After another loss to a contender (and being swept for the season series against the Hornets) the Phoenix faithful have to be holding their heads in dismay.   On the other side of the desert Kobe Bryant fans everywhere have to be enthralled by the recent performance of Steve Nash since the acquisition of Shaq (and more importantly the loss of The Matrix).  Why?  Because for all of his greatness Kobe Bryant has never won an MVP award.  Personally, it makes me sick to think that MVP voters are so dumb as to ignore how important Kobe has been to his team, carrying it literally on his back ever since Shaq left.  Instead, voters chose to reward Steve Nash, the closest thing to John Stockton we'll ever see, for leading Phoenix to strong regular season showings and orchestrating the high-flying Suns attack.

Note the words "high-flying".  Now that Shawn Marion was discarded to Miami there seems to be less flying in Phoenix and more....well....whatever you call point-blank airballs from Shaquille O'Neal.  In tonight's statement game against the Hornets Steve Nash looked overmatched on both ends of the court.  He finished with 8 points and his usual 13 assists.  Now we're not going to be so bold as to say Steve Nash isn't a great player, even a Hall of Fame player.  But when you have the likes of Marion, Stoudamire, Joe Johnson, Barbosa, and a litanny of athletic shooters spreading the floor it's a bit easier to run stats up like a pinball game. 

The question we always asked when comparing Kobe to players like Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki was a) which one would you pick first to be on your team and b) which one if missing would have the biggest impact on their team and c) what net effect did their teammates have on their performance.  In regards to "C", was their performance unusually enhanced by the strength of those teammates? 

Now that Steve Nash got rid of their most complete player it seems like the luster has been knocked off the mantle.  Most notably on defense he can't stop anyone.  If Woody Harrelson and Will Ferrell joined the NBA he might have a hard time keeping them in front of him.  Chris Paul torched him for 25 points and 15 assists tonight.  Against the lowly Grizzlies Mike Conley went for 15 pts and 11 rbs and when Conley wasn't torching him Juan Carlos Navarro was going for 25 points.  How bout 14 & 11 for Chauncey Billups the game before.  And all of that comes at the expense of having to shade defenders towards him and use double-teams when he gets posted up.

So how about the offensive side of the ball?  Aside from tonight's debacle he's had 11 pts and 6 rbs versus Detroit against Chauncey and Rip and prior to that 18 pts and 5 assists against Rajon Rondo, a quicker player.

With Shaq a non-factor on offense and without Marion we might see Phoenix fishin' with Chuck, Kenny, and Ernie if they can't turn it around.  But if Steve Nash can't shake defenders or keep opposing players in front of him there's going to be a lot of talk about Nash's MVP's being tainted.