Poor Shaq

[nothin' but net]

No MVP for ShaqBY STEPHEN F. HOLDER, [email protected]


Heat center Shaquille O'Neal was snubbed in the race for the NBA's Most Valuable Player, losing to Phoenix guard Steve Nash, according to reports.



The Associated Press and ESPN cited unnamed sources familiar with the results that said Nash will be the winner, making him the first Canadian and only the fourth point guard to be named MVP in league history. Bob Cousy, Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson are the other three.


Results of balloting by the 127 voters will be released Sunday, when the winner will be announced in a news conference and interviewed live on ABC's NBA telecast. As of late Friday afternoon, the Heat still had received no advance warning from the league to make any arrangements.



One day earlier, on Thursday, the league released its schedule for announcing the award. The league's usual procedure, though not an actual rule, is to announce the winner on his team's off day and to make a formal presentation in a pregame ceremony the following day. That would fit the Suns' schedule perfectly, as they are set to open their second-round series on Monday night at America West Arena.



Furthermore, the Arizona Republic, based in Phoenix, conducted a poll of 104 of the 127 writers and broadcasters who make up the panel of voters, and found Nash to be the winner by a slim margin. In the Republic's survey, Nash and O'Neal each received 51 first-place votes.



TEAM SUPPORT



O'Neal did not address the MVP race Friday after skipping his usual post-practice interview.



But his coach and teammates said plenty.



"It would be a disappointment to me," coach Stan Van Gundy said when asked about the possibility of Nash beating O'Neal.



"I think there's a lot of different factors, but look what he has done to our team, and what happened to the team he left [the Lakers]. To me, it's a pretty easy choice. If Nash is the other guy, if he's what everybody's saying he is -- and he's a great player -- but if he is [MVP], how does Dallas get better when he leaves?"



O'Neal left a Lakers team that finished 56-26 in 2003-04, when it advanced to the NBA Finals. This season, without O'Neal, Los Angeles finished 34-48 and missed the postseason.



Nash played for a Mavericks team in 2003-04 that finished 52-30 but recovered from his loss in free agency to go 58-24 this season.



There are other arguments that support O'Neal's candidacy, as well as ones that support Nash's. But Van Gundy prefers to judge them based on what became of their former teams.



'There's nobody out there saying, `I really like this Lakers team better,' " Van Gundy said. "And I think that's the difference between the two of them when you come down to the voting. I'm certainly a big fan of Steve Nash and I'm taking nothing away from him. The Suns have been great, but so have the Dallas Mavericks. The Lakers weren't. To me, it's enough said."



With O'Neal reportedly not winning the MVP, it remains to be seen how he will handle the news. O'Neal, by nature, takes such things quite personal, which might be an unfortunate fact for Heat opponents.



"I think the Big Fella has made a tremendous statement," backup center Alonzo Mourning said. "If he doesn't win it, it's going to piss him off. And I don't want to play against him when he's pissed off. I'm glad he's on my team."



BACK AT PRACTICE



In other Shaq-related news, O'Neal returned to practice for the first time since the Heat closed out its first-round series against the Nets on Sunday. His right thigh injury had limited him to a spectator's role earlier in the week, but O'Neal practiced without limitations on Friday.



"He went at it hard and good and looked strong," Van Gundy said. "It's good to have him back out there." O'Neal does not expect to be at full strength for the second round, and might have to play through some discomfort for much of the postseason, but the past week of rest has helped.




I have to disagree with the premise that Shaq should be MVP because the Lakers have fallen apart in his absence. In the last 10 months, the Lakers have lost:
Coach Phil
Coach Rudy
Karl Malone
Gary Payton
Derek Fisher
Rick Fox (though some wouldn't see that as a big loss)
Faith in management
Team Chemistry
A decent chunk of season ticket holders confidence
A perfect opportunity to off Kobe and his dysfunction on some other team

....And Shaq.



I feel that there is a case to be made for Shaq as the MVP. Just not on the fact that Miami is better and the Lakers are worse. If Shaq was the only difference between the two teams, I would agree. If the Lakers still had Malone, Fisher, Payton, and Phil Jackson, there is no way they aren't a playoff team.

Contrast that with the changes that Dallas has made.
Smooth transition with coaches
New emphasis on defense
Stackhouse
Terry
Dampier
Van Horn

After the Marbury trade, many were thinking we would be lucky to have the Lakers record this year. Nash has assumed the leadership of this team. He is having a career year. Shaq is not. Don't take out the regret for Shaq's solitary MVP Trophy on Steve.

 

[mribnik]

I don't feel sorry for Shaq. He pretty much coasted through the last month of the regular season. Nash definately deserved it. You could also make the case that this season was Shaq's worst season of his career (he was still dominant, of course). Anyways, the results from the race are in, and it was the 4th closest mvp race ever. Nash edged out Shaq, 1066 to 1032.

 

[jibikao]

I think there are a lot of people eating sour grapes now.

It's true that Nash doesn't look like a MVP but NOBODY can deny the fact that after he joined Suns, Suns becomes the 3rd best turnaround team in the history.

All the talk that Lakers got worse and Dallas got better is BS because that was LAST YEAR. This is 2004 MVP award, not 2003 MVP award. The media doesn't care what you did last year.

When a team loses, there are a lot of factoros. Lakers got so many new players and they lack chemistry and they had coaching changes. Dallas got better because they made better adjustment and last year's record is deceiving 'cause Mavs went nuts to get Walker/Jamison to ruin the team's chemistry and the whole team was just not clicking at all.

Heat got better because Wade also has improved A LOT. Hell, when Shaq was injured, Wade carried his team pretty well. So in that case, Shaq doesn't deserve MVP as much as Nash.

Any great players need other great players to win games. Nash is a freaking POINT GUARD so obviously he needs 4 other guys to run his show and he runs is VERY WELL, much better than any other PGs in the league THIS YEAR.

For god's sake, how hard it is to understand the term "2004 MVP"??? All they talk about is how great Shaq is and nobody say he ISN'T great. It's just that Nash has a BETTER year that's all.

Nobody said Nash > Shaq. Geeze, how come people just can't RESPECT the fact that Suns achieved a lot more than any other teams in this league?

 

[jibikao]

I feel that there is a case to be made for Shaq as the MVP. Just not on the fact that Miami is better and the Lakers are worse. If Shaq was the only difference between the two teams, I would agree. If the Lakers still had Malone, Fisher, Payton, and Phil Jackson, there is no way they aren't a playoff team.

Contrast that with the changes that Dallas has made.
Smooth transition with coaches
New emphasis on defense
Stackhouse
Terry
Dampier
Van Horn

After the Marbury trade, many were thinking we would be lucky to have the Lakers record this year. Nash has assumed the leadership of this team. He is having a career year. Shaq is not. Don't take out the regret for Shaq's solitary MVP Trophy on Steve.
-------------------------------------

You said it very well. And plus, it's not like NOBODY thinks Shaq doesn't deserve it. Shaq was very very very close behind Nash. It's unfortunate for Shaq but it's not Nash's fault that Shaq got injured!!!!

 

[LT 27 SM 31]

he lost by 24 votes

 

[baltimorer]

Just so you guys know, Shaq hasn't been bitter about this at all. When he was told by some reporters that Nash had reportedly beaten him in the MVP race, he started grabbing the reporters' sleeves and pretending to blow his nose in their shirts while yelling, "Noooo! nooo! No it can't be!" and pretending to be hysterical. It was pretty funny. But then he ended up saying something like, "Steve Nash is definitely a terrific player, he really makes his teamates better and that's what you want out of a point guard." It was actually one of the nicest things I've ever heard Shaq say about an opposing player. Obviously, that's not saying much, but for what it's worth, there's no reason to be mad at Shaq over the post-MVP reaction.

I don't really think Shaq deserves the award this year anyway. He's basically not even the team's number one option on offense - Wade is. And, while it makes no sense to me why he would defer to Wade but insist on being the main guy in LA with a better sidekick, he has done that this year, and it makes it difficult to give it to him. That's not to say he's not the MVP of that Heat team - he is - but to be voted the most valuable player in the entire league when you don't even want to be your team's first option doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

The one thing that miffs me about this situation is Van Gundy's comments. Obviously, you'd want your coach to endorse you for the award, but there whole "Mavs are better now, Lakers are worse..." is the best argument he could come up with? Van Gundy is one of the best coaches in the league, so I doubt he wouldn't be able to see how the Mavs have only improved (if they have at all) because they finally did something about the fact that their biggest players could get boxed out by Earl Boykins. I'm sure Van Gundy realizes that the addition of Dampier, not to mention that they replaced Nash with Jason Terry, who is no slouch, as well as Stackhouse, Van Horn, and the development of their younger players is the reason they are as good as or better than they have been in recent years. And, improving in the NBA isn't a very hard thing to do. All you have to do is trade away Marbury, which is, by the way, why I say "watch out for the Knicks in 2007!" But I digress...

Anyway, with Wade, Odom, and Butler, at least the Heat had a bright looking future even without Shaquille. The Suns, on the other hand, looked like a franchise struggling through season after season of mediocrity and dissappointment. Sometimes they were committed to a new youth movement, othertimes they weren't.. when it became clear they weren't going to get Kobe, who knew what was going to happen to the Suns. Nash changed that. So, if you want to talk about a guy making the biggest difference to the team he ACTUALLY WENT TO, the thing that matters, you can look at 2 numbers: 29 and 62. Because even Shaq didn't make that much of a difference.

 

[Ryanwb]

Damn west coast bias!!!

 

[Dback Jon]

Damn west coast bias!!!

Nah - it was the damn Canuck bias.......

 

[KloD]

The whole "Miami opponents better watch out" is a joke. If he was not putting in 100% before, than he surely does not deserve to be MVP. What, if he had won he would play at 75%? Those comments either say something about the pre-award Shaq or the post-award Shaq and neither is a compliment.