flipcritic
04-05-2006, 10:24 PM
When it comes to NBA analysis, I dare say Marty Burns of SI does it better than anyone. And it's nice to see him give Tony Parker the nod amongst the frontrunners for the MVP candidates.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20.../mvp/index.html
***
Long live the king
Marty Burns, SI.com
Timing, they say, is everything.
And, as usual, my timing stinks.
I was hoping Suns point guard Steve Nash would go crazy last week, driving and dishing and helping Phoenix short-circuit scoreboards like he has all season. It would have made my choice of Nash for the 2005-06 MVP so much easier.
Instead the floppy-haired Canadian capped off a disappointing 2-3 road trip by getting outplayed by Detroit's Chauncey Billups, one of his main competitors for the award.
As Spurs point guard Tony Parker, another MVP contender, might say: "C'est la vie."
I still plan to write in Nash's name on my official ballot.
No offense to Billups. The Pistons' floor general has had an amazing season. He does many of the same things Nash does -- for a team with a better record. He also has outplayed Nash in both of their head-to-head meetings.
Billups won't be the only one with a beef over my vote. Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Elton Brand, Shawn Marion, Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce and Parker all deserve consideration as well.
But no player in the NBA has been as valuable to his team this season -- while also leading them to title contention -- as Nash. The 6-foot-3 dynamo kept the Suns afloat despite a totally revamped lineup, a change in philosophy and the loss of Amar? Stoudemire. To top it off, Nash is actually having a better year statistically than he did in his MVP season of a year ago.
This MVP stuff is by nature a highly subjective business. The NBA provides no guidance. The ballot merely says to list five players in order. Is the MVP for the best player? The guy most valuable to his team? A combination of both?
I have gone back and forth, like Charles Barkley at a buffet line, on how best to view this thing. Part of me says it should go to the best player, period. After all, there's a trophy for the NBA champion. Shouldn't there be an award for the No. 1 player?
But realistically, there isn't always a clear-cut "best player" (at least not since Michael Jordan retired). At that point, winning, leadership and other intangibles have to become the top criteria. I wouldn't rule out a player simply because of his team's record. But basketball is a team game, and victories are more important than stats.
Iverson and Pierce are terrific, but their teams are mediocre. Brand has carried the Clippers to the playoffs, but he needs to show he can do it in the postseason. Marion has been sensational for Phoenix, but he benefits from all the defensive attention paid to Nash.
Kobe and LeBron have been one-man wrecking crews all season. Kobe's 81-point game against the Raptors was one for the ages. LeBron is trying to become the first player since Jordan to average 31 points, seven boards and six assists in a season. But how do you separate them? Neither has elevated his team to the elite level (though the Cavs are getting close). In Kobe's case, the individual success often seems to come at the expense of teammates.
That leaves five top candidates, all from teams with a legit shot to win the NBA title: Nash, Billups, Wade, Nowitzki and Parker.
Nowitzki is a scoring machine and the clear leader of the Mavs, one of the NBA's top teams all season. Parker has joined Billups in taking his game to another level (has there ever been a better finisher around the basket?) and has been the most consistent player for the Spurs. Wade has been Jordan-like on many nights and carried the Heat when Shaquille O'Neal was injured.
But Nowitzki's rebounding and assists are actually down from a year ago, and the 7-foot German isn't quite as indispensable to his team as Nash is to the Suns. Wade, as great as he has been, has the major advantage of playing with a guy who dominates the other team's defensive strategy every night. Ditto for Parker with Tim Duncan.
Taking all these factors into account, it comes down to Nash versus Billups.
Billups is the highly efficient QB of the league's best team. He plays both ends. He has a knack for making clutch shots. He leads the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.06).
But Nash has better numbers than Billups in assists (10.5 to 8.8), scoring (19.4 to 19.0) and rebounding (4.2 to 3.2). While some of Nash's stats are a result of the Suns' faster pace, there is no doubt he is the better shooter. Nash outshoots Billups from the floor by a wide margin (.515 to .414) and from the foul line (.926 to .902) while matching him from three-point range (.435).
Nash also is the focus of the other team's defensive game plan most every night. The first thing opposing teams talk about when they play the Suns is how they are going to defend Nash, particularly on the pick-and-roll. Think back to last year's Western Conference semifinals, when the Mavs decided to stay on Phoenix's shooters and Nash torched them for 48 points.
While opponents certainly target Billups in their preparations, they can't do it with the same impunity. The Pistons are too balanced with the likes of Rip Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince. Hamilton is probably the guy most opposing coaches look to slow down first when they're drawing up their defensive schemes on the Pistons.
The bottom line is you could take Billups off the Pistons and they would still be a top team. Maybe not a championship team, but still a top team. If you took Nash off the Suns, they would be in big trouble.
Most important, Nash showed the leadership necessary to keep the Suns on top in a season filled with potential pitfalls.
It's easy to forget that when Stoudemire went down before the season, many pundits predicted the Suns wouldn't make the playoffs. They had changed a lot of their team before the season, subbing out Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson for Kurt Thomas and Raja Bell. With all the new faces, and no Stoudemire, it appeared Phoenix would have a hard time staying at .500.
Nash refused to let it happen. He embraced coach Mike D'Antoni's switch to a more defensive approach. He kept the team focused and confident. He didn't just show up to play when the lights went on, either. He put in the extra hours in the weight room and on the practice court. He helped make sure Bell and Thomas and Boris Diaw and James Jones made a smooth transition to their new team.
It would have been easy for Nash, coming off an MVP season, to exhale a little. Instead he came out as if to prove last year was no fluke. That's what a true superstar does.
The good news for Billups is that he still might win the award. The media love a good story, and his rise from journeyman castoff to key player for the league's top team is a good one. Plus, Nash won last year, and the award seldom goes to the same player two straight years.
Timing, they say, is everything.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20.../mvp/index.html
***
Long live the king
Marty Burns, SI.com
Timing, they say, is everything.
And, as usual, my timing stinks.
I was hoping Suns point guard Steve Nash would go crazy last week, driving and dishing and helping Phoenix short-circuit scoreboards like he has all season. It would have made my choice of Nash for the 2005-06 MVP so much easier.
Instead the floppy-haired Canadian capped off a disappointing 2-3 road trip by getting outplayed by Detroit's Chauncey Billups, one of his main competitors for the award.
As Spurs point guard Tony Parker, another MVP contender, might say: "C'est la vie."
I still plan to write in Nash's name on my official ballot.
No offense to Billups. The Pistons' floor general has had an amazing season. He does many of the same things Nash does -- for a team with a better record. He also has outplayed Nash in both of their head-to-head meetings.
Billups won't be the only one with a beef over my vote. Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Elton Brand, Shawn Marion, Allen Iverson, Paul Pierce and Parker all deserve consideration as well.
But no player in the NBA has been as valuable to his team this season -- while also leading them to title contention -- as Nash. The 6-foot-3 dynamo kept the Suns afloat despite a totally revamped lineup, a change in philosophy and the loss of Amar? Stoudemire. To top it off, Nash is actually having a better year statistically than he did in his MVP season of a year ago.
This MVP stuff is by nature a highly subjective business. The NBA provides no guidance. The ballot merely says to list five players in order. Is the MVP for the best player? The guy most valuable to his team? A combination of both?
I have gone back and forth, like Charles Barkley at a buffet line, on how best to view this thing. Part of me says it should go to the best player, period. After all, there's a trophy for the NBA champion. Shouldn't there be an award for the No. 1 player?
But realistically, there isn't always a clear-cut "best player" (at least not since Michael Jordan retired). At that point, winning, leadership and other intangibles have to become the top criteria. I wouldn't rule out a player simply because of his team's record. But basketball is a team game, and victories are more important than stats.
Iverson and Pierce are terrific, but their teams are mediocre. Brand has carried the Clippers to the playoffs, but he needs to show he can do it in the postseason. Marion has been sensational for Phoenix, but he benefits from all the defensive attention paid to Nash.
Kobe and LeBron have been one-man wrecking crews all season. Kobe's 81-point game against the Raptors was one for the ages. LeBron is trying to become the first player since Jordan to average 31 points, seven boards and six assists in a season. But how do you separate them? Neither has elevated his team to the elite level (though the Cavs are getting close). In Kobe's case, the individual success often seems to come at the expense of teammates.
That leaves five top candidates, all from teams with a legit shot to win the NBA title: Nash, Billups, Wade, Nowitzki and Parker.
Nowitzki is a scoring machine and the clear leader of the Mavs, one of the NBA's top teams all season. Parker has joined Billups in taking his game to another level (has there ever been a better finisher around the basket?) and has been the most consistent player for the Spurs. Wade has been Jordan-like on many nights and carried the Heat when Shaquille O'Neal was injured.
But Nowitzki's rebounding and assists are actually down from a year ago, and the 7-foot German isn't quite as indispensable to his team as Nash is to the Suns. Wade, as great as he has been, has the major advantage of playing with a guy who dominates the other team's defensive strategy every night. Ditto for Parker with Tim Duncan.
Taking all these factors into account, it comes down to Nash versus Billups.
Billups is the highly efficient QB of the league's best team. He plays both ends. He has a knack for making clutch shots. He leads the NBA in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.06).
But Nash has better numbers than Billups in assists (10.5 to 8.8), scoring (19.4 to 19.0) and rebounding (4.2 to 3.2). While some of Nash's stats are a result of the Suns' faster pace, there is no doubt he is the better shooter. Nash outshoots Billups from the floor by a wide margin (.515 to .414) and from the foul line (.926 to .902) while matching him from three-point range (.435).
Nash also is the focus of the other team's defensive game plan most every night. The first thing opposing teams talk about when they play the Suns is how they are going to defend Nash, particularly on the pick-and-roll. Think back to last year's Western Conference semifinals, when the Mavs decided to stay on Phoenix's shooters and Nash torched them for 48 points.
While opponents certainly target Billups in their preparations, they can't do it with the same impunity. The Pistons are too balanced with the likes of Rip Hamilton, Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince. Hamilton is probably the guy most opposing coaches look to slow down first when they're drawing up their defensive schemes on the Pistons.
The bottom line is you could take Billups off the Pistons and they would still be a top team. Maybe not a championship team, but still a top team. If you took Nash off the Suns, they would be in big trouble.
Most important, Nash showed the leadership necessary to keep the Suns on top in a season filled with potential pitfalls.
It's easy to forget that when Stoudemire went down before the season, many pundits predicted the Suns wouldn't make the playoffs. They had changed a lot of their team before the season, subbing out Joe Johnson and Quentin Richardson for Kurt Thomas and Raja Bell. With all the new faces, and no Stoudemire, it appeared Phoenix would have a hard time staying at .500.
Nash refused to let it happen. He embraced coach Mike D'Antoni's switch to a more defensive approach. He kept the team focused and confident. He didn't just show up to play when the lights went on, either. He put in the extra hours in the weight room and on the practice court. He helped make sure Bell and Thomas and Boris Diaw and James Jones made a smooth transition to their new team.
It would have been easy for Nash, coming off an MVP season, to exhale a little. Instead he came out as if to prove last year was no fluke. That's what a true superstar does.
The good news for Billups is that he still might win the award. The media love a good story, and his rise from journeyman castoff to key player for the league's top team is a good one. Plus, Nash won last year, and the award seldom goes to the same player two straight years.
Timing, they say, is everything.