2. Winning The 2004-05 MVP Award
Stat line: 75 games, 15.5 PPG, 11.5 APG, 3.3 RPG, 1.0 SPG, .502/.431/.887 shooting, 22.0 PER
Put your torches and pitchforks in a place where you can’t immediately reach them, Suns fans. I’ve got to say something that plenty of other people have said over the years, a statement that is viewed as erroneous by most Phoenix faithful. But the truth is, in 2004-05 AND in 2005-06, Steve Nash might not have deserved his MVP Award. (*Ducks*.)
Again, I hope you put those torches and pitchforks out of reach. In 2004-05, Shaquille O’Neal was robbed for his stellar season with the Miami Heat. In 2006-07, it was actually Kobe Bryant who got snubbed (I know, I know, a blasphemous statement in the eyes of Suns fans everywhere).
That being said, who really gives a s**t at this point?
If you're nitpicking Nash's career — didn't deserve MVP, wasn't as great as his reputation — you're doing it very, very wrong.
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) March 21, 2015
Nash’s first two seasons with the Suns were stellar and deserve the proper acclaim for how quickly he turned a struggling franchise around. The season before Nash arrived, the Suns had posted a 29-53 record. His first season in Phoenix, the Suns shifted gears dramatically, going an NBA-best 62-20. That’s a 33-game turnaround in the win column.
Nash and the Suns fell short in the Western Conference Finals, but his status as the league’s best point guard was unquestionable. Nash fell mere percentage points short of joining the 50-40-90 club for the first time, he was a floppy-haired Canadian who was the ringmaster of the league’s most exciting offense and he was such a nice guy it was impossible to root against him.
For those reasons, and because Dwyane Wade was emerging that season, Shaq got snubbed a bit. But Nash became just the second Phoenix Sun to win an MVP Award that season and if we’re listing the top 10 moments of his career with the Suns, this has to be one of the sweetest.
Next: No. 1