How good was Steve Nash? Can the best offensive player in the league really average just 16 points a game? What changed in 2005 to win MVP, and and why didn’t he have more success in Dallas next to Dirk Nowitkzi?
This episode is part of the the second season of the “Greatest Peaks” series. Season 2 focuses on the legends of NBA offense, examining unique archetypes, controversial players and stylistic spearheads who have influenced the game over the years.
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Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.
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https://stats.nba.com
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Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.
Music:
Fairlight (Detour in Velour)
Alter Ego (Lost)
Hair (Fairlight)
#ThinkingBasketball #OffensiveLegends
39 Comments
Nash was incredible. Definitely deserved that 05 mvp. Kobe should have gotten it in 06 though.
No he didn't start playing at an elite level until the rules changed in 2004-2005 season. He came in during the 96-97 season. He definitely benefited from the ban on handchecking
Statistically speaking Nash was a better shooter and better passer than Steph Curry and both have been MVP of League twice but for some strange reason (and don't say rings because those Super Teams that Curry played on could have won without him) Nash gets almost no love. I guess Nash wasn't cute enough.
I love your content Thinking Basketball. If you haven't already done it, I wish you would do the best two players video.
Nash was RIGHT before my time but watching these clips now he was a literal magician with the basketball its beautiful.
Another great video. Glad to see you're not on the "Steve Nash should've shot a million threes" bandwagon. But more importantly, it really gave me a greater appreciation of his impact on offense.
All the talk about his ballhandling wizadry got me wondering if we'd get a CP3 video. Would like an in-depth analysis seeing if CP3 had similar offensive impact. Would like to see that before a Harden video (though to be fair, for this series Harden is a must).
I think if nash scored a little more (20-22 ppg) he’d not only be a top 4 PG but I think Phoenix would’ve made a finals. I’m a die hard nash guy born and raised in Phoenix but nash has even said in interviews that his biggest regret is not looking to score more
He made Stoudemire into a top 5 player in the League when he was borderline top 20 skillwise
That isn't a point guard. That's a point god. He's definitely my starting PG. What a player and what a guy.
Thanks for the great video. Keep it up
🤘
Nash was like Magic in the sense that he constantly stressed the defense with his probing and passing but more so than Magic IMHO through the probing- "Nashing" and all that.
He was like Isiah in that he could keep his handle under pressure and seemingly effortlessly careen thru the defense.
He was like the 2nd coming of Mark Price but even more efficient.
It's a real shame he's been derided for winning his two MVPs during the singular experience that was Kobe Bryant.
He is ideally who you would want your young children to learn from when studying point guard play, at least offensively.
I’m blocking this for the ridiculous clickbait lol. Nash best offensive player of a generation??? Please stop.
No I'm a huge Nash Fan but let's be real the sun's flames haaaaaard
5:51
Didnt know duncan was steve's son
are you gonna do jokic in this series or is he too modern?
Look when Nash shoots, the ball never hits the rim
sad that nash get today so much disrespect, because he didnt won a chip.
Look so unstoppable in highlight hahahahahaha.
The fact that Dwight Howard was too damn proud to run Pick N Roll with Nash, who was one of if not the BEST at that at the time is just so sad. Plus they had way too many injuries that season and it was a disaster. That 2012 Lakers just had too much wasted potential. 😢
Watching Nash in high school made me love basketball in a way I never had before. Steve Nash is my favorite basketball player of all time.
Quality video. Love seeing Nash get the respect he's due.
Players that consistently played at break-neck speed with no drop in efficiency:
Magic, Nash,
scary thing is Nash would prob be even better in todays game. He'd be encouraged to shoot way more threes and with the spacing being more spread out theres way more oppurtunities for the fast paced play style he thrived in. Imagine him with someone like a jokic to run pick and rolls? forget it.
man it looks like his teammates could not shoot.
Steve Nash was always my favorite player growing up and the guy I looked to coming up through basketball. So happy to see you do a video on him!
Finally a video that's not disrespecting this man. People were butt hurt that Shaq and Kobe didn't win more MVP's than Nash, but you really broke down how he stressed test defenses and that doesn't show up in stat sheets…The most underrated trait of Nash was that he was clutch, he'd take the last shot of the game and often make it. He'd nail critical free throws. If he shot the ball more he could have easily be a 20ppg scorer
Love Nash and the video, although I gotta say I am not always the biggest fan of the parts of these videos that show a few clips when a player misses a pass or an open man. Not even the greatest passers and playmakers, like Nash, will find the right play 100% of the time, so I don't know if it really contributes much to the picture of the great passers like Nash, Jokic, or Magic.
In the sun's prime all they literally just needed a big time defensive presence and they would have won imo. He had stupid good effectiveness all throughout the board. Just IMO was not from trying but a liability on defensive side.
Pistol Pete of his era, all the offensive skills in the world and a complete liability on defense. Never should’ve been mvp
He’s #2 to Kobe for his era imo.
Those pull-up threes and corner kick-outs looked like they could have been from the 2023 playoffs 😂. If you weren’t around in the 2000’s you have no idea how wild that it was to see that back then.
amazing video! real mvp!
I wish Steve Nash held ball handling workshops for current NBA players like Hakeem holds post up workshops. I wish Jaylen Brown could do something about his shambly ball handling.
I know this is clickbait, but Nash is obviously not the best offensive player of his generation. Also, it was never mentioned the rules changes that helped players like Nash flourish (he was 31-32 when he statistically reached his prime!) Give me Jason Kidd over Nash any day. Kidd was a WAY better defender than Nash and he carried his teams to the finals TWICE with his playmaking ability. Nash looked really good playing D'Antoni's system, but his system never won anything. It's a saying as old as the game itself, but defense wins championships.
One the most disrespected superstar in league history. Glad he got a 30 minute video analysis from you.
Just so we're on the same page….Tim Donaghy was doing his ref betting thing during this timeframe right?
So it’s safe to say nash did most of his damage against the spurs 😂
Did he ONLY play against the spurs like dang
Thanks for the informative Nash video. I very much enjoyed watching especially as a Nash Fan. First video to watch on your channel and already subscribed!