King Kaufman's Sports Daily
Steve Nash the MVP again? You kidding? No? Good. Plus: Tough new rule for Mavericks fans.
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April 27, 2006 | The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday that Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns would win his second straight Most Valuable Player award, citing a league source familiar with the vote.
The league declined comment. The MVP is announced in early May. Nash declared himself stunned at the report in Thursday's Republic, saying he thinks his pal and former teammate Dirk Nowitzki of Dallas should win it.
Last year I had a little problem with Nash winning it, since I didn't think he was even close to being the most valuable player on his own team. I thought, and still think, that Amare Stoudemire was the Suns' MVP in 2004-'05. I thought there might have been a subtle racial aspect to Nash, the white candidate, winning it.
This time around, I got no beef.
I agree with Nash that Nowitzki would be a great candidate. He was the league leader in John Hollinger's stat player efficiency rating, or PER, just edging LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. Nash finished 12th, just behind Detroit's Chauncey Billups, who was mentioned as an MVP candidate, and just ahead of Toronto's Chris Bosh, who was not.
The NBA's similar "efficiency" stat had Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves leading the league, just ahead of James and Nash's Suns teammate Shawn Marion. Bryant was fifth, Nowitzki sixth and Nash, again, 12th, behind Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards and ahead of Pau Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies.
Both efficiency stats attempt to measure a player's overall contribution to a game, giving him credit for good things like points, rebounds and assists, and subtracting for bad things like turnovers and missed shots.
Hollinger's rating is better, because it's a per-minute measure, meaning one can use it to see, as the name suggests, how efficient a player is, how much he accomplishes per minute, not just total. You can use it to compare a guy who plays 30 minutes a game with one who plays 18.
It also adjusts for the pace of a player's team, so it doesn't punish a player with low point totals just because he plays for a team that has fewer possessions and thus scores fewer points per game than the rest of the league.
The NBA's stat just counts up raw numbers.
Next page: Nash was better this year, even if Phil Jackson won't admit it. Plus: Mavs to fans: Hose down!