CHRIS BROUSSARD
Why Nash is the MVP
posted: Wednesday, February 8, 2006
I know it's hard brothas. After all, this is our sport. It's one of the few areas of society that we dominate. Hip-hop, football, basketball and boxing (though the Hispanics are coming on strong). They're ours, and we ain't trying to give them up.
I feel your pain. I hated Larry Bird back in the day, too. It hurt deep in my gut when he won titles and MVP awards. He was a threat to our dominance, so he was the enemy.
"White men control everything else in America,'' was the unspoken black battle cry. "Let us have hoop."
But y'all have to look past that. You have to put your racial pride aside, ignore the sociological implications of this, and be honest:
Steve Nash is the MVP.
I'm hearing Kobe, I'm hearing Chauncey, I'm hearing
Elton Brand,
LeBron and
Dirk Nowitzki (I know, I know, he's white too). But it's really a no-brainer. It's really not even close.
Nash deserves it again. I know this is a phrase usually reserved for brothas, but "that boy is bad.''
I firmly believe you could put Nash on any team in the league and he would turn them into a playoff contender. Not to slight
Shawn Marion, but the way Nash has kept Phoenix not only afloat but elite, without
Amare Stoudemire, is downright amazing.
Two more years like this and Nash will be a Hall of Famer. Some might even argue that he is already.
In winning last year's MVP, he became only the third "small'' point guard to win the award, joining Bob Cousy ('57) and
Allen Iverson ('01).
Isiah, Stockton, Tiny Archibald, Walt Frazier, Lenny Wilkens,
Jason Kidd and
Gary Payton have a combined zero MVP awards, and here Nash is working on his second.
Only two other point guards in league history -- Magic and Oscar -- have been named MVP.
A week or so ago, I thought Kobe was beginning to eclipse Nash. His 81 was obviously magnificent, and when he led the Lakers to a 9-4 record by averaging 43.4 points in January, he had to garner serious consideration.
But as with all players, Kobe's candidacy comes down to wins and losses, at least in my opinion. If the Lakers, who had lost five of six before beating Houston on Wednesday night, don't win at a much better than .500 clip, Kobe can't be MVP, certainly not with Nash pushing Phoenix to victory in 65 percent of its games.
If Kobe goes on another otherworldly tear and it leads to Laker wins, Nash has real competition. But otherwise, brothas need to give the white guy his props.
And his award.
