Controversial Piece on Nash

[Miklo]

I wrote a not-so-short bit on Nash for an Atlanta-area endeavor I'm taking a stab at...I didn't publish it but figured rather than just delete it I might as well post it here. Could be controversial!


With the American stock markets in a recent dramatic tumble, many of the places where we thought our money was safe have proven us wrong, forcing us to put more and more of our precious funds in our proverbial mattresses. Could the same be true for the Phoenix Suns’ onetime safe investment vehicle, recent legend Steve Nash?

The last few years have been a roller coaster ride for Suns followers. As the Stephon Marbury and Frank Johnson era came to a close, the roller coaster tracks began to slope upwards. Most attributed this upward slope largely to the introduction of Steve Nash as a Sun and the implementation of coach Mike D’Antoni’s run-and-gun style of offense. Sure enough, Nash went from being a solid Western Conference point guard to being an on-court visionary and two-time consecutive league MVP. Those around him on the court thrived as well, arguably because of opportunities created by the small quarterback with the controversial haircut. This new-look Suns organization gave fans the breath of fresh air that had been stifled by Marbury, who hogged the ball and destroyed team chemistry. The Suns could now regularly sit atop or near the top of the league in regular season wins, alleviating the constant doubt that they would make the playoffs at all.

But these regular season accomplishments may have become the peak of this wild roller coaster. The Suns’ playoff performance has not become much, if at all, more impressive under the reign of Steve Nash. Plagued by postseason injuries and erratic performances on all counts, Phoenix has all but become the laughingstock of the Western Conference playoff picture. The San Antonio Spurs among others have proven time and again that regardless of end-of-season conference standings, they are a superior playoff team. Suns fans quickly became disenchanted with D’Antoni, who proved deserving of those sentiments when he left the team in search of a richer contract, a la Joe Johnson.

The real story of the Suns’ drama, however, may be less talked about and occurring more subtly. It may be packed into a Canadian former footballer and current basketballer who has always been good, sometimes been better, and recently been amazing. Most would argue that Nash is the catalyst that keeps the Phoenix squad performing, and they are probably right. But what is the definition of “performing”? It certainly means playing an exciting style of basketball fueled by flashy passes and wildly off-balance jumpshots. It definitely means an all-but-guaranteed annual playoff berth. But it does not seem to indicate a powerhouse performance in the win-or-go-home postseason. As mentioned above, this may be defining of the peak of the Suns recent history. And what if the roller coaster track is now entering a downhill?

With much of the blame being directed towards coaching and management shortcomings, Nash has largely dodged a bullet. But the Suns roster is aging quickly, and the window of opportunity is narrowing. Additionally, Shaq has and Robin Lopez will slow down the offensive system and new coach Terry Porter will focus a bit less on a high-paced offense and a bit more on defense. Nash has not performed anywhere near his peak when he is involved in more of a half-court offense, and he certainly can’t play defense well. While there has not been much noise to this effect, doesn’t it look like the Suns organization is selling the stock of Steve Nash short, much like stock traders are dumping bank stocks a mile per minute? Phoenix’s front office is looking for a backup to Nash who would allow the 34-year-old some time to rest during the regular season. In addition, they have the young D.J. Strawberry under contract and are vying to bring developing draftee Goran Dragic to America as soon as possible.

While this opinion will prove to be a bit extreme and potentially controversial, maybe the Suns should be shooting higher and making a play in the trade market at a point guard who could crack the starting lineup as early as next year. Perhaps this would provide insurance in the event of yet another failed stab at a playoff title, and a chance for Nash to fill a more efficient role as a veteran backup come October 2009. He could still play 25-plus minutes a game next season in this scenario but how much longer can the man carry this struggling team, and will he be the same MVP-caliber team leader under the Suns’ latest coaching regime? Well either way, this will be a defining year for Steve Nash. This season will be a chance for the team and its famous point guard to reach a new level – or for the era to end with no more fruition than the last.

[eastsidecrossover]

I am not high on this Dragic cat at all. I think he will most likely be a nice role player someday, but in no way replace the production of what Nash has given this team. The suns obviously could of IMO made a stronger play for a back up in Chalmers, who I think will be in this league a long time and be a better PG than Dragic.

However, I will disagree to a point with your post, and putting blame on Nash. If you look at it, it is a "TEAM" problem why the suns did not get all the way. Injuries, bad calls, getting off the bench on a cheap shot, a face plant, a coach that runs 7 guys into the ground, ignorance and so forth all plays into why the suns fell short each year. Nash has his flaws, but the guy is old, has weaknesses, but is still considered one of the best pg's in the league at his age and with his deficiencies.

Payton Manning, or Tom Brady, some of the most unauthentic QB’s in the game do well. Why? Because they have a great team around them, that overcomes their weaknesses, and a coaching staff who understands them and works to over come these weaknesses. There has never been harmony with our teams weaknesses and our coaching staff. It has alwaysed been masked with we have to score more.

Next is, the half court offense. To state that he will not be as affective shows your blindness of his talent as a PG. A PG is the QB of this team. He sets it up, makes plays when needed. His stats may come down, but does the team run efficiently with him at the helm remains to be seen. I personally think it will be just fine. You have to find what is his strengths in a half court offense, and that is easy to see to me. It was not an all run and gun style of team, they had to pull it out and pass the ball around at times. I think what hurt them is that the lack of coaching on half court offense and defense. They did not know how to rotate, screen and get open looks when we slowed it down. You also had team mates that were single tract minds, or cry babies. Amare is a stud, but lacks on the defensive side, the fundamentals. Barbosa is a scoring machine, but his weaknesses hurt us big time. He has the attributes to be a pg, and be a good defender, and is horrible. Bell was a stud on the D side until his ego got too big and thought he was more than what he is. This team was also mentally weak too.

Kerr is smart to find a way to save nash. He has seen that he has been overplayed each year by MD. The facts are in the first rd when he usually does not perform well. A half court offense will help to save his legs and back, same with having games off. The playoffs are most important, and Kerr gets that.

Last is, he was performing at a higher level then most have ever seen, and at an age most start to see a decline. At 34, he is still one of the best pgs.

Nash has played above his contract that looks like a bargain as of late.

Nash also has a very high bball IQ, and determination. If this team comes into camp, determined to win it, overcome their weaknesses and play as a TEAM, then they have the talent as a TEAM to win it all.

[BigDaddyPR]

What it is so controversial about this??? Seems pretty accurate to me.....

[lilfishi22]

I actually am quite high on Dragic. I think it's silly to assume that Dragic is being brought in to replace the production of Nash, there may only be about 3-5 players in the league who can do what Nash does. But I do agree, he will be a solid role player.

Nash is 34, isn't getting any younger or faster, and the only way for him to improve from now on is to play smart. Which is difficult considering how high his basketball IQ is already. The team that has been put around him the past few seasons, is what i call a championship calibre team. No matter how you look at it, they "could've" won in any of the last 4 seasons. I love watching D'Antoni's 7 seconds or less basketball, but it was this system and his coaching that was this teams strength and weakness. It gave us an annual playoff berth.

But D'Antoni played our starters upwards of 38min a game, for 82 games and expect the same production out of these starters in gruelling 7 game series in which half-court basketball is king. He essentially buried Nash into the ground with the kind of minutes he was playing in the regular season, leaving him to play with only his will and determination to win. Not just that, i remember in the spurs series in 06 when I saw Nash getting no help from his teammates because they simply didn't know how to play a half court game. He was being hustled by one of the best defenders in the game (Bowen) and you can see the other guys just standing in their position, (Stoudemire-around the basket, expectin an alleyoop; Bell/Barbosa-3pt line, waiting for a pass out). Nash literally made every single play, because the rest of the team didn't know how to rotate and play a half court set.

I am glad (though not at first) we finally got a more conventional coach, who preaches defense, and though i don't particularly like the Shaq trade, I'm glad Kerr is making positive (trying at least) moves to get Nash a backup.

Nash does have his flaws, but for a 34 year old, he's doing a damn fine job. I don't think Nash has to prove anything to anyone other than to himself. When he came to PHX people complained about giving him such a big contract, for an "old" and slow pg. He's certainly beaten those critics down and the biggest critic he has to please right now is himself, with a ring.

If our players come to practice with a championship in mind, i think we can win it all this year.

[Miklo]

First of all, thanks a lot for your thorough reply/critique. I was hoping to get some people steamed up and get a good intelligent discussion going. Some of your points are exactly the reason I didn't publish this, just things I didn't think out very much; I disagree with some of your other points. To start out, I feel like the number 1 thing I need to clarify is that I'm as big of a Nash fan as anyone. I have his jersey as well as a progression of photos from Canada all the way through the Suns hanging on my wall, so its definitely not that I'm blind of his talent. I find that I learn more in writing sometimes if I take the opposite point of view than I would normally take. I guess my point, and this is where I should have fleshed it out more, encompasses exactly what you said - the adaptation to a different type of offense means a big change for Nash, no matter how you look at it or what your predictions are. We've seen him play in offensive situations similar to what we may see this season, and he's played well. BUT I think it does shift the emphasis away from him a bit, and while he will still be a top 5 PG this coming season, and quite possibly next season, he won't be DRIVING the team quite as much.

While I agree that shortcomings were not by any means limited to Nash (and the majority if you listed them out would obviously be attributable to other than Nash), I feel that he is responsible for more of them than just his direct shortcomings. See, for me it comes down to the fundamental concept of team leadership. Your stress on the team as a unit is very important; however the one or two guys who emerge as team leaders are the face of the team. A team must operate as a unit to succeed and to win. But in this league, that's not enough. The Lakers started to get really good when they started playing more like a team this season, but you still have Kobe front and center and you have the Lakers winning when he does well, and losing (in general) when he doesn't. If you want to be a true LEADER, you have to lead in times of success and you have to lead in times of adversity.

And Nash...well, he wants to be and he is our team leader. Like it or not, Marbury was our team leader (which is why we did so damn bad). Marbury pushed the ball up the court, didn't hesitate to take big shots, etc, but he didn't understand your concept of teamwork. He choked when it mattered, too. Nash understands the concept of teamwork perfectly, but in many of the games that matter he has failed to turn it on and play the best game of his life. If the Lakers play a crappy playoff game and nobody does well, you hear that Kobe wasn't able to pull it off. If the Heat fall down and get knocked out of the playoffs in the first round (if they were to make the first round), then its "can Wade really bring the team to the next level?" no matter how poorly your Haslems and the refs do. And that's justified. Look at the winners in this league over the years. You always have your one or two (or if you're really lucky, three) guys who DETERMINE whether the team can win it all or go home. Rondo can go 2 for 13 and dish out 1 assist with 4 TO's, and the refs can decide a game with a bad call, and Ray Allen can get injured but if KG and Pierce also don't do well then how could the team have won even if the other mishaps didn't happen? Joe Johnson can get hurt, refs can make horrible calls, Hill can get hurt, Horry can make a move that he should be put in jail for, etc, etc, etc but when Nash plays at a level 10 during the season and he plays even at an 8 in the playoffs, then how CAN the team do well?

And if Nash does great but the rest of the team plays badly, its not Barbosa's fault for choking, or Hill's fault for getting injured, its why didn't Nash, our general, figure out what DID work and laugh in the face of adversity? Kobe played at an extraordinarily high level the last few years (82 points?!?!), but his team didn't make a splash at all. And that's his fault. It wasn't until he started respecting and trusting his teammates, that almost the exact same team started doing very well (before Gasol even).

That's my point. Nash is one of the best PG's in history and I MYSELF feel that he's spectacular as a leader. And you can't get anywhere close to winning a championship without superb teamwork. But stepping into the shoes of devil's advocate here for a second, if the team fails, the leader failed. Look at any team's ups and downs through history, and track the leader's ups and downs on the same timeline.

So if the team comes to camp and says this is it, we actually have a chance to play as a team now that DA is gone, and Nash comes with that determination you refer to and I love and says I will unequivocally lead the hell out of this team, and take full responsibility when we fall down and push everyone to their highest level, then I can't begin to describe my excitement.

[NashtyNas]

What it is so controversial about this??? Seems pretty accurate to me.....

No offense, but clearly, you don't understand what Nash has done for the Suns. I agree on what the OP said about Nash's weakness', but name one player that is or was ever PERFECT (other than MJ). Flaw's will always be present in players, they are human beings after all. I like how the second post summarized that Nash isn't to blame, its the whole team. But I wouldn't even blame any players except for JJ. I would clearly blame Mike D'Antoni and his lack of true coaching. Also, his stupidity during drafts when he was the GM cost us big. The biggest problem? Our owner. He was selling picks left and right. Then you go and trade for SHAQ? If you wanted to be under the capspace so bad that you traded TWO first rounders along with a servicable big (who by the way killed your team in the playoffs because of his defence) then you couldve just sold the team instead. C'mon. We got NOTHING in return, gave up a guy that ended up helping the Spurs defend SHAQ, and lost 2 first rounders in the process? Sweet deal. Then, lets move to the other mistakes. Not drafting Iggy, which lead to signing a useless Q-RICH and acquiring Kurt Thomas in the first place. Also, it lead to us NOT drafting another important guy that wouldve been perfect for us, Rondo. Then there's the trading 2 draft picks for $6million, which turned out to be RUDY FERNANDEZ (a stud shooting gaurd at 2mil/yr isnt bad you know?) and Sergio Rodriguez (ok, so this may have been the only smart pick we let go..) But looking at who was left, there were shooters (Gibson), energy bigs (Millsap, Powe) and SF's that would've helped our team (Brewer) when we picked. Let's not even talk about signing Boris to the deal he got and then sending him to the bench. Imagine what Hill could've caused off the bench with Barbosa? The SHAQ trade I believe was the smartest thing Kerr did, along with the Hill signing. Unfortunately, Mike had fkd up our roster too much to fix it with one move. Kerr is on the right track. Mike had to go. If you want to blame anyone for us not winning a championship, it's clearly going to have to be D'Antoni, and Sarver.

[NashtyNas]

First of all, thanks a lot for your thorough reply/critique. I was hoping to get some people steamed up and get a good intelligent discussion going. Some of your points are exactly the reason I didn't publish this, just things I didn't think out very much; I disagree with some of your other points. To start out, I feel like the number 1 thing I need to clarify is that I'm as big of a Nash fan as anyone. I have his jersey as well as a progression of photos from Canada all the way through the Suns hanging on my wall, so its definitely not that I'm blind of his talent. I find that I learn more in writing sometimes if I take the opposite point of view than I would normally take. I guess my point, and this is where I should have fleshed it out more, encompasses exactly what you said - the adaptation to a different type of offense means a big change for Nash, no matter how you look at it or what your predictions are. We've seen him play in offensive situations similar to what we may see this season, and he's played well. BUT I think it does shift the emphasis away from him a bit, and while he will still be a top 5 PG this coming season, and quite possibly next season, he won't be DRIVING the team quite as much.

So if the team comes to camp and says this is it, we actually have a chance to play as a team now that DA is gone, and Nash comes with that determination you refer to and I love and says I will unequivocally lead the hell out of this team, and take full responsibility when we fall down and push everyone to their highest level, then I can't begin to describe my excitement.

See, i agree with you that if the leader fails the team fails, and if the team fails, the leader fails. But is the same amount of credit given to nash when they win games? I doubt it, and i know its not. Now your argument will be he won 2 MVPS. Thats the past. im talking NOW. Nash goes for 15-12 and stoudemire for 23-9. Who will be the "leader" according to the media, press, fans, of the game and team for that game? STAT. I have nothing against Amare, because its not his fault, but he is given credit when others deserve it more (others meaning Nash). There will always be someone who scores more, but Nash allowed him to score more, and people seem to forget that. You cant get down on Nash for not performing in the playoffs. Look at SHAQ, Barbosa, Bell, and then we'll talk. I dont even want to blame anybody. It was fate. How often does Tim Duncan SHOOT a 3 to even make it? That game took everything away from the team mentally, yet they almost won game 2 in SA aswell, and when they lost that, we all knew the series was over. 2 Losses where you've led the whole game take a lot of mental toll on you. But forget this year, Nash has been our leader for a while and he HAS said EVERY year in camp that he will lead the team and has done it. He did give it his 100%, and failed because the Spurs, experienced as they are at playing us, know that if you make Nash a SCORER, then the Suns suffer. That's their tactic every game versus the Suns, and that seems to work. Plus, shooting over someone 5 inches taller than you (Bowen) is hard, even for a great shooter like Nash. I completely disagree that anyone should blame him for not being our leader, because he's given everything he has for this team. He will be our leader till he retires, which may be a while from now because we will resign him for like a 3yr/9mil contract to be a veteran backup. He hasnt declined THAT much, and will be a quality player for the next two years and after his contract expires, if he decides to continue to play, he will be a solid backup to play 15-20mpg. Dragic could take over the reigns then. But back on topic, as a Canadian, im proud of what Nash has done. He went from a small town boy who was rejected everywhere he went, even by Dallas, to prove that he has what it takes to succeed. I've been to one of his camps and talked to him in person, and he is an extremely nice guy. I live about 20KM away from his hometown of Victoria, British Columbia, and everytime he comes to Vancouver for Pre-Season Games i've gotten something autographed. He's a quality personality and will be remembered in the Suns Franshice as the guy who revived the team from the shi*bary days..

[Miklo]

Just quickly, I disagree with your point about Nash not getting credit for good things. Amare doesn't get called the leader just because he scores more. In the media's eye it is always "Nash's Suns". He gets the credit for everything that the Suns have become which is WHY I think he deserves some credit for the things the Suns have not become. But again just so I can save face around here this is not fully my opinion. I do feel a lot of the argument about leadership is valid, but obviously Nash is my personal hero just as much as the next guy's.

[NashtyNas]

Thing is, the other guys ARE given more credit than nash (these days, not past seasons). I don't mind it, but then you can't hold one person accountable for the mistakes either is what i was saying.