The MVP Debate

One thing's for sure - this year's NBA MVP will be a foreigner with a surname that starts with the letter N.

The MVP has come down to a race between two close friends and former long-haired teammates: Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki.

Interestingly, they were Mavs teammates a couple of years ago and were a spectacular duo. Seeing them run the floor with their floppy blond hairdos, hitting some threes was a delight. They came to the Mavs the same year and transformed them into a consistent playoff team. Though the Mavs were Western contenders (even reaching the West conference finals) for several years, they were not able to 'get over the hump'. It seemed that the Mavs organization gave up on the partnership.

You know the story, Mavs owner Mark Cuban did not want to give Nash the big contract, forcing the latter to sign with the Phoenix Suns, which in turn became the a small-ball, running and gunning team (similar to the old Mavs, but even faster). Nash went on to lead the NBA in assists and won back-to-back league MVPs.

This year, Nash's statistics are even better than his two MVP-seasons. This alone would be enough to award him a third straight MVP.

However, I believe it is Nowitzki, who led the Mavs to the finals last year, who deserves the award this time. His numbers have been impressive. More importantly, he is the best player in the best team (in terms of regular season standing) in the league right now. He has improved his passing and has become more of a team player (a big reason for the improvement of Josh Howard). Also, I believe it is quite difficult for a player to win the award 3 years in a row. I know it's unfair but it's actually true. One has two remember that MVP voting is done by 125 members of the media. A lot of factors come into play. One of those is the fact the likes of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson never won the award three straight years. Do you think Nash is as good as those two? Again, it's really unfair coz if there was no other deserving player this year, Nash wins it hands down. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for Nash, his best bud is having an equally tremendous year.