Most Valuable Snub

Nash Awarded MVP in Deepest Field Ever

It was my belief that the player who was to be honored as the NBA’s most valuable player was supposed to be a guy who made his team achieve more than what they would have without him.  Therefore, I find it hard to swallow the idea of awarding Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash his second consecutive most valuable player award.  LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Kobes/Lakers) both were much more valuable to their team than Nash ever was this year.  I understand and credit Steve Nash as being the catalyst of the Phoenix Suns success.  However, Kobe and LeBron were not only the catalysts of their respective teams; they were the entire chemical solution of their squad.  Unlike the aforementioned MVP candidates, Steve Nash had the luxury of being on a team with much better talent around him, including an all-star and MVP mentionable in forward Shawn Marion.  But many Nash supporters will shield all anti-Phoenix complaints with, “Amare Stoudamire was out all season.”  True yet irrelevant.  The Suns reloaded their roster with talented players that make the supporting casts of Kobe and LeBron look mediocre at best.  I guess most valuable player “just ain’t what it used to be.”
Nash vs. LeBron

LeBron James is Cleveland.  He has single handedly rescued an entire city from basketball anonymity.  King James went to high school at St. Mary St. Vincent High School in Akron, Ohio where he dominated competition and gave Ohio basketball fans something to get excited about.  When 18-year old LeBron was taken by the Cavs 1st overall in the 2003 draft, the team knew that they had a player that was going to carry their franchise to the promise land for years to come.  LeBron, now 21, has done just that this year by averaging 31.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game.  James, in his third NBA season, led the Cavaliers in all of those statistical categories and willed them to a 50 – 32 record, putting Cleveland in the postseason for the first time since 1998.  In contrast, Steve Nash helped Phoenix get to a 54 – 28 record and number two seed in the West.  With players like Shawn Marion, Kurt Thomas, Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, and Leandro Barbosa on the Suns roster, Steve Nash only had to add flair and stability to a lineup that was built for scoring.  The Cleveland front office aided LeBron’s MVP campaign by assembling a cracked team of players that included the likes of Anderson Varejao and Aleksander Pavlovic.  I cringe at the thought of a LeBron-less Cavaliers team.  James provides match up problems for just about every team in the league and is the biggest offensive and defensive threat that the Cavs have to offer.  It would be preposterous of me to say that the Phoenix Suns are as good without Nash as they are with him, but I challenge anyone to argue that the Cleveland Cavaliers would be able to beat a NBA team without LeBron James.  LeBron is the face of his team, his city, his generation, and his league.  I guess that has lost its value…

Nash vs. Kobe

The 81-point man, that’s what I’m calling him now.  But those of you who still know him as Kobe Bean Bryant would most likely join me in calling him MVP.  Kobe Bryant has done it all this season short of selling popcorn and souvenirs in the stands.  He came into the 2005-06 season with high hopes and aspirations for his Laker team.  After going through a season marred by scandal and controversy, Kobe wanted to show the world that he by himself was able to lead a flawed team of misfits into the playoffs.  Mission accomplished.  Kobe carried his team to a 45 – 37 record and birth in the postseason as the 7th seed.  A league leading 35.1 points per game this season, a 60 point showing in only three quarters of work, scoring 81 points against a NBA team, along with accounting for over 1/3 of Los Angeles’ total offense this year has made Kobe a more than worthy candidate for MVP honors.  Andrew Bynum, Sasha Vujacic, Ronnie Turiaf, and Chris Mihm are some of the names of Kobe’s supporting cast, or lack there of.  Kobe forced Lakers’ GM Mitch Kupchak and owner Jerry Buss to build a team that would be able to give Kobe the ball and stand aside.  Steve Nash had the luxury of all-star caliber teammates (Shawn Marion) to distribute the ball to, while Bryant had to reluctantly pass the ball to the likes of Kwame Brown and Brian Cook.  The Los Angeles Lakers without the 81-point man is nothing more than a 25 win team stacking up balls in the draft lottery.  Kobe is more than the most valuable player of his team; he carries the fate of an entire franchise night in and night out.  The Los Angels Lakers without the league’s best player would be like the Jackson 5 without Michael Jackson, and we all know how bad that was…

The True MVP

In my humble opinion, the best candidate worthy of being named the most valuable player of the NBA this year would have to be the 81-point man himself, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Kobes…I mean Lakers.  Kobe ripped through the league this year, leading the NBA in scoring and single handedly lifting his team to a playoff birth.  The other candidates, LeBron James and Steve Nash, are also formidable choices for the award, albeit Kobe was the most valuable and irreplaceable of them all.  Bryant was arguably the best player in the NBA this year.  His offensive domination, his never ending competitiveness, and his relentless will to win put him on a totally different plateau from everyone else this year.  The critics said that he wouldn’t be able to win without Shaquille O’Neal, he did.  Phil Jackson said that he was “un-coachable,” Phil’s back with him.  And he did it all while thoroughly enjoying the game of basketball.  So I join the Kobe fan chorus and chant “MVP!  MVP!  MVP!”