Every player that has won the MVP has gone to the Hall of Fame (that are eligible). Is Nash a Hall of Fame player? Not so far....
What makes you think Shaq and Nash are the "only possible candidates"? You have just been brainwashed by the media to believe so, and so were the voters apparently. The MVP award is generally accepted to be an award for the "BEST" player in the league, not the best player on the best team. And as I have said before: since Nash isn't even a top 10 player in the league, there is no logical way he can be the MVP of the league. And saying Miami are the team they are now without Shaq just shows me you know NOTHING about basketball . It is always hilarious to watch how every team Shaq is on people keep saying "Oh it is not just him, Kobe or Penny are equal partners in what makes their team so good." Every team he leaves collapses, and any team he goes to is an INSTANT contender (if not favorite) to win it all. The mere presence of Shaq gives players so much confidence and swagger that he makes a scrub look like an actually decent player (See: Damon Jones, Haslem, etc.) There is really just no debate here to be had. Nash and Shaq are never going to be on the same list of anything. Except for Marc Stein (former Maxim magazine guy, so that tells you all you need to know about his credibility), every single analyst I have heard talk didn't think that it was a hard choice, and that Shaq easily had to get it. But as I said before, Shaq is a victim of bias in the league today against traditional big men, and we are witnessing such bias against Yao as well. The league today is just in love with the style of ball the Suns play (the all offense zero defense kind), and they would love to encourage teams in the future to move in that direction. It is just a love affair between the league/media and the Suns, and Nash is a beneficiary of that. Otherwise, he wouldn't even be on the list of the top 5 candidates.
I don't mean this season, I am talking about "better players", period. You can argue Nash v. Francis or Nash v. Carter. Yah sure, SF3 and Carter are on the same level as Ryan Bowen Your argument just keeps getting more and more rediculous. That is kool dude, enjoy your fantasy, you have your opinion and I have mine. I don't want to push you any further because your argument is getting more ludicrous by the post.
...Never will he even be mentioned as a possible Hall of Famer. He has played at a mediocre level for far too long.
It was a joke. But Carter or Francis don't belong on best player lists. I am reasonable. I agree Shaq should have won this easily. But between Nash and Iverson I take Nash easily. We'll have to agree to disagree, but I'll say one more thing. If you switch Iverson and Nash, Philadelphia wins more than 43 games (in the EAST!), and Phoenix doesn't get close to 62 wins.
W/O shaq the heat are still a playoff team. W/O nash the suns were one of the worst teams in the NBA.
My argument is this: Why hasn't John Flopton ever been a serious MVP candidate in his whole career. Why was it that Karla was the one who got the MVP? Even though I despise the little dirty twerp, without Flopton the Jazz would have never been perennial playoff contenders and regular 50-60 game winners year after year. He was more valuable then Karla, IMHO. Flopton vs. Nash....I take Flopton, his statistics were way better then Nash, and pound for pound, Floppy was a better PG then Nash will ever be. In that respect then Stoudawhiner should be the MVP candidate from the Suns. I personally think Marion is the one that is most valuable from the Suns but the media is just all over the win differential before Nash joined the Suns and after, and shoveling that down to the public. What I think affected moreso the win differential is the new style of play Mike D'Antoni introduced, sure Nash was a big part of that but what if they didn't change their style of play. I am willing to bet there are other PGs in the league that if you put them in that Suns system they would have a very good stats year and the Suns win about the same number of games, maybe not become the assist leader but maybe in the top 5. Not hating on Nash but this was the weakest MVP race in a long time (O'neal didn't win it because he basically rope-a-doped throughout the season, just picking his spots and conserving for the playoffs). Not to worry, Tracy will change that next year.
The Suns are not the same team either last time I checked. While Miami lost players that helped it make the playoffs last year. They are better for it. I agree Nash makes his teammates better, because he is a very good pure PG. But my point of contention was that he doesn't even come close in an MVP race to Shaq, the fact that he won is a travesty to the whole system of selecting an MVP. And as far as him and AI, my contention is that it is not even close, they are not in the same league. We will agree to disagree
So, I take it you wouldn't vote for Shaq either. Everybody saying "if Stockton didn't get one, so Nash shouldn't" should look at the competition during Stockton's years and then take into consideration the competition this year. Normally, you'd have serious contenders for the award like Kobe (no playoffs), KG (no playoffs), Duncan (hurt last month of seeason) who weren't this year. Plus, Stockton had to worry about a guy like Jordan or Malone winning all those years. Same goes with Shaq, IMO. In any other year where he's played much better, he's had to compete against the likes of MJ, Malone, Duncan, KG, Kobe, Hakeem, Robinson, etc. for the award. Had Nash not been so underrated coming into the season and then been the leader (not just physically) of a team that was horrible last year, Shaq would've easily won this year, IMO.
MVP is for ONE season. People shouldn't be so obsessed with past seasons and HOF careers or what not. Shaq doesn't try hard enough in the regular season. His team never had the best record. Well, except his MVP season. In the past it's hard to give him MVP when he has Kobe on his side and has worst record than Duncan or KG. I'd pick Shaq this year but you can't say Nash is a stupid choice. He runs the team with the best record in the league, leads the league in assists and shoots 50% for a guard.. err.... No way Marion or Amare is going to win it for obvious reasons that they combine to win 29 games. So what a MVP who is not a HOF. He earned it for this ONE season.
The suns and NAsh doesn't play defense but they won the most games. Hate traditional big, love affair of the style or not, they won the most games.
Shaq was robbed. As others here have posted, Nash is simply in the right place at the right time right now. The league is pushing run 'n gun offense hard and has been for the past few years. IMO, Nash isn't even the best player on his team. Anyone who has followed the Suns all year knows that Marion gets all the big rebounds, guards the opposing team's best player, and most importantly, Marion is the guy they look to for the big shot in crunch time. But hey, the media loves Nash and the media is who gets to vote.
I must be in the very vast minority, but I'm not sure that Shaq is the best player on his team. Of course, best isn't really what they're looking for here. I think Marion may be a better player overall, but he's not as important to that team as Nash is. See last year for example.
little nit-picky there, but ok. however, hakeem and nash are the only players not born in the usa who have won the mvp. maybe hakeem is a "naturalized" citizen, but he still couldnt ever run for president, so there.
I can understand someone prefers Shaq, but I can't understand your total disrespect to Nash. What did he do to deserve this? As A-Train said, who else could even be close to be voted? Nash is not a big market name. But damn, with him, Suns holds the best record this year! You like Marion and Amare better, mind you, they played for Suns last year, and Nash didn't. Yes, Amare improved, added a couple of jumpers this season. do you seriously think those couple of jumpers would put Suns on top in regular season? Oh, wait, Q is newly aquired as well. Would anybody think that he made the difference? The only difference maker is Nash, he made a bunch telanted guys to a real team and a top team! What's MVP? The most valuable player, to his team at first. You do know that Suns were 2-6 without Nash, don't you? If that's not evidence enough, what do you want? How could you say he's not the best guy in the Suns? How could you say the best guy on best team (record wise), and most improved team, does not deserve the award? Don't just look at the names, look at fact. KG was MVP last year, but he never really made his teammates better. Without Sam and Spree, they would still be out in round one. Maybe you think Nash's stats is not impressive for you, but that's a true PG is about. 11 assists! What do you want? Maybe just a big name?
