On May 7, the National Basketball Association (NBA) named the Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). He is the first point guard to win the award since Hall-of-Famer Magic Johnson did it some 15 years ago. No one expected Nash to win the award over the Miami Heat’s Shaquille O’Neal. The big controversy this year is due to the fact that the league’s MVP and runner-up both changed teams during the off-season.
When Shaq played for the L.A. Lakers in 2004, they won the Western Conference Championship. This year, the Lakers, with Kobe Bryant, finished 11 games out of the playoffs with a record of 34-48. With Shaq playing for Miami, the Heat were able to win 17 more games than they did in the pervious year without him.
In 2004, the Suns won a total of 29 games without Nash. This year they won a league leading 62 games and are a contending team in the playoffs. Without Nash, his team of 2004 was able to win six more games this year than they did in 2004 with him.
This season O’Neal led the league in shooting percentage (.601) while averaging 22.9 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game. On the other side of the MVP voting, Nash ranked first among point guards in field goal percentage, making half of his shots. He also averaged 15.5 points and a league leading 11.5 assists, and he ranked 6th in the league in 3-point percentage, making 43% of his attempts.
So who actually deserves to be the MVP? The Heat strongly believe Shaq earned the award.
“When you talk about MVP, you have to evaluate not just one end of the floor, but both ends, offense and defense…but hands-down, Shaq is the MVP,” said the Heat guard Damon Jones.
“It’s more like a team award,” says Amare Stoudemire, guard for the Suns. “But Steve is the motor.” The Suns aren’t crediting the award to Steve’s season stats. They feel it was his leadership and the team’s amazing 62 wins.