My gut feeling is that Shaq is indeed declined significantly. This is not the M.D.E. Shaq we are talking about anymore. Watching many Heat games makes me wonder Shaq's dominance. The same Yao/Mutumbo syndrome applies to Shaq/Doleac. Heat often makes runs with Doleac just as Rockets with Deke.
If we're talking about a team game, how about we look at the fact that the Suns have the best starting lineup in the NBA right now. This is the first year that the team decided to start their 5 best players instead of plugging a stiff in at center. Not to mentioned this team added a 15 ppg scorer in Q. Richardson who just so happens to mesh perfectly with this team's style. You couple that with some added role players for depth and the continued development of young players like Stoudamire and Joe Johnson and you have an entirely different team. Also, people fail to recognize the fact that Nash is filling what was a complete and utter void last year. They had NOBODY at the point last season, just about anybody would have been an improvement. Now, granted, Nash is one of the best pg's in the league, he still has the advantage of coming in to replace Leandro Barbosa.
Uhh... whatever. And if Shaq was PF playin next to Yao, we can just scrap the season and just hand us the trophy now, Dallas who? Great logic there.
Nash wasn't really filling a void. Marybury played for the Suns last year, but the team was HORRIBLE with him at the point. They sucked despite having the same roster only one year younger minus Quentin Richardson. Yes, Q fits perfectly, thanks to Nash! If Iverson and Marbury were at the point Q would barely see the ball.
Nash is one of my favorite players and i'm happy he won the award. I personally thought Ray Allen was going to win it though.
2004-05 MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARD VOTING RESULTS Player, Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Pts Steve Nash, Phoenix 65 54 7 1 0 1066 Shaquille O'Neal, Miami 58 61 3 3 1 1032 Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas 0 4 43 30 16 349 Tim Duncan, San Antonio 1 0 40 33 19 328 Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 2 4 20 23 23 240 LeBron James, Cleveland 0 0 7 11 25 93 Tracy McGrady, Houston 0 1 1 8 8 44 Dwyane Wade, Miami 0 2 2 1 16 43 Ray Allen, Seattle 0 0 2 8 7 41 Amaré Stoudemire, Phoenix 1 1 1 5 4 41 Kevin Garnett, Minnesota 0 0 1 2 4 15 Gilbert Arenas, Washington 0 0 0 1 1 4 Vince Carter, New Jersey 0 0 0 1 0 3 Marcus Camby, Denver 0 0 0 0 1 1 P.J. Brown, New Orleans 0 0 0 0 1 1 Shawn Marion, Phoenix 0 0 0 0 1 1 SOMEONE GAVE PJ BROWN A FIFTH PLACE MVP VOTE!?!?!?!? Nice to see TMAC with a 2nd place vote. Also interesting that AI, Amare, and Duncan got 1st place votes but placed overall behind Dirk...who got no first place votes
The only reason Wade got any votes was BECAUSE OF SHAQ. You don't just go from finishing third for Rookie of the Year one year, to MVP candidate the next. Just like he did for Bryant, Shaq makes everyone else look better than they are. His mere presence on the court does that, regardless of what stats he puts up. The fact that Wade received even one vote speaks more for Shaq than it does for him.
Marbury played less than half the season, around 36 games maybe, and was subsequently replaced by scrubs. Also, there is no way you can reasonably put Marbury and Iverson in the same class. I dare say if you replaced Nash with Iverson, the Suns would still be one of the best teams in the league, while Marbury is left picking up the pieces in NY.
They replaced Marbury because the team was going nowhere and they decided to save cap space. Marbury had the same guys as Nash but one year younger and no Q. How can you be so sure the Suns would still be good? With Iverson you never really know how the chemistry will be with him throwing up shots all the time.
