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I was always an avid admirer of Steve Nash throughout his career. I always believed the two MVP's were deserved (despite what detractors argued) and that they were a justified reflection of Canada's greatest NBA talent to date.

However, today, I watch a player of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's ilk and immediately I believe that I'm witnessing the greatest canadian-born player who has ever lived.

I don't think it's an exaggeration. His bag is absolutely insane. He's virtually un-guardeable in every sense of the word. He can score from any direction, from any level, with supreme efficiency and grace. It borders on Kobe-level dominance night in night out.

Am I crazy?

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Yes and he still has room to grow.

Only thing missing from his resume is deep playoff runs and longevity.

If Nash played in this era and was a tad bit more selfish he would have put up monster numbers.

With that being said I would have to agree, he is the greatest Canadian player of all time. I mean, he is like the steph curry of the mid range (in that he is taking these crazy high level of difficulty shots while remaining super efficient), he is changing the game. He is showing people that you can truly be efficient while taking these crazy contested difficult mid range shots. He is what Kobe was if Kobe was more efficient. Obviously Kobe had that next level drive. Shai is an amazing player.

Easily, yes.

Shai is quickly catching Nash

Yessir and I can't wait to watch him at the Olympics

Yes although Nash still has title for the most decorated for now - 2 MVPs and playoff success.

Shai is good enough to win at least 1 MVP but multiple MVPs is pretty difficult.

If Nash played in this era and was more selfish, he would have been a monster too. He could be a Curry lite.

In all seriousness, Leo's journey is pretty insane given the state of Canada basketball at the time. I'm obviously not claiming he's the most talented, but dude is a legend in his own right that we kinda just gloss over out of familiarity.

As for your question, only Nash and SGA come to mind. I know SGA is the sexier player, but let his accolades catch up to Nash a bit.

Wish we had him...

Easily.

Nash is a 2x MVP and is probably the closest player I’ve seen to Curry in the sense that he was the only player that could do what he was doing as a system. Shai is insane but I don’t k ow that he’s at Nash’s peak yet; he has a shot at passing him but he’s got some ground to make up.

Yes he is

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canz55 wrote:I was always an avid admirer of Steve Nash throughout his career. I always believed the two MVP's were deserved (despite what detractors argued) and that they were a justified reflection of Canada's greatest NBA talent to date.

However, today, I watch a player of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's ilk and immediately I believe that I'm witnessing the greatest canadian-born player who has ever lived.

I don't think it's an exaggeration. His bag is absolutely insane. He's virtually un-guardeable in every sense of the word. He can score from any direction, from any level, with supreme efficiency and grace. It borders on Kobe-level dominance night in night out.

Am I crazy?

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He's putting up offensive percentages that MJ did.

I remember when he was drafted I thought he was basically a better Delon Wright. The difference became that he could do what he did in college at the NBA level while Delon could not. Never thought he’d be this good but yes he was very naturally talented from day one with the Clippers.

Nash made his teammates a lot better.

Why does OKC have to be so good. My single hope for this franchise was dependent on Shai demanding out lol.

ForeverTFC wrote:Nash is a 2x MVP and is probably the closest player I’ve seen to Curry in the sense that he was the only player that could do what he was doing as a system. Shai is insane but I don’t k ow that he’s at Nash’s peak yet; he has a shot at passing him but he’s got some ground to make up.

If the debate was on career I would definitely agree with you, but since it's about talent, I'd have to give the edge to Shai

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I still might go with Nash…for now.

50-40-90 while dishing out 10+ assists? His scoring numbers could have been a lot higher but he never averaged more than 13.6 FGA or 4.7 3PA.

gp2015 wrote:Yes although Nash still has title for the most decorated for now - 2 MVPs and playoff success.

Shai is good enough to win at least 1 MVP but multiple MVPs is pretty difficult.

If Nash played in this era and was more selfish, he would have been a monster too. He could be a Curry lite.

If he played in this era, he would have been more selfish. He even says he regrets not being more selfish because it would have been for the betterment of the teams he was on if he was.

Nash's efficiency being as good as it was is even more impressive if you look at how he did it. He didn't take that many 3's or get to the FT line and he's obviously not athletic enough to be getting easy baskets at the rim. His shot making ability is crazy underrated. He never looked to score as a first option either so when he did, he was often shooting grenades late in the clock that he and created for himself. Only 16% of his 2 point FG's over his career were assisted. It's really not difficult to extrapolate the kind of numbers he could have put up in this era with more of an emphasis on scoring the ball.

So far, yes. If you talk about raw talent - wiggins probably had more. But he plateaued because I don’t think his heart has really been in the game.

Forgot about Nash. Don’t think he had the raw talent. He def paid his dues. I mean, all pro athletes do. No question - even wiggins. But/and it comes easier to some. I think Shai has the physical attributes and the drive to be the GOAT Canadian, and at worst the best of this generation.

It’s gonna be hard to top Stevie Canada.