Who was better, Nash or KJ?

[Mr. Sun]

Saw this: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/4335 ... oint-guard

So, who is the best point guard to play on the Phoenix Suns? That belongs to Kevin Johnson. He is everything that Nash isn't. He plays defense, he can score, he's athletic, he could shoot, he could distribute the ball, and he got the Suns to the NBA Finals with Charles Barkley and Dan Majerle against the Chicago Bulls.

Johnson only had three years averaging under double figures in points. Steve Nash has gone four years without averaging double figures. Career highs in turnovers per game in a season? Nash was at 3.8, while Kevin Johnson was at 4.0.

Their career highs in assist per game over one season was 11.6 assists per game for Nash, and 12.2 assists per game for Johnson.

[walkingart]

Nash's career has not been riddled with injuries keeping him on the sidelines for major portions of 5 seasons, almost half his career.

It was not KJ who led the team to the finals, it was Barkley.

Nash should pass KJ for total career points this season and has already passed him for total assists.

I would give the nod to Nash for the shear fact that KJ spent so much of his career injured. On their best days, KJ was a superior player, but those days were far too few for me to give him the nod over Nash.

[rsavaj]

KJ for me. He was a 2-way player.

[pidi]

since now i also think kj was better. it wasn´t only charles barkley who led us to the finals..

[Sun Scorched]

If only Nash had a couple of highlight reel dunks like this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifx_gRF-ouU&feature=related

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqoSdFdVlzo&feature=related

I've bored my friends with this topic more than I care to admit... but humor me.

Suppose Nash can still dunk. I propose that there is no way we could lose a game in which Nash decided to go airborne... We could be down by 20 going into the 4th, but if Nash lit a fire and took it to the rim, our team would get so fired up, we just simply couldn't lose. The crowd would either be deafening or completely silent, depending on whether or not we were at home.

...My theory? I think he's saving it for Game 7 of the NBA Finals this or next year. You know, kind of like the pinaccle of his career. Go out with a bang, Elway style....

[Sun Scorched]

KJ's response to the Olajuwon dunk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kidpegzfFc&feature=related

[garrick]

It's hard to say who is better because KJ played in the hand checking physical NBA of the ninties and Nash has played his best years in the no contact on the perimeter NBA of the 2000's.

One thing KJ could not do very well was shoot three pointers, Nash is a much better shooter overall. However Kj was a better slasher, a better athlete and a better defensive player.

[eastsidecrossover]

Two different kind of PG's IMO. Nash is the leader of this team, and KJ was not the leader back in the day. To me, Nash is better with the ball than KJ ever was. Better shooter and passer. KJ was speed and athletic. Played D, but turned the ball over too much and took bad shots at times.

I would go with Nash over KJ. Hes made his mates better, and has recieved two MVP's.

[NashtyNas]

^ The MVP's aren't really anything if your team doesn't win stuff. As much as I am a Nash fan because I am Canadian, and from the same city as Nash, (well, he's from Victoria, I'm from Vancouver. Right beside each other ) I think his defensive deficiencies have been showing up TOO much since the Marion trade. In the Spurs series, the main reason we lost was the fact that Nash couldn't gaurd Tony, nor could he guard Manu. As great a defender as Bell is, he can't take two defensive assignments at the same time. I would gladly take KJ over Nash. I think KJ is VERY similar to Baron Davis... anyone agree with me or not.

[amitg]

there was no need for nash to guard either one.
bowen was guarding him, and he should've guarded bowen.
the big problem was that MD assigned nash to guard tony, which didn't work out (surprise) and exhausted him as well...

[JohnVancouver]

there was no need for nash to guard either one.
bowen was guarding him, and he should've guarded bowen.
the big problem was that MD assigned nash to guard tony, which didn't work out (surprise) and exhausted him as well...

-- I wonder what the thinking was there?

[Togo]

I have to go with KJ on this one. KJ prime put up 21 and 12. Nash 18 and 11. I also believe KJ played in a tougher league.

[Go7enKs]

The first part of the quote is BS: "He is everything that Nash isn't. He plays defense, he can score, he's athletic, he could shoot, he could distribute the ball..."

True, Nash doesn't play defense. But Nash can score, and he can shoot, and much better than KJ. So that sentence is incorrect.

I'm not saying Nash is better, just saying that quote is simple BS.

[walkingart]

What is really poor about the comparison is that KJ came into the league more prepared and started to make an impact a lot earlier on his career, while Nash didn't start to contibute until his 5th season in the league. Making statistical comparisons between the two biased towards KJ.

At this point in KJ's career, he was retired after averaging single digits for the first time since his rookie campaign; Nash on the other hand is still considered by most to be an elite PG in the league which was displayed by his naming to the second team All NBA last season.

Had KJ been able to stay healthy, and display more longevity to his game, then I think this would be a great debate that would be favored in KJ's favor.

[toucansma]

Does it matter? I know its a discussion board so that's what we are doing. However I think they were awesome in their own right. They were different types of players, in different types of situations.

[bjebaz]

Results wise in the playoffs, KJ has done at least as good. He was the best player on 2 Conference Finals teams - both teams didn't have another player the caliber of Amare or Marion (no, I don't think Chambers is as good as either of those two). And he guarded Jordan in the Finals. Jordan would score 80+ points against Nash, and I'm not exaggerating.

Put a healthy KJ on the Suns the last four years, they would have beaten the Spurs at least once, probably more. He would have absolutely owned Parker on both ends of the floor.

And I don't think Nash would have been the leader of those Barkley era teams. It would have been like how he was with Dallas with Dirk. Barkley needed the ball in his hands a lot.

I don't even want to picture what a KJ/Amare pick and roll would have looked like. That would have been disgusting. I don't know how the hell a team would stop that.

[BurningHeart]

Gotta go with KJ. Nothing against Nash, but if KJ had been able to stay healthy, he'd be going down in the annals with guys like Magic.