What to make of this?

by Dan on Apr 16, 2007 5:32 PM MDT in Suns News Comment 14 comments

What do you make of this little article by Paola Boivin over at AZCentral.com?

For those of you who don't want to click, she's rehashing a quote by Amare Stoudemire in the NY Times saying Kobe Bryant should be at the top of the list of MVP candidates.

Is this just Amare's way of saying he's tired of talking about the MVP vote? Does he want people to stop talking about Steve because he thinks he should be at the top of his game? Or is this his way of smoothing over the comments he made earlier saying that the Lakers would be an easy opponent in the first round?

You make the call!

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Please...

Not this again. Amare made that quote over a week ago I think. I blasted him for it on phxsuns.net right away. What I said is that I thought it showed very poor teammate-ship on the part of Amare, and that I couldn't imagine any of the Mavericks not picking Dirk Nowitzki as MVP of asked the same question (plus the reporter gave Amare the choice of Steve or Dirk, and he picked a player they didn't even mention). At first glance that does sound a lot like sour grapes on the part of Amare.

Anyway... Who knows what Amare meant. Maybe he was misquoted. Maybe he just knows that Shawn Marion gets his feelings hurt easily when Nash gets touted as MVP, and decided to help defuse the situation by picking someone who's not Nash and not Nash's main competitor for the award either. Maybe he really does think Kobe is the best player in the league. Or maybe he regrets that he helped bring Nash to Phoenix thereby "Wally Pipping" himself as the Suns franchise player. Whatever he meant, it's fair to say it's old news at this point. The Suns seem to have moved past whatever chemistry ills they had (real or imagined), so it's time for reporters and fans to do the same. Sorry if this sounds grouchy, just I hate reporters rehashing old, controversial stories weeks after they're no longer an issue.

by TexSUN on Apr 16, 2007 6:17 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

BTW

Speaking of picking your own guy for MVP. At least Paul Coro got with the program this time. Wasn't he the PHX reporter who voted for Lebron last year? Shameful...

by TexSUN on Apr 16, 2007 6:29 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Funny guy

or maybe he burst into a fit of laughter after making the comment...

It almost sounds a little sarcastic to me.

Amare and his humor!!! He's a barrel of monkeys that guy.

by Travis on Apr 16, 2007 6:29 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

"Hollinger Rankings"

I've tried to ignore these "power rankings" all year but hey, we moved up a notch or two!

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/hollinger/powerranking

It appears the media IS paying attention to these last few games. Nash is tearing it up and orchestrating the best offense in the league while Dirk is... shooting fairly well I guess.

by Travis on Apr 16, 2007 6:50 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

LOL!

Hey, you guys aren't going to believe this, but Steve Nash just called me! Actually, it was a telemarketer, but I could swear that's what he said his name was. I even asked him to repeat it so I could make sure I heard him right. Totally freaking hilarious! LOL.

by TexSUN on Apr 16, 2007 7:36 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Kobe's taking himself out of the race...

... not that he had a chance at the MVP anyways but here are Kobe's latest comments:

With the Los Angeles Lakers headed for perhaps the worst season in coach Phil Jackson's Hall of Fame career, guard Kobe Bryant withdrew his name from legitimate MVP consideration.

"I'd like to, before I'm done, be fortunate enough to win an MVP," Bryant said, "but you have to be on one of the teams with the best records in the NBA to do it. Because to win it and have your team not be one of those teams, to me, is pointless."

by Travis on Apr 16, 2007 7:45 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

These journalists.....................

I had read this thread on phxsuns.net about a week ago, I think. May be it was TexSun that posted it. I blasted Amare immediately for not being a team player and got semi-blasted as a result by other posters who were Amare-worshippers.

However, journalists do twist things and what Amare said could have been taken out of context. It is hard to know exactly what was said, how and in what context? May be Amare was just trying to evade giving a straight answer when asked to pick between Dirk and Steve. It is hard to know what is going on in his mind. As long as he plays as a team player and the Suns win, nothing else really matters.

Shame on Paola Boivin for bringing up an old story to sound like the Suns are having major problems. Will these people never shut up?

Paola Boivin occasionally writes OK stories in the AZ Rep. Occasionally her stories are qutie annoying. This is one of them, but I had already expressed myself on phxsuns.net so I did not get more upset as a result.

by Vash01 on Apr 16, 2007 10:57 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Ticked

I am rather ticked at the local newspaper and radio people bringing up and harping on this Amare quote and the article in ESPN mag about Marion. How are we to know in what context Amare's comments were made. Also, with Marion, it sounds like the reporter was the one to ask Marion the hypothetical question about moving to another team. Sounds to me like Marion was being honest in that he had never thought about it before, and not like it was necessarily something he wanted to do.

by TwinnerA on Apr 17, 2007 12:26 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Well now...

Amare is claiming that he only meant Kobe should be included in the top three along with Nash and (I guess) Dirk. Here's the quote from a Paul Coro article on AZCentral:

A New York Times article quoted Stoudemire as saying that Lakers guard Kobe Bryant "should be at the top of the (MVP) list." Stoudemire clarified his comment Monday, saying he meant Bryant is in his top three.

"I got to rep (represent) my teammate," Stoudemire said of Nash. "We're comrades. We're death before dishonor."

Well, I agree with him, but he should have said that the first time. Maybe he did and the original reporter left it out to make his article more controversial. Wouldn't be the first time something like that happened, but until we get a clarification on the clarification, I guess we'll never know for sure. :)

by TexSUN on Apr 17, 2007 8:45 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

It all depends on the question

One can create all kinds of questions around the answer that was quoted as Amare's.

For example (it's all my imagination):

Q1.It is a close race between DN and SN. Who should win it do you think? Or do you believe there are other candidates that could challenge them?

STAT says Kobe should be at the top of that list. (he means the list of rest of the candidates, but the reporter concludes he meant the entire list, including SN and DN).

The reporter writes that STAT said Kobe should win the MVP award.

Q2.DN and SN are in a fight for the MVP award. Where does Kobe Bryant rank in your opinion?

Amare' says Kobe is the best player in the NBA. He ranks right up there at the top (with the other two, but he does not complete the sentence, for whatever reason). The reporter writes that Amare' believes Kobe should win the MVP.

Q3.Do you think Kobe Bryant is a good enough player to win the MVP trophy over DN and SN?

Kobe says yes, he is the best player in the NBA (not many will disagree with that statement, in terms of talent)....what STAT does not say is - the MVP criteria may not apply to him as well as they do to Nash (a perfect fit) and Dirk (to some extent).

The reporter uses what was not said to write his article/STAT's quote.

and so on.

It is possible that Amare' simply did not think much when asked that question, nor its implications. I would cut him a little slack on this. He is still learning how to talk to the media. I am sure this experience educated him.

by Vash01 on Apr 17, 2007 10:21 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Who cares?

Hopefully one day when they ask that questions, he will answer by saying ME!

by TwinnerA on Apr 17, 2007 1:04 PM MDT reply actions 0 recs

Ugh.

Please no. One of my least favorite things for a player to do during interviews is to tout themselves for awards and what not. I want to throw up every time Shawn Marion boasts that he should be Defensive Player of the Year. We don't need Amare doing it too. (He comes dangerously close to that sometimes already!).

by TexSUN on Apr 17, 2007 1:10 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

BTW

That's not a slam against Shawn Marion for DPOY, just that I don't like hearing him nominate himself for it. I'm a big proponent of letting your game (and others) do the talking for you.

by TexSUN on Apr 17, 2007 1:12 PM MDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agree about Shawn

Marion has been more vocal about wanting the defensive player of the year award. The more he tells others how good he is, the less his chances of winning the award.

STAT often comes across as bragging, but he has not demanded any awards yet. That could change next year. I expect him to be a candidate for the MVP award. Will Nash still be in consideration? I thik so, but Nash lets his game do the talking. That is part of the reason he won the award, and not just once. I expect he will win one more regular season MVP award in his career. They just did not want to give it to him 3 years in a row.

by Vash01 on Apr 18, 2007 1:11 AM MDT reply actions 0 recs