Steve Nash retired from the NBA on Saturday after 18 seasons. Grantland’s Brett Koremenos just wrote a piece about how Nash changed the landscape in regards to what traditional basketball fundamentals are, specifically on the offensive side. Nash became my favorite player during his run on the Mavericks for a few reasons. First, my at the time favorite player, Penny Hardaway, was a shell of his former-self, became a bit unlikable AND ended up being an overpaid guy on my Knicks. Second, Nash and Dirk Nowitzki were just fun to watch and also quite unstoppable in video games because they shot lights out (in NBA Live 2003, with the introduction of stick iso-moves and such, playing with the 2002-2003 Dallas Mavericks just seemed unfair. Nash, Nowitzki, Michael Finley and yes, Wang Zhizhi hit every shot known to man in that game). Third, I had (have?) a strange fascination with Canada ever since Bret Hart’s WWF storyline in the late 90s. Lastly, his name was Steve (and mine is too). Heck, I was in a basketball sim league at the time, traded Stephon Marbury for Nash, and Nash unrealistically (or so we thought) won MVP with a 21-10 year and led my Knicks to a 51-31 season and a Conference Finals appearance. Of course, as we know now, life would imitate art.
It’s unfortunate that Nash will go down as the greatest player (by far) to never play in a NBA Finals game. When Nash went to the Pheonix Suns because Mark Cuban thought he would be too expensive to retain in Dallas (which was actually justifiable at the time, since Nash was 31 years old and had a history of back problems), I remember thinking that Dallas would falter (didn’t happen) and the Suns would be slightly improved (common perception was the Suns were screwed. Turns out my prediction was an understatement). The 2004-2005 NBA and the Suns were both perfect for Nash though. The NBA because they stopped allowing defenders to hand check ball handlers and changed the illegal defense rules. This suddenly opened the paint and allowed Nash to completely blow by defenders. The Suns were perfect because Mike D’Antoni was looking to run what would be called the Seven Seconds or Less offense. Since Nash took care of himself probably better than 99% of the NBA, he was able to go nonstop for 40 minutes a night on those high paced Suns teams.
Steve Nash’s 2004-2005 NBA MVP season is perhaps the most unlikely MVP in the history of the game considering pre-season predictions (depending how you feel about Wes Unseld in 1968…different voting rules back then though). That 2004-2005 season would set off a six year run where the Suns got super close, but could never get over the hump to get to the NBA Finals (and probably win a NBA title). Let’s quickly look at those six seasons.
2004-2005: The Suns shock the NBA and go 62-20. They easily get through Memphis and Dallas before succumbing to the Spurs in five games. What people forget thought is that despite it being a 4-1 series, the series was quite close. Suns lost game 1 by 7, lost game 2 by 3, lost game 3 by 10 and game 5 by 6. If Joe Johnson is healthy do the Suns make it a series? The real Achilles’ heel for Phoenix (and Nash) was the fact that they were brutally bad defensively. If you think you are beating peak Tim Duncan (28-14-3, 53% FG for the series) without defending him well you are wrong. Amar’e actually averaged a 37-10 and Nash a 23-10 and they still lost. Crazy.
2005-2006: The Suns lose Johnson to free agency and Amar’e to an injury….and got 55-27 anyway. Probably the reason why Nash won MVP again. Anyway, the series gets swung by Nowitzki’s crazy game 5 (50 PTS, 12 REB) with the series tied at 2.
2006-2007: Suns get Amar’e back for a 61-21 season. This time, there’s tons of controversy in the Suns’ defeat. Robert Horry “throws” Nash into the scorer’s table, which leads to several Suns, including Stoudemire, to leave the bench, which leads to a suspension for a game. The Suns lose game 5 88-85 at home and lose the series in 6.
2007-2008: The infamous Marion-Shaq trade takes place this year, but the Suns still roll to 55-27. That’s only good for 6th in the West though and they have to play the Spurs. Duncan hits a three in game 1 to send the game to double OT and the Suns never recover.
2008-2009: The only “bad” season in this group. They slowdown post-D’Antoni Suns go 46-36…which doesn’t make the playoffs in the West.
2009-2010: The best example of why Steve Nash is so great. With no Marion and no Shaq. Nash leads a fairly new Suns team to a surprising 54-28 record. The Suns win their first playoff series since 2007 against Portland…and then surprisingly sweep the Spurs in the 2nd round. In yet another tough Conference Finals series, the Suns lose game 5 by merely two points…and the Lakers win in 6.
And that was the end of the elite Nash Era as Amar’e left for New York. Nash kept the Suns at .500 for two seasons before trying to win a ring with the Lakers. Unfortunately, the Lakers and Nash’s body fell apart.
Still, those six years changed everything. Nash transformed the league into a point guard’s game. While Jason Kidd showed in the early 2000s that getting everyone the ball was important in leading a team and showing that a team is a sum greater than its parts, Nash showed the most efficient ways to do that. Gone was “traditional” passing and point guard set ups. Now it was about one handed passing and wrap arounds. At one time playing like that was pure flash and could be considered disrespectful. Nash showed it was the best way and necessary. Nash also showed that being a lights out shooter made the point guard position the most dangerous on the floor. Steve Nash is in fact the prototype for players like Stephen Curry today.
Steve Nash changed the game for the better. Ten years ago the NBA faced an identity crisis between team ball and hero ball. Team ball ultimately won. You can thank Steve Nash.