Daily Links: MVP Steve Times 3 ?

This is like beating a dead horse. With Dragic it’s all about confidence – and the organization has invested a lot of money in him by buying out his Euro-contract and drafting another PG could have done 1 of 2 things – pushed him to work harder and earn a spot in the rotation as a back-up… or fizzle out and crash and burn with depression. The organization showed some Dragic love by drafting Earl Clark, and IMO he has reciprocated with a very strong 2nd year start to the season.

The other part of the puzzle is the fact that we drafted Earl Clark to further assuage Steve Nash’s extension. Remember? The draft was right before all the contract talks with Nash? And Nash kept talking about his worries about what direction this organization wanted to go with their personnel? Drafting a potential SF/PF “Shawn Marion” type player and getting a big man to spread the floor in Frye were 2 HUGE moves that factored into the Suns ability to keep their face of the franchise.

Do you think Nash would have signed on for another couple of years if the Suns had drafted yet another ‘future Nash replacement’…. what kind of confidence does that show to your superstar – when you’ve supposedly already dedicated the back-up position to a young Goran Dragic whom Nash has already built a relationship with and has been teaching for the past year?

When we drafted Goran a year ago and there was all the OVER-HYPE by the front office and media that the young Dragon in embryo would be the next Steve Nash – do you remember what Nash was saying? I don’t have a direct quote – but I know it was along the lines of – HEY! I’m not going anywhere! I’m still here!?!??!

So everyone can now in retrospect and after seeing the great start of Lawson sit back and say “BOO KERR IS BUM, DRAGIC AND CLARK ARE BUSTS, THE SUNS ARE DUMB” – but the truth of the matter is… we’re 12 games into the season folks. This is Dragic’s 2nd year (I would argue it’s his first REAL year) and he is showing VAST improvements and encouraging signs of future development. Clark is doing fine – EXACTLY what Alvin Gentry said he would be doing, fighting for playing time and learning and developing at Alvin’s pace – not the fans’ pace.

And that was the point I was making those folks who are gung-ho on Dragic. If he is to become a very good PG he’ll have to change that approach.

I have to watch the Suns via NBA league pass which means I get to hear all the lovely commentary from the other team’s announcers. Lots of whining about calls that didn’t go their way (especially during the Boston game) consumes much of the banter, but then right at the start of one of the earlier games in the season, I hear “We have to start talking about Nash maybe winning his third MVP”. I sat up and said “HUH?!?! Didn’t that ship sail already?” Since then, I’ve heard it from the NBATV broadcast, one other local broadcast I think, and now the national media. I agree with almost everything you said above. Nash IS playing as well as he did in his MVP years, the nickname IS sweet, and especially that it’s WAAAAY to early to even be having this discussion. I do, however, think focusing on any one player above the others would mess with chemistry a little (it’s human nature), and while the Suns would definitely not be as good a team without Nash, I don’t think they would utterly collapse without him either. In other words, while I agree Nash is playing as well as he was in the MVP seasons, I think the team around him is better equipped to play without him if they had to. Hopefully, I won’t have to find out I’m wrong about that. :)