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Pharzeone
Posts: 32183
Alba Posts: 14
Joined: 2/11/2005
Member: #871
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Great article on HoopsWorld that discusses a debate that was big on this forum and around the NBA a couple of years ago. Even though the article relates to D'Antoni, I made it OT.
Was Steve Nash Really The MVP?
By: Bill Ingram
It's recently been suggested that perhaps Steve Nash wasn't truly deserving of the two MVP awards he won in 2005 and 2006. The theory, proposed by ESPN's Bill Simmons, is that it was actually Mike D'Antoni's offensive philosophy that made Nash look good, rather than Nash's own brilliance.
There is an argument to be made. Nash was a solid player with the Dallas Mavericks, and his best season in Dallas saw him average 17.9 points and 7.7 assists per game. Under D'Antoni, however, Nash really turned into a different player. In 2004-05 Nash averaged 15.5 points and 11.5 assists per contest as the Suns emerged as a Western Conference powerhouse. The following year he averaged 18.8 points and 10.5 assists per game while shooting career-highs of 51% from the field and 44% from three.
So how about it? Did Nash evolve into an MVP once he was out from under Dirk Nowitzki's shadow, or was does the D'Antoni system, which Simmons said required a shot within the first seven seconds of the shot clock, deserve all the credit?
"Steve Nash was the best player in the league those two years, without a doubt," says D'Antoni, now the head coach of the New York Knicks. "I think sometimes we exaggerate things in basketball. The seven seconds or less was an exaggeration. We did a lot of half court stuff. "
A further exaggeration, according to D'Antoni, was the popularly-held idea that the Suns didn't attempt to play much defense, preferring instead to force teams to meet the Suns' pace and count on that to force turnovers.
"Playing no defense was an exaggeration; we were one of the top ten or twelve teams defensively," says D'Antoni. "You don't win 62 games and just ignore the defensive end. We go to the conference finals that year with Joe Johnson breaking his face and believe we could have competed for a championship. I think people exaggerate a lot of things, and the truth is my jaw was agape most of the time because of the things Steve was doing. He went for an entire year and didn't make more than a handful of bad basketball decisions. Most players it's a handful in a game. I'm talking about a whole year - he always made the right decision. I don't have a doubt that both that year and the next year he was the best player in the NBA without a doubt."
Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle spent some time with the Suns in training camp prior to the 2007-08 season. He says he feels the MVP had as much to do with Nash's play as it did D'Antoni's system.
"I was at their training camp last year to get a closer feel for how they implement the offense. The players involved are very important. The way it turned out, I think Mike knew there were more than a handful of players that would fit in with the Knicks. He had (Quentin) Richardson in Phoenix, he knew there was a way to utilize (Zach) Randolph. The key acquisition was (Chris) Duhon, because that position is the centerpiece of what they do, is who handles the ball, who makes the decisions, who makes plays. I wouldn't dismiss Steve Nash's abilities for being one of the reasons it was one of the great offensive schemes over a four-year period, nor would I dismiss impact Mike's impact on Steve's double MVP. Knowing how to utilize him in that system, with those players, it was a marriage that was really made in heaven from a basketball standpoint."
As Carlisle mentioned, Chris Duhon is now the test case for our theory. Duhon was an average player while with the Chicago Bulls, and more than a few analysts questioned his fitness to run a team full time. Those doubts are quickly being assuaged, as Duhon is already having a banner year for the Knicks. He's no Steve Nash, but he's averaging better than 12 points and eight assists per contest, well above his previous career-bests of 8.7 points and 5.0 assists per game as an NBA sophomore in 2005-06. Is Duhon, then, a future MVP?
"I think Chris is a very nice player and he's learning," says D'Antoni. "I'll just let him learn and see how far he can go. I think with Steve Nash you're talking about one of the best point guards ever, so it's hard to really compare the two. Having said that, I think Chris is doing a tremendous job and as the team gets better I think he'll get better and I'm looking forward to having him around."
Statistics can be used to prove a lot of things, and often both sides of any given argument. D'Antoni admitted that stats can be used to say his system made Nash the MVP, but also said you can use stats to prove the opposite . . .and he's right. This is one of those arguments, like whether last season's MVP should have been Chris Paul or Kobe Bryant, that can be argued endlessly.
So what's your take? Steve Nash: MVP or Mike D'Antoni creation? Or maybe both? Post your thoughts below and let the debate begin!
[Edited by - pharzeone on 01-16-2009 12:07 AM]
I don't like to play bad rookies , I like to play good rookies - Mike D'Antoni
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1/16/2009 12:19 AM
