're a good point guard.

"When you're a two-time MVP, you can't break even on your matchup. Dirk Nowitzki is taking all this crap right now for the Mavericks' loss because he didn't rise to that level.

"My point is, in this series, we're going to rise as much as Steve Nash does."

We pointed out that Nash is considered a Most Valuable Player-caliber player because he makes other players around him better, something, incidentally, that Larry Bird pointed out to Republic columnist Dan Bickley.

"I don't understand that whole argument," McCain said. "Is he making Joe Johnson better now? Is he making Dirk Nowitzki better right now? He doesn't play with them anymore.

"I understand his ability. He's the Peyton Manning of the NBA, and I love all that. But there's a reason he's not guarding Tony Parker.

"To me, there's two sides to the court, and why can't a guy bigger than Parker play him straight up? It forces our whole team to play out of position.

"We have a power forward playing center and a small forward playing power forward. I don't know everything, but it's untraditional basketball. It's fun. It's 60 wins. But I want to win a championship.

"I'm still not quite sold. I love Mike. And if Nash outplays Tony Parker at the level he should as the two-time MVP, I think we'll win the series. If not, I think we're going home."

We'll give McCain his statistics, his opinion and the Spurs Game 1.

But we'll take Nash every time.

[FINtastic]

That's a smart fan right there.

[nashtymavsfan13]

Suns fans are starting to get it, which is more than I can say for Warriors fans.

[AxdemxO]

Yee but this year one of them mite actually win it.

[RingTheBell]

That writer is not a Suns fan.

Every team in the league only does as good as its star. But hey, why am I telling this to Mav's fans. You guys should know more than anymore about that.