I could make this easy on myself and just go with the homer pick and say Kevin Garnett is. His stats have been great and he is truly a leader on the Timberwolves. The only thing that could make backing him up hard is that his team isn't winning. The Timberwolves are 3 games below .500 and in 9th place in the West. I could also choose either Nash or Dirk, who both have put up great stats, but what doesn't make them as special is the fact that they have teammates that put up great numbers too. I almost went with Nash but he has teammates out the wazoo helping him. 5 other guys on the Sun average double figures. Then you head over to the East and nobody really stands out. Billups continues to play good but his numbers aren't as great. Arenas is another guy I almost went with but I decided that there was someone more important to his team. Without him, the team flops. With all this in mind, I?m going to go with Houston Rockets guard Tracy McGrady. I know that his numbers are down from previous years that he didn't get the award but you can't always look at just the big numbers. Since Yao went down, McGrady has really been the Rockets only real source of production. He averages for the year, 24.0 ppg, 5.4 rpg, and 6.3 apg. Since he came back from injury, which was the game after Yao got hurt, he has averaged 28.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg, and 6.2 apg. His assists and rebounds stayed the same, but his points went up 4.4 a game. This all happened when he has played through injuries. Even with Yao in the line-up, and McGrady out, the Rockets went 2-5 and overall when McGrady doesn't play, his team is 2-6. What really amazes me though it the fact that the Rockets are 5th in the West. You may say oh it's just 5th, but looks at the standings closely. This team is half a game behind Utah for the 4th spot, and a game and a half behind the Spurs for the 3rd spot. May I do remind you that the Rockets play in the West. With a record like they have, they would be in first place in the East and probably have an even better record, since the schedules would be different. People were really only talking about Yao having the best season of his career, but McGrady has been overshadowed and is having a very good season, and putting his team in prime playoffs contention. The next closest person to McGrady, points per game wise, on the Rockets, is Rafer Alston with 13.5 ppg. While I mention Alston?s name, I?d also like to point out that Alston is the starting point guard for the team, but McGrady has more apg then him. If you look at all the other ?top candidates,? most of them have help. Of those like Kevin Garnett, McGrady has his team at the best record. Kobe is close, record wise, but even he has some help from other players. The Injury to Yao was the best thing to happen for McGrady because his stats have been up there with the best. I?m sure he would like Yao there for even more wins, but he has his team rolling on all four wheels.
Steve Nash. Knowing that Steve Nash has won it for the last 2 years automatically makes people think about him when it comes to the most valuable player. If he wins this year he'll be joining bird, chamberlain and russell I believe. The impact that Steve Nash has made on his team has been very significant. Take a look at Phoenix's record the year before having Steve Nash: 29-53 (amare and marion were on the team too). Phoenix's game is built around speed. Steve Nash is the one who sets this tempo when he runs up and down the court and decides to pass or shoot. Whenever the Suns have a fastbreak, it usually results in a bucket one way or another. He is also averaging career numbers at 19.3 ppg and 11.8 apg. How do you vote against the 2 time mvp after hes having his best season? The Suns have a better record this year at this point 39-12 as compared to last year at 34-17. Last but not least, chicks dig his haircut.Steve Nash.
Sorry, I've been sick the past couple of days. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>The impact that Steve Nash has made on his team has been very significant. Take a look at Phoenix's record the year before having Steve Nash: 29-53 (amare and marion were on the team too).</div>Marion was putting up similar numbers in the 2003-04 season that he put up after having Nash on his team. He put up just .4 more points up with Nash on his team. Amare was a bit different though back in the 2004 season. He put up 6 more points having Nash. Now fast-forward to this years stats and you will see a decrease in stats. Amare is putting up the same as before Nash got to Phoenix and Marion is putting up 1.4 points less than when Nash first got there.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Phoenix's game is built around speed. Steve Nash is the one who sets this tempo when he runs up and down the court and decides to pass or shoot. Whenever the Suns have a fastbreak, it usually results in a bucket one way or another. He is also averaging career numbers at 19.3 ppg and 11.8 apg. How do you vote against the 2 time mvp after hes having his best season? The Suns have a better record this year at this point 39-12 as compared to last year at 34-17. Last but not least, chicks dig his haircut.</div>Nash might have been putting up career numbers but lets not forget Nash isn't the only one who other teams have to defend. Nash has Amare, Marion, Barbosa, Bell and let's not forget Diaw, all helping him by averaging double figures in scoring. If you shut down Nash on any given day, the Suns can still win. If T-Mac gets shut down, the Rockets have pretty much no shot at winning that game, especially when Yao is out. If you want to talk about record, I'll throw some numbers at you. The Rockets were 22-30 last year up to this point. McGrady missed 13 of those games. Take a guess at how many of those games were loses. If you guess 13 you were right. The Rockets lost 13 of the 13 games that McGrady was injured. This year they are 33-18 and like I said above, McGrady missed 8 games this year. His team went 2-6, 7 of those games, Yao was playing in and the team went 2-5. This was with Yao having all the MVP hype and him putting up his good numbers. Looking at those numbers, McGrady is far more valuable to the Rockets than Nash is to the Suns. Oh and if so many chicks digged his haircut, how come he isn't starting in the all-star game? Fans vote for who is in the all-star game and he wasn't starting before he got injured. This guy named McGrady was along side a guy named Kobe. No Nash to be found besides behind McGrady.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Kevman21 @ Feb 14 2007, 06:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Sorry, I've been sick the past couple of days. Marion was putting up similar numbers in the 2003-04 season that he put up after having Nash on his team. He put up just .4 more points up with Nash on his team. Amare was a bit different though back in the 2004 season. He put up 6 more points having Nash. Now fast-forward to this years stats and you will see a decrease in stats. Amare is putting up the same as before Nash got to Phoenix and Marion is putting up 1.4 points less than when Nash first got there.</div>The point I was trying to make did not involve the players' stats. It involves a huge swing of their NBA record. They went from one of the worst teams in the NBA to one of the best teams in the NBA with the addition of Nash.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Nash might have been putting up career numbers but lets not forget Nash isn't the only one who other teams have to defend. Nash has Amare, Marion, Barbosa, Bell and let's not forget Diaw, all helping him by averaging double figures in scoring. If you shut down Nash on any given day, the Suns can still win. If T-Mac gets shut down, the Rockets have pretty much no shot at winning that game, especially when Yao is out. If you want to talk about record, I'll throw some numbers at you. The Rockets were 22-30 last year up to this point. McGrady missed 13 of those games. Take a guess at how many of those games were loses. If you guess 13 you were right. The Rockets lost 13 of the 13 games that McGrady was injured. This year they are 33-18 and like I said above, McGrady missed 8 games this year. His team went 2-6, 7 of those games, Yao was playing in and the team went 2-5. This was with Yao having all the MVP hype and him putting up his good numbers. Looking at those numbers, McGrady is far more valuable to the Rockets than Nash is to the Suns.</div>The reason Nash doesn't get guarded as tough as players like Kevin Garnett is because Nash makes every player around him better and is a multi-dimensional player. I do not believe that KG makes as big of an impact with his teammates as Steve Nash does. They guard kevin garnett because they know hes not gonna make a behind the back pass to somebody open while thats usually the case with Nash. Saying the suns would win isnt necessarily true becuase in the month of february, nash has missed the last 3 games and what is their record for those 3 games? 0-3. Also, Why are you talking about McGrady when you chose KG in your initial response. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Oh and if so many chicks digged his haircut, how come he isn't starting in the all-star game?</div>Oh, maybe because chicks dont usually vote!
