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Why can't it be Eminem? That's racist!!!
Well was it? I think its ludicris.
Why can't it be Eminem? That's racist!!!
They can't be serious.
no!
well id say no
usually the MVP is black
ESPN is so lame
its like when they kept asking lebrons rookie year if he could live up to all the hype...
the hype that they were 98% responsible for
OMG. Yeah, that's why Shaq came in second....
Look, the MVP award is stupid. Not one person can be judged the MVP of the whole league. Maybe one team...
I can guess that the rationale went like this: Last year, PHX sucked. This year, they're number one. Last year Heat sucked. This year, they're number two. Edge: Nash.
Nash gets injured, PHX goes back to sucking.
Shaq gets injured, Wade continues to dominate.
Edge: Nash.
I personally think Wade is more of the MVP, but Shaq and Wade split votes (I guess), while Amare ain't crap without Nash. So, Nash snuck in and got it.
A bigger question more than Racism, is:
"Why is the NBA against Centers and Power Forwards?"
espn is stupid
racism made kobe rape that chick
Good column here...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...e=jones/050509
Another perspective:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...bayless/050509
Court Order: Shaq is your MVP
By Skip Bayless
The problem with this opinion – or fact – is that it casts me as a Nash-bashing villain in many wide eyes.
So before we proceed another dribble, let me be very clear about this: Steve Nash had a wonderful season. In fact, he got more out of his natural ability than any other NBA player got out of his. I get a great kick out of watching Nash and his Phoenix Suns run and stun. Nash was the NBA's Catalyst of the Year.
But the league's Most Valuable Player?
That's more laughable than Shaquille O'Neal's many hilarious one-liners.
Shaq was the MVP, as much for his mature leadership as his numbers (22.9 points, 10.4 rebounds, 2.3 blocks). Shaq Diesel should have blown Steve's little Nash Rambler off the voting road. Yet Nash somehow prevailed by the fourth-closest margin in league history – 1,066 points to 1,032, including 68-58 in first-place votes.
What were those 71 voters thinking? (Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan and Amare Stoudemire each got a first-place vote – with two for AI).
Shaq is basketball's most dominant player – and has been since Michael Jordan left Chicago in 1998. Yet in 13 seasons, Shaq has won only one MVP, in 2000.
That's funny-sad.
Shaq was traded by a team – Kobe Bryant's Lakers – that fell from Western Conference champion and prohibitive Finals favorite to 34-48 and 11 games out of a playoff spot. Shaq carried the Miami Heat from 42-40 last season to the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Nash left Dallas for Phoenix, which became only the second team to go from a 50-loss season to a 60-plus-win season, at 62-20. Yet those who have been paying close attention know Dallas is a little better without Nash. Dallas no longer relies on a two-man offense (Nash and Dirk Nowitzki). And Dallas' perimeter defense is much quicker and stronger and mentally tougher without Nash.
Ask the Houston Rockets.
Case closed.
At 7 foot 1 and 325 or so in-shape pounds, Shaq changes games on offense and defense.
Listed at 6-3, with the sinewy frame of a marathon runner, Nash is merely the quarterback of a flying circus of an offense. Nash can be a liability on defense. A point guard who can't cover scoring point guards should not be the MVP.
In 2003, San Antonio's Tony Parker went for 19 on Nash – in a quarter. This season, as the Spurs were blowing out the Suns in San Antonio, Parker was taking such advantage of Nash that Spurs broadcaster (and former Spurs star) Sean Elliott said: "This is embarrassing."
So, occasionally, is Shaq's free-throw shooting. Yet he does seem to make the most important ones.
Nash deserves to be first team All-NBA. Shaq deserved his second MVP.
Yet Nash's coach, Mike D'Antoni, deserves to be NBA coach of the year. D'Antoni risked the ridicule of rival coaches and GMs by basically saying from the start of the season: "My team is best when we go 'small' with Amare Stoudemire as our 'center' and Shawn Marion as our 'power forward' and we let Steve run our break and we shoot 3s and concentrate on outscoring our opponents."
Nash averaged only 15.5 points. Yet he led the league with 11.5 assists – and his Suns led the league with 110 points a game and led in 3-point shooting.
Then again, how many of Nash's assists came off fast-break opportunities – off alley-oop dunks or spot-up three-on-one 3s? Half?
Nash was the NBA equivalent of the Heisman Trophy winner who puts up sensational numbers in a run-and-shoot offense. As terrific as Nash was, he was partly a product of a Suns solar system around which sharpshooting athletes revolve.
Nash isn't even the best player on his team. If, hypothetically, you gave other teams the chance to take Nash or Stoudemire just for next season, most GMs surely would take Stoudemire. He's a 6-10, shot-blocking, court-running force.
But given a choice between Stoudemire and Shaq for next season, all GMs would take Shaq.
Yes, Shaq's team was a little better when he was hurt than Nash's was when he was out. But do not underestimate the confidence Shaq already had inspired in his teammates. Ever since the Lakers dumped – sorry, traded – Shaq for the insulting price of Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant, this man has been on a mission to create a championship team in Miami.
He has done so on and off the court.
The double-teams he demands have created game-to-game star-making opportunities for spare parts named Damon Jones and Udonis Haslem. And no way Dwyane Wade, as great as he will be, would already be considered a superstar without Shaq showing him the way.
Also laughable has been the notion that Wade has become Miami's most valuable player. Please. The reason this team played so well without Shaq is that he has taught all these guys how to win. Into their locker room and lives walked a giant of a man who had finally dedicated himself to getting into the best shape of his life – a leader who now takes winning far more seriously than he takes himself.
Shaquille O'Neal is now the NBA's funniest and wisest interview. His "Godfather" analogy was the quote of the year. He compared Kobe to Sonny Corleone: "Too dumb to be in control, but he will always do whatever it takes to be in control." Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway to Fredo: "He thinks he's smart, but he's really not." And Wade to Michael: "A very mature, humble guy."
Deep down, every Miami player now thinks: We have Shaq and you don't.
So how did Nash win MVP?
In his Sunday column, Miami Herald columnist Dan LeBa raised the race question: Did voters favor Nash – even subliminally – because he's white? LeBa drew no conclusion.
Yet so many of the voters are not white that I don't buy racial bias. Sure, the league office enjoys having a white star win MVP because a majority of the ticket buyers are white. But that isn't why he won.
Sure, Nash is a good guy and a locker-room favorite of reporters of all colors. And yes, his soccer-style header pass to Stoudemire in the NBA dunk contest won lots of hearts. But it shouldn't have won him MVP.
No, the only bias I suspect is Giant Bias. Deep down, voters consider Shaq such a freakishly gifted dancing bear of a man – so big, so good – that he could win MVP every season. After all, he already has won three rings and three Finals MVPs.
So when a delightful little overachiever overachieved to the max, some voters thought, "Hey, why not someone new and different?"
When Shaq put it on cruise control late in the season, and Nash's Suns shifted into "Star Wars"-style hyperspace, 68 voters had their excuse.
Shaq reacted beautifully. Asked whether he's distraught, he went into his mock-"Desperate Housewives" breakdown. Then he graciously congratulated Nash.
But here's the punch line: As if the Big Fella needed any more motivation, 71 voters just gave it to him.
The funny thing about that article is on page 1 they have Speedy Claxton being dominated by Jason Kidd, then on page 2 they have Speedy Claxton being dominated by Steve Nash.
It was racism for Shaq not getting it? That is lame! Lamest excuse i've ever heard used.
Perhaps not Racism, but to me its utter stupidity.
I hardly agree with espn guys but Greg Anthony said something the other day that totally rang true:
This guy is easily the most dominant player in the game ever. Ever. He's the most dominant player in the game, yet he only has 1 mvp trophy. That, to me, makes no sense.
And it doesn't to me either.
It could have gone either way and been justified. This reminds me a lot of the Kidd/Duncan debate in 2002, only with a different result.
While there's no formula for the MVP, I've always thought it was meant for the most outstanding player of the season. Not the best overall player, not the player with the best stats, and not the player whose team made the biggest improvement. I've also never bought the "team was better when he was injured" argument, because missed games should count AGAINST a player, not for.
Anyway, that's why I don't agree with columns like the one Skip Bayless wrote, because he's bringing up 2003 moments and the success of former teams compared to their success while said player was on their team. Neither of which has anything to do with the 2005 season. You can't argue that Dallas is better simply because they got rid of Nash, because they gained so many other players that the entire look of the team has changed. You can't argue based on the Lakers' slide because they had a completely different team (and coach) this year as well.
The Phoenix Suns were the biggest story in the NBA during the regular season and Steve Nash was the player that made everything work. The same could be said about Shaq, but I think it came down to Nash being the bigger story this season. Another factor may have been the Heat being an Eastern Conference team, combined with their ho-hum record against Western Conference opponents.
ESPN should be fined.
greg anthony is guilty of double-speak. once they had a topic on fastbreak why tim duncan would NOT win the MVP this season, and anthony said it was because of 2 words: manu ginobili. so, if manu hinders duncans chances, why doesnt the same ring true for dwayne wade and shaq? no one complained about shaq not winning the mvp when he was with the lakers because kobe was there, and now he is basically with the eastern conference's version of the lakers. a team that in the eastern conference still couldnt manage a better record than the suns out west. both are deserving, but nash is the rightful winner.
This was on Sportscenter? When?
I am watching the 5PM edition now
get over the color of skin idiots
keep watching it then.. I saw it on a promo for the 5 o'clock edition
get a grip
the fact of the matter is, steve nash is good. real good. But he has 2 other all stars with him....
The guys who says dwyane wade is an all star and is the real heat mvp are guilty of kobe-loving, because you guys are the same people who maintained kobe was the real clutch laker and the real reason the lakers were dominant.
Steve nash has guys on his team that are proven to be able to put up mad numbers without him. He just made them alot better. The heat with Dwyane wade made it to the 2nd round last year, and its just as arguable a fact that Lamar Odom was the biggest reason instead of wade (not counting his game winner that was series 1 game 1 i believe)
Shaq is just going to use this to make him roll over that entire minor-league eastern conference now.
The MVP award is crap virtually every year. Shaq's going to get it next year, regardless of whether he deserves it.
shaq could easily be 70 pounds heavier next year especially if he gets his extension and worthless
And as long as he plays more than 72 games and his numbers don't drop he'll win MVP.
EDIT: Unless the media adopts another sweetheart next year like LeBron.
SC get over yourselves, and stop trying to create a story
Thanks!
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