Nash: Players Shouldn't Be Judged On Titles

[Canomad]

what do you think of this. some people will say spoken like a true looser others will agree with him. i am on the fence about it. championships are what every player strives for in every sport, but not every player is lucky enough to win a title. look at players like malone, barkley, stockton, ewing, and (NFL) marino, thats just from the top of my head but there are plenty others. i think your impact on the game, and how you played your whole career should determine how you should be judged as a player. i mean darko won a title as a rookie but he had nothing to do with the pistons winning that does not set him apart from any player in the NBA. thoughts?

[doozyj]

It doesn't matter whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game.
No shame in coming in second.
As long as you are having fun, nothing else matters.

"Um, Um, things that a loser says!"


A loser says what.

Stever Nash - "What"?

[MaryvalesFinest]

Way to go Nash, comming out and saying he doesn't care about winning once again like he did on that ESPN interview like a year or so ago. How did this guy win two MVP's?

[Ito]

He didn't say he didn't care about winning. He just said what many of us already know, a championship is not everything. They mean alot, to the team... but as a player they are higher awards you can get, like MVP.

[poopdamoop]

He's right. Unfortunately, since he hasn't won a title, people are gonna think of him as a loser and not put any stock into his words. If Duncan or Kobe said something like this, everybody would agree with them.

[bwilson]

I don't see him saying it doesn't matter. I see him saying he qualifies his career in basketball as successful, despite the lack of championships. There are obviously other criteria. There are lots of scrubs with rings.

[7seventynine9]

Like always, a real gm article has an incredibly misleading title. He basically said he doesnt think his career was a waste if he didnt win a title. He didnt even really say anything at all about how other people judged him. Realgm has the worst titles to stories ever.

[da.vid]

championships are overrated
LEBRON JAMES > MICHEL JORDON > KOBE

[rsavaj]

He didn't say that...

[Walid]

He didn't say that...

Exactly, I hate how people blow things way out of proportion. Nash meant that it was very fortunate for him to lead a good life in basketball, but even if he didn't win a championship, he's still not feeling down about it, his hard work still paid off.

[Mars]

When based on the words he actually spoke, Nash is absolutely correct.

“I’m not one of those people that feel if you don’t win a title everything was for naught,” Nash said. “Only one team wins it and a lot of times there is luck involved.

“I don’t think it’s something you should judge yourself on. If you’re lucky enough to be on a team that wins it, you should celebrate that. I had one [college] scholarship offer, so for me to experience the things I experienced, for me to travel the world and provide for my family and to play with the amount of teammates that I’ve enjoyed playing with, there is no way I can look at it at all negatively if I don’t win a championship.”

[DEEP3CL]

He's right to a certain degree, a title won't make or break his career but most guys who are remembered the most are title winners. Besides we all know he's never going to win a title. For the Suns just making the playoffs is enough now.

[hoopskillz]

Life is a journey, not a destination.
It's the same with basketball.

[arigold24]

championships are overrated
LEBRON JAMES > MICHEL JORDON > KOBE

learn to spell

[Roger Murdock]

To be fair Nash had absolutely stacked teams around him, and always came up short and consistently made Tony Parker look like Isiah Thomas.

[draft]

Nash is not a loser. He has been a key player for two different contenders. He didn't win a title but he's shown he's a winner.

[mingus]

i pretty much agree with him. great, great player who has all the qualities of a leader. the problem is his sidekick is a moron. had it not been for one stupid mistake that resulted in a suspension, he'd probably have one.

ultimately, though, Steve Nash is a winner at life. look at what the expectations were of him coming out of High School and look at what he's accomplished now. dude is set for life.

[pillwenney]

To be fair Nash had absolutely stacked teams around him, and always came up short and consistently made Tony Parker look like Isiah Thomas.

Yeah, and very few PGs have lead their teams to titles. Nash won't historically be ranked as high as most guys that have lead teams to titles, so it's fair. But at the same time, you're right in that you do have to take context into account on things, and he had some good situations in context.

Regardless, it's tough to really place the blame on Nash for the Suns' shortcomings. The team wasn't set up for championship basketball from the beginning, and when the team did fall short, it was tough to really place blame on him. He was never the one getting suspended or injured (not that players should really be blamed for getting injured, per se). You could blame him for his D, but with his crappy D, you got his amazing offense that made the team run.

[Lake Dynasty]

People should not just the title and actually read the whole thing. I agree with what he said

[FatComputerNerd]

To be fair Nash had absolutely stacked teams around him, and always came up short and consistently made Tony Parker look like Isiah Thomas.

While Nash is not known for his defense, I don't think it is fair to use Parker as an example here. Parker is one of those guys (at least he was) who nobody could stop.

Nash will go down as a legend, and he is a shoe in for the HOF obviously.
He is also probably the best shooter in the NBA, better than "Jesus" even.