5 replies to this topic

[UKUGA]

My brother has been telling me for over 2 years that he was going to write-up something like this.

Oh well, the Sports Guy beat him to it.

http://sports.espn.g...mp;lid=tab3pos1

[androsays]

well written, it's a really great article.

feel bad about what's written about steve nash here though (how d'antoni's offense made steve nash better than he actually is, even though it's soooo true), he seems like a good guy.

[Beethovenite]

Great article indeed... it's sad though, I'm sure historically people will look back and wonder how Kobe and Shaq each only one ONE MVP... I have to agree with the author too, it's like the entire NBA community talked themselves into voting for Nash... reminds me of how people talk themselves into going to war... it's always nice and easy to go with the crowd.

[last stand 2.0]

to be truthful tom brady, joe montana, steve young are all system qbs yet are still great.

to start dinishing accomplishments based on systems means we should take mjs titles because while mj and scottie would have been just as good without the triangle all those other players would have been significantly less effective.

or maybe we should take tim tebow and sam bradfords heismans because they run the spread offense.

you see the issue when crying foul on system players

[ファイナルファンタジ]

Interesting read. SSOL = LOSS

[UKUGA]

to be truthful tom brady, joe montana, steve young are all system qbs yet are still great.

to start dinishing accomplishments based on systems means we should take mjs titles because while mj and scottie would have been just as good without the triangle all those other players would have been significantly less effective.

or maybe we should take tim tebow and sam bradfords heismans because they run the spread offense.

you see the issue when crying foul on system players

I respect your point; but, I think the point of the article is about numbers being inflated due to a system, without championship results.

Nash played in a high octane offensive system which led to his team having more possessions than any other team in the league. Because the Suns ran the offense well, the players numbers were inflated over their counterparts throughout the league.
The results looked amazing, and to boot, the Suns won a lot of regular season games (which in the NBA, really isn't as hard as it looks, if a team, like the Suns, is willing to come to play every night).

Nash appeared to be the best player in the league, strictly from a numbers stand point; so, the media voted for him as MVP. Then, he turned around the next year, and put up great numbers again, and the media felt as if they had to vote for him again. Then, he did it again a third year, and the media essentially had to be talked out of giving him the MVP for the third straight year.

Meanwhile, the Suns consistently fell short in the play-offs year after year, which led people to notice the fatal flaw in D'Antoni's system, NO DEFENSE.

Now, I'm happy to note that the MVP is a regular season award. However, once it became evident that the Suns were not really a championship-caliber team, just a highly entertaining team, it became almost a farce that Nash won those 2 MVP awards, back to back at that.


Take a look at the history of MVP award winners, and find the two-time winners. Note how many of those players never played in the NBA Finals. I'm pretty sure you'll only find one, and that one is none other than Steve Nash.



Now, as almost an addendum, I'll be fair and note that Nash's teams have lost in the Conference Finals three times. The 2003 Mavericks, and the 2005 & 2006 Suns. He was close; however, every year (even 2006, when the Suns lost to the Mavericks), his team lost to a team that was willing and committed to locking down teams on defense.