Stockton's Shorts and Kareem's Goggles Basketball Blog: Am I Really The Only One That'll Miss Steve Nash?

The year was 1996. The Chicago Bulls stampeded their way to a 72-10 record while earning Michael, Scottie, and Phil their fourth championship. With Michael Jordan back from his premature retirement and back on his NBA throne, it certainly appeared that great things were on the horizon for the League. Although I don’t think anyone could have foreseen what would be arriving that summer.

In 1996, the NBA ushered in a class of rookies that would feature three future MVPs. One of those MVPs—also the number one overall pick in this draft—retired in 2013, which led to a piece where I gushed about his impact on the NBA culture. The 13^th pick in this draft would go on to win an MVP as well, on his way to winning five NBA championships. That player is suiting up for at least one more season. However, despite the dynamic scoring prowess of those two MVPs, it would be the 15^th pick of the draft that ended up walking away with the most MVP awards. That player was an unassuming 6’3” point guard out of Santa Clara University and he would go on to record the third most assists in NBA history. That player is Steve Nash, and in March 2015 he officially retired from the game of basketball. And nobody cared.

Perhaps that last sentence is a little dramatic. After all, keeping it in true Steve Nash fashion, the announcement itself was low key, an essay Nash published through the Player’s Tribune. However, even with the way he quietly left the game, it seems so strange to me that more people weren’t talking about the career of a surefire Hall of Famer. Instead, it seemed as if most people heard the news, briefly acknowledged it, and moved on with life.

A lot of this has to do with his final few seasons on the Lakers, which can only be described as a complete fucking disaster. And unfortunately, the NBA is certainly a “what have you done for me lately?” business. In Nash’s case, he is (unfairly) associated with being the catalyst that drove the Lakers to their currently abysmal state. In order to acquire the aging point guard, the Lakers traded four future draft picks and signed him to a three-year $28 million dollar contract. After suffering a broken bone in his leg during the second game of his LA tenure, Nash fell victim to numerous setbacks and a debilitating nerve injury that would cause him to miss 99 regular season games with the Lakers. To compound this, it was announced that Nash would be missing the entire 2014-2015 season after yet another setback.

While Nash was essentially invisible to the rest of the NBA landscape during his tumultuous tenure in Los Angeles, this shouldn’t be enough to eclipse a career that epitomized unselfishness and team play. While Mike D’Antoni is credited for revolutionizing how offenses currently play in the NBA, it simply would not have worked the same without Steve Nash as the point guard. Of course I’m referring to the famous Seven Seconds or Less Phoenix Suns teams from 2004-2010 (their last playoff appearance with Nash). It was also during this run that Nash won his back-to-back MVP awards, making him one of ten players to accomplish this in history. While I’ll admit that both MVP awards are, and were even at the time, controversial, it can’t be ignored how much Nash was able to get the most out his teammates. Hell, even while in Dallas, Nash helped drive the Nelly-ball Mavericks towards the upper echelon of the competitive Western Conference.

What people are really going to forget is the uniqueness of Steve Nash. While Nash’s passing and ability to run an offense should certainly be the first thing that comes to mind, his scoring will likely be an afterthought. If you take away his initial run in Phoenix (also plagued by injury) and his years in LA, Nash averaged 15.1 points per game while shooting about 49% from the field, an absurd 43% from three, and an “I can’t believe I’m typing this” 97% from the free throw line, over a 14 year stretch. In fact, over his entire 19 year career, Nash is the most accurate free thrower shooter of all time at 90%. While his accuracy literally almost made me fall out of my seat just now, it was how he shot the ball that people should remember. Steph Curry is currently blowing people’s mind with his ability to accurately shoot the ball while moving, which as most basketball players know is extremely difficult. However, Nash was arguably the first one to master shooting the ball in such a manner. Obviously no one has ever shot the ball from the range that Curry can, but Nash’s ability to be unpredictable and accurate with his shot was as crucial as his passing ability when running D’Antoni’s and Alvin Gentry’s offenses (I highly doubt it’s a coincidence Gentry happened to be an assistant coach for the Warriors last season while Curry was doing a very rich man’s Nash impression. It’s also not a coincidence Nash is taking on a part time coaching role with the Warriors this coming season).

Of course, Nash’s playmaking and ability to elevate his team is his defining traits, as evidenced by his 10,335 total assists, which again is good enough for the third highest total ever. While his MVP run from 2004-2006 should be considered the highlight of his career, to me, his run to the 2010 Western Conference Finals is his defining moment. At age 35, with his history of back injuries flaring up throughout the year, he managed to finally beat his nemesis, the San Antonio Spurs, and came within two victories of taking his team to the Finals, only to fall to the defending champions and his future team, the Los Angeles Lakers. During that run, Nash averaged 17.8 points, 10.1 assists, shot 51.8% from the field, and recorded a 22.4 PER. Again, at age 35. His teammates Jason Richardson and Amar’e Stoudamire seemed rejuvenated during this playoff run and no named—at the time—role players such as Jared Dudley, Goran Dragic, and Robin Lopez, would use this run to spring board towards better contacts and became valuable members of future playoff teams. The success of those players is almost a direct result of playing with Nash. After this playoff run, Bill Simmons changed Steve’s all-time ranking in the paperback version of the The Book of Basketball, slotting him at number 35, which is one spot ahead of Allen Iverson and as the sixth best point guard behind Magic, Oscar, Cousy, Isiah, Stockton, and Walt Fraizer (and Sam Jones if you consider him a point guard. Also worth noting that book was published before the 2011 Mavericks won the championship, which likely elevated Jason Kidd’s ranking). Of course, management blew up that promising team and Steve Nash’s championship window slammed shut for good.

Which is maybe why we aren’t thinking about Nash as much as we should, and really points to a larger problem we have when talking about sports and great athletes. There are six MVP’s that have not won a championship: Nash, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Allen Iverson, Kevin Durant, and Derrick Rose. With the exception of Derrick Rose, all those other players at least played in the NBA Finals, except for Steve Nash. What’s interesting is that Barkley and Malone get somewhat of a pass because they played in the same era as Jordan. Iverson ran up against the greatest playoff team ever in the Finals and never had even a good supporting cast. KD and Rose are still currently playing, and both are on teams that can definitely make a run to the Finals. The point is all these players get some sort of a pass, so why should’t Nash? After all, he played his entire career in the Western Conference during a time where Shaq, Kobe, Duncan, and Dirk all won titles. Not to mention his best team (2007 Suns), and best chance of making the Finals, was royally screwed after Stoudamire and Boris Diaw were suspended for leaving the bench to defend Nash after Robert Horry did everything short of giving him a Stone Cold Stunner during the playoffs. Hell, even their 2010 team was a Ron Artest putback away from going up 3-2 in the series with a chance to clinch in Phoenix. Even while going against those aforementioned Hall of Famers, Nash still somehow always managed to put his team in a position to compete. Whether it was a Robert Horry hip check, or a putback layup, or an errant knee collision with Damian Lillard, it just seemed as though Steve could never catch a break.

As a Lakers fan, I totally admit that I was just as frustrated with Nash and his injuries as everyone else that followed the team. But not even that situation can allow me to dismiss an incredible career. And with only one last member of that fabled draft class remaining, I certainly gain more of an appreciation for Nash and what he managed to accomplish despite having his career nearly end before it was started. He changed the way athletes take care of their bodies, he cranked up the pace of the game, he arguably sparked the basketball revolution that’s currently brewing in Canada, and despite all of his accomplishments remained honest, humble, and a man of integrity. Steve, it’s been real, thanks for the memories.