14. Steve Nash
50 WORDS ON STEVE NASH
Steve Nash turned basketball into organized joy. He dribbled beneath the rim, circled back, changed pace, and waited until defenses surrendered an angle they didn’t know existed. His jumper punished hesitation; his passing rewarded movement. Phoenix didn’t merely play faster with Nash. It seemed to think faster than opponents, too.
CAMPFIRE ERA STATS
Main line: 15.6 PPG / 3.2 RPG / 9.4 APG / 0.8 SPG / 0.1 BPG
Longevity: 1,036 regular season games / 112 postseason games
Era Ranks: 1st in assists per game / 1st in three-point percentage / 4th in total assists
CAMPFIRE ERA ACCOLADES
2-time Regular Season MVP (2005 and 2006), 8-time All-Star, 7-time All-NBA, 3 top-five finishes in MVP Vote
THE PEAK
2006-07 - Nash averaged 18.6 points and a career-high 11.6 assists, while shooting 53.2% from the field, 45.5% from three and 89.9% from the line. He finished second in MVP voting and made First Team All-NBA.
He was named MVP each of the previous two seasons, but this was the most obvious expression of peak Nash: maximum playmaking, absurd efficiency, total command of pace, and the Seven Seconds or Less offense humming at its highest level.
WTF STAT
Recorded four 50/40/90 seasons in a five-year span.
NON-BASKETBALL COMPARISON
Danny Ocean - Never the most imposing man in the room, but always the one who knew exactly where everyone needed to be when the vault opened. The superpower of Steve Nash was having a perfect understanding of how all of the specialists he was surrounded by fit together in order to pull off the big score.
THE RIPPLE
Nash helped accelerate the NBA toward pace, spacing and spread pick-and-roll basketball.
Those Phoenix teams pushed Amar’e Stoudemire to center, surrounded Nash with shooters, ran before defenses could get set, and made the pick-and-roll the organizing principle of an elite offense. Phoenix was at or near the top of the league in pace, three-point shooting and offensive rating, while Nash sat at the center of it all.
He didn’t create modern offense by himself, but the Seven Seconds or Less Suns became one of its clearest prototypes. The idea that a point guard could use shooting, passing and tempo to make the entire floor feel larger became increasingly central to how NBA offenses were built.
WHAT HIS PEERS SAY
“Not only is he a two-time MVP, one of the best point guards to ever play the game, but he’s also a great guy." - (Chris Paul, 2014)
IN HIS OWN WORDS
"I can't throw down a reverse jam or a thundering rim-rattler, but I can make a pass that will electrify the crowd just as much. I get a great deal of excitement from setting up my teammates, especially for an easy basket. Those assists on easy hoops help everyone's confidence. It's the best feeling in the game." - (Steve Nash, 1996)
ROLL THE TAPE
THE BEGINNING
THE SKILL
THE PERFORMANCE
THE ARTIFACT
