Bloggystyle -- The Greatest

Now that the NBA season has wrapped up and the playoffs start tomorrow, it's finally time to divulge my expert opinion on what we just saw and what we will see, starting with the divisive MVP debate.

When he's not talking about the goddam Red Sox, Bill Simmons is ESPN's best sports columnist. Only because he's humorous: I rarely agree with him on anything sports related.

Take his NBA MVP argument for example. He put the MVP race in this order: Shaq, AI, Dirk, Wade/LeBron tied, and then Nash.

Here are his arguments, in concise format. Shaq is the MVP because the Lakers won 57 games last year and about 20 less this year. The Heat won 42 games last year and around 60 this year.

AI is 2nd because he's small, plays hard and averaged 30/8. Simmons says the Sixers are a terrible team with no talent (Iguodala anyone?). I would have sworn Jerry Stackhouse did nearly the same thing for a few Pistons teams 5 years ago. People criticized "Brickhouse" for those performances. But since AI bumped his shooting % up to a whopping 42%, he's a changed man.

Dirk is 3rd. Can't argue with that, except he should be ahead of AI.

Wade/LeBron tied for 4th. LeBron just finished up an incredible season, no question. His team also nosedived right out of the playoffs. Meanwhile, Simmons puts Wade up here, and there's no question Wade turned into a Top 10 player overnight. So why does Shaq get the credit for the Heat's record?

Finally, Nash ends up at 6th, because he's not a franchise player and he's a defensive liability. Simmons also puts him here because he would be picked last among the Top 6.

Fitz mirrored much of Simmons's argument (check out his incredibly long tirade in the comments).

The MVP results will go as follows. Nash, LeBron/Dirk tied or very close, then Shaq.

Now that people have said why Steve Nash isn't the MVP, here are the reasons why he is MVP.

#1 - Nash led the Suns to the best record in the NBA at 62-20. Simmons argues the case for Shaq by pointing to the Heat's record and the Lakers' record. The Suns added Nash, Q and 33 wins. I'm as big a fan of Q as the next guy far removed from Phoenix (he helped me win my fantasy league this year), but his 15/6 didn't equal those 33 wins.

Fitz uses Amare's injury as the reason the Suns did so poorly last year. Amare did play just 55 games last year. At best they went 29-26 with him, which did not happen.

If we're going to play the injury card, why credit the Lakers record to Shaq when Kobe and Odom both missed over 15 games?

#2 - When Nash didn't play, the Suns were atrocious. Want to know why the Suns won 29 games the year before? Leandro Barbosa started at point for about 50 games. The Suns lost 20% of their games this season in the week Nash couldn't go.

The Suns of 03-04 scored 94 points per game. This year they averaged 110 per game. With Nash unable to go, the Suns averaged 86 a game.

#3 - Every argument against Nash is specious.

First, Fitz and Simmons call him a defensive liability. The entire team is a defensive liability by design. If the team you throw out there scores 110 points per game, defense doesn't matter.

Simmons says the other players would get picked before Nash. Since when did the MVP become the Best Player in the League Award? And given Shaq's current gimpy status, and the fact that he missed 10 games this season, would you start a pickup team with him or his own teammate?

Fitz makes the counterargument that Dallas improved without Nash this season. Actually, what happened was Dirk upped his numbers and defense considerably, and the Mavs added Terry and Dampier, a considerable improvement despite his disappointing numbers, to the lineup.

What did Nash accomplish this year? He led last year's lottery team to a league best 62 wins. Under his direction, the Suns re-revolutionized the way NBA basketball is going to be played over the next few years, away from the mid 90s Heat/Knicks brand of basketball.


An MVP, regardless of that mop top.