Why Steve Nash deserved both MVPs
January 5, 2004,
After a disappointing follow up to a playoff season, the Phoenix Suns shipped star point guard Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway to Gotham City in exchange for Antonio McDyess and former Heisman winner Charlie Ward.
Coming off a 44-win season where the Suns took eventually champion San Antonio to six games, expectations where high in the desert.
Alongside two-time all star Stephon Marbury, stood fellow all star Shawn Marion, future all star Joe Johnson and reigning rookie of the year Amare Stoudamire.
Things went south quickly and Phoenix shipped Marbury as the Suns stumbled to a 29-win season.
While the 2004 NBA free agency saw Shaquille O’neal leave the Lakers for South Beach, he was not the only MVP jumping ship that offseason.
Mavericks point guard Steve Nash was also a two-time all star at the time but he did not make the All Star Game in 2004 and had turned 30 that season.
Per ESPN “Cuban was reluctant to give Nash more than a 4-year guaranteed contract because of fears the 30-year-old couldn’t handle playing more than 32 minutes per game,” but Nash was never athletic to begin with.
Having been drafted by Phoenix in the legendary 1996 draft, Nash spent two years backing up stars Jason Kidd and Kevin Johnson before getting a shot in Dallas.
Fast forward to July 1, 2004 and a new era of Suns basketball was coming.
With Nash running the show, his teammates improved from raw and talented, to championship aspirations overnight.
Stoudamire saw his scoring leap from 20 to 26 points a game, good enough for All-NBA second team alongside Kevin Garnett and Lebron James.
Marion earned third team honors while playing the role of Phoenix’s swiss army knife after averaging 19 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals and 1.5 blocks.
23-year old Joe Johnson was also showing glimpses of stardom after averaging 17 points on 45% three point shooting despite being Phoenix’s fourth option.
Add in the league hand check rules that went into effect during the 2004–2005 season and Nash had everything he needed.
During the 04–05 season, Phoenix averaged 110 points a game, over six points higher than second place Sacramento (103.7).
The gap between Phoenix and Sacramento was so wide that the Kings were actually closer to 15th ranked Milwaukee (97.2) that season.
When Steve Nash was awarded his first MVP, it was met with a decent amount of controversy as many in the NBA community believe Shaq was more deserving.
Although Nash led Phoenix to 62 wins and the top seed in the tough West, his 15 points and 11 assists seemed mediocre for an MVP.
Shaq’s 22.9 ppg and 10.4 rpg helped the Heat improve by 16 games but Nash helped engineer a 33-win swing in Phoenix’s favor.
In my opinion, had the NBA had an offensive player of the year award alongside the MVP, Nash’ would get less flack for his hardware.
Sure, Shaq was a better player, but I still believe Nash had a bigger impact on his team’s season.
Though the Heat would win a title a year later, they were still a solid Eastern Conference team before Shaq’s arrival.
Shaq definitely sped up Dwyane Wade’s ascension to superstardom, but Wade would have likely been an all star that season regardless of if Shaq played in Miami.
The Diesel may have averaged 7 more points than Nash, but the advanced numbers only gave him a slight edge.
Their win shares and value over replacement were practically equal with Shaq winning 11 to 10.9 over Nash in WS and 4.6 to 4.4 in VORP.
Nash’s raw numbers might not show that of a superstar point guard but his stats did not fully show his impact.
Though the Golden State Warriors get credit for inventing the three-point shot, Phoenix was slowly changing the game a decade prior.
Phoenix’s offense was a heavy dosage of high screen and rolls to Stoudamire and Marion mixed with a three-point barrage from Joe Johnson, Quentin Richardson, Jim Jackson and Nash.
That year, Phoenix registered a 114.5 offensive rating despite playing only 96 possessions per 48 minutes.
To compare to 2020, only the Dallas Mavericks had a higher offensive rating (116.7) though with three more possessions per 48 minutes.
Smallball was still considered a fad at the time and that belief increased when Phoenix fell to San Antonio.
Injuries to Joe Johnson and Shawn Marion’s ineffectiveness (8 ppg, 39%, 14% from three) doomed an already top-heavy Suns squad.
Despite Nash (23 apg and 10 apg) and Stoudamire’s (37 ppg and 10 rpg) best efforts, the Duncan-Parker-Ginobili troika averaged over 20 ppg each en route to their second title together.
While this MVP was controversial enough, what was in store next year caused a bigger commotion.
2006
During the 2005 offseason, Suns a̵n̵t̵a̵g̵o̵n̵i̵s̵t̵ owner Robert Sarver decided not to match Joe Johnson’s offer sheet from Atlanta from the urging of Johnson himself. Thankfully, Sarver saved face by using that money on Boris Diaw(sure) and Marcus Banks (why) in an attempt to win the title at a bargain.
To make matter worse, Amare Stoudamire would require microsurgery during the offseason and missed 79 games and the entire postseason.
To make matters even worse, Quentin Richardson got traded to the Knicks, meaning no more Quentin-Brandy power couple in Maricopa.
Tasked with replacing 58 points a game, Nash responded by quarterbacking the NBA’s top offense again (108 ppg) and top three-point shooting team (39%).
Phoenix’s offense potency had 2nd place Seattle (102.6 ppg) closer to 19th ranked Detroit (96.8) than the top spot.
Vegas set the Suns expectations at 43.5 wins and Phoenix shattered expectations again with 54 wins and the second seed in the West.
Nash improved his averages to 19 and 10 on his way to his second MVP but not without controversy of course.
Retroactively, folks have claimed Kobe (RIP) was robbed in 2006 despite finishing 4th in the voting.
I am not arguing that Nash is better than Kobe but I definitely think he had a more positive impact on his team.
Yes Kobe did not have the best supporting cast in 2006 but Nash did not have a team of world beaters either.
Tasked with being the Suns’ primary shot-creator AND playmaker, teams still could not contain Nash and company.
Nash gets crap for working in D’Antoni’s system, but how many other point guards has D’Antoni coached?
Why haven’t other teams implemented more of D’antoni’s tactics if what Nash did was so simple and replaceable?
Often, it seems as if we punish guys for lack of counting numbers while criticizing players for playing for counting numbers.
Nash may not have the scoring numbers of a Trae Young or Steph Curry but a lot of elements from their game came from Nash.
Watch old Suns game and you will find Nash pulling up for threes off the break and finishing in the lane with scoop shots just like Curry.
Had Nash played today, his assists may have dipped to around 8–9 but he was definitely capable of averaging 21–23 points a game on a winning team.
Critics may scoff at Nash’s legacy and impact but a lot of critics favorite players have less MVP’s than Nash.