Frye is fantastic for them, but I don’t think it’s a huge step up from when they had Diaw. Such a shame Joe Johnson got hurt in the playoffs that first year…that team was absolutely stacked.
Nash’s numbers are definitely on par with his previous MVP campaigns and he definitely has a chance if he matches those seasons. But even those two MVP awards weren’t really unanimous.
2004-05 had no real candidates other than Shaq in Miami, and LeBron wasn’t going to get it by because Cleveland was only 42-40. Meanwhile the Suns completely blitzed the league in Nash’s first year and won 62 games after only winning 29 the year before. And even then he barely won over Shaq in the closest MVP vote ever. The Lakers were also just a 40-something win team at this point so Kobe wasn’t in the race either.
In 2005-06, the Suns won 8 less games than they did before and the Cavs won 50 games as LeBron dropped an insane 31.4/7.0/6.6/1.6/0.8 on the league. The fact that Nash won MVP again was actually a surprise that year.
2006-07 Nash’s stats were just as good as the year before, the Suns were a 60+ win team again, and he finished second in voting. Back then he still really only had LeBron, Dirk, Duncan, and Kobe to compete with. And I don’t think Duncan’s numbers were crazy enough for voters to give him another one, Lakers were still barely jsut a playoff team so Kobe didn’t have the team success that sways MVP votes, so it was just Nash, Dirk, or LeBron.
Now…even if Nash does put up the same stats, the Suns are going to have to be like a 55+ win team to give him another shot at a MVP award. Plus there’s even more competition than before - LeBron and Kobe are now playing on championship contending teams and both have already set precedence by winning one each, Wade is healthy and putting up crazy stats again, Orlando is an elite team and Dwight’s getting votes now, and one of Melo (or Chauncey) will be up there depending on how the Nuggets do.
So even if Nash matches his previous MVP seasons from an individual standpoint, the Suns will still need to win a ton of games to put him in the discussion. And today there’s much more legitimate candidates that stand out compared to 2004-2007.
Jesus Christ, it happens like three times a game - he just absolutely loses his mind, thinks he’s LeBron or something, and just lowers his head and drives to the basket. Only he’s got no handle, no hops, and no finish, and it ends up in complete disaster 100% of the time. Triano has GOT to put an end to this, it’s absolutely insane.
I think things will improve when Reggie Evans returns. Right now Triano’s got no choice but to play Bosh significant minutes even if he is sucking defensively that night - Amir’s too small and Rasho’s just old, and Bargnani needs time off the court too. When Reggie comes back Bosh will be exposed less.
I hope.
Fuck, Nene with 20/10/5/4/4 on 8 of 13 shooting against us. That is dumb.
On the other hand, Bosh is looking as good as he ever has offensively, leads the league in FTA and total rebounds, and the Raptors are first in the league in offensive efficiency with 115.9 points per 100 possessions.
Unfortunately we are last in the league in giving up 116.7 points per 100 possessions. This is like the worst defense this franchise has ever played…and this franchise has played some terrible, terrible defense in its history.
