OT - Shai the Greatest Canadian NBA Player if he wins a chip?

[Blazing_royale]

Just food for thought. I don't know if many consider him already the greatest NBA Canadian player already but if he does win the chip this year does that solidify him as the greatest Canadian basketball player ever?

[MessiahUjiri]

I think yes. Add a poll.

Nash was never number 1 option good.

[Blazing_royale]

I think yes. Add a poll.

Nash was never number 1 option good.

Done. Added the poll.

[Raps in 4]

Absolutely. He's already had a better regular season than Nash ever did.

[ArthurVandelay]

100%

And he is just 26. More to hopefully come.

Canada has come a long way from Bill Wennington

[Mikistan]

For sure

[Clutch0z24]

Nash was deff the best but Shai has taken the lead...Nash MVPs were more based on team success...Shai is a legit top 5 player in the league....He will be the best Canadian to touch a basketball...

[Los_29]

I think he already surpassed Nash with the season he just had. Incredible player.

[tsherkin]

Nash was never number 1 option good.

2006 Suns called and asked you to revise your opinion.

[MessiahUjiri]

Nash was never number 1 option good.

2006 Suns called and asked you to revise your opinion.

Wrong. Even then, Marion was the number one option when Amare went down.

Nash never cracked 20ppg even once. Guys like CP3 and Nash are not number one scoring options, despite being all time great floor generals.

[tsherkin]

Wrong. Even then, Marion was the number one option when Amare went down.

*sad trombone*

If you think the 3 extra ppg Marion scored while running out in transition made him their first option, you need to rewatch some of those games. Nash was an 18.8 ppg scorer on that team who ran the offense and was their primary possession initiator with dribble drives and PnR.

He was absolutely their focal option. Marion ran routes in transition and hit the offensive glass, as well as cutting off-ball. He didn't start possessions, he just finished them. He was a horrible isolation scorer with a bad post game who scored efficiently only when he had a strong PG setting him up.

[Westside Gunn]

Ya'll are showing major disrespect to Jamal Murray here

Steve Nash is a paper Canadian like Gretszki - screw em both

[ontnut]

Nash was amazing, and somehow underrated for just how much offense he actually generated. But we know about his defensive woes too. Shai is an offense unto himself in a different way than Nash, so you could argue who was more valuable there. But defensively, it's a no contest. And Shai will have a ring as the clear-cut #1 option. So...yeah.

[ontnut]

Ya'll are showing major disrespect to Jamal Murray here

Steve Nash is a paper Canadian like Gretszki - screw em both

I like Murray, but Shai's just better than him at every aspect of the game...

[ontnut]

Nash was never number 1 option good.

2006 Suns called and asked you to revise your opinion.

Wrong. Even then, Marion was the number one option when Amare went down.

Nash never cracked 20ppg even once. Guys like CP3 and Nash are not number one scoring options, despite being all time great floor generals.

The original Hali + Siakam.

[TheGeneral99]

Nash was never number 1 option good.

2006 Suns called and asked you to revise your opinion.

Wrong. Even then, Marion was the number one option when Amare went down.

Nash never cracked 20ppg even once. Guys like CP3 and Nash are not number one scoring options, despite being all time great floor generals.

Nash averaged 24ppg in the 2005 playoffs and 20.4ppg in the 2006 playoffs, being the Suns #1 option in the playoffs.

I think its pretty well documented that Nash could have easily averaged well over 20ppg if he chose to was and was the guy that routinely closed out for games for the Suns.

[tsherkin]

2006 Suns called and asked you to revise your opinion.

Wrong. Even then, Marion was the number one option when Amare went down.

Nash never cracked 20ppg even once. Guys like CP3 and Nash are not number one scoring options, despite being all time great floor generals.

Nash averaged 24ppg in the 2005 playoffs and 20.4ppg in the 2006 playoffs, being the Suns #1 option in the playoffs.

I think its pretty well documented that Nash could have easily averaged well over 20ppg if he chose to was and was the guy that routinely closed out for games for the Suns.

Also, it remains very important to understand the difference between "leads in PPG" and "first option" in the more general sense. Watching the games, you'd get a clearer sense of how that team functioned, for sure. And as you said, the playoffs showed some other things as well.

[MessiahUjiri]

Wrong. Even then, Marion was the number one option when Amare went down.

Nash never cracked 20ppg even once. Guys like CP3 and Nash are not number one scoring options, despite being all time great floor generals.

Nash averaged 24ppg in the 2005 playoffs and 20.4ppg in the 2006 playoffs, being the Suns #1 option in the playoffs.

I think its pretty well documented that Nash could have easily averaged well over 20ppg if he chose to was and was the guy that routinely closed out for games for the Suns.

Also, it remains very important to understand the difference between "leads in PPG" and "first option" in the more general sense. Watching the games, you'd get a clearer sense of how that team functioned, for sure. And as you said, the playoffs showed some other things as well.

You can cherry pick Nash’s best year, and even then, Amare was the number one option, averaging ~30ppg.

Just because Nash was creating the offense as a PG doesn’t make him a number one scoring option. The comparison here is between Nash and SGA.

You’re being pedantic if you think guys like Nash, Scottie Barnes or Chris Paul are number one scoring options.

Anyone with a clear mind will understand that Shai is a true number one scoring option in a way that Steve Nash never was. To insist that Nash was a similar scoring threat is clearly wrong.

[tsherkin]

You can cherry pick Nash’s best year, and even then, Amare was the number one option, averaging ~30ppg.

Amare wasn't playing in 2006.

Just because Nash was creating the offense as a PG doesn’t make him a number one scoring option. The comparison here is between Nash and SGA.

He was still the focal option on offense, though. There is a difference between number one option and highest scoring player, which was my point.

You’re being pedantic if you think guys like Nash, Scottie Barnes or Chris Paul are number one scoring options.

No, you aren't discerning the difference between "number one option" or "offensive focus" and "number one scoring option."

Anyone with a clear mind will understand that Shai is a true number one scoring option in a way that Steve Nash never was. To insist that Nash was a similar scoring threat is clearly wrong.

Yes, Shai is obviously much different as a scorer compared to Nash, I didn't say otherwise. That was your weird inference. You said "number 1 option" and didn't specify that you only wanted to discuss volume scoring output, and the piece I quoted said nothing about Shai at all. That's your mistake.

But Nash is also a better scorer than most people realize, as he showed in the playoffs, and a CONSIDERABLY superior playmaker, which changes things around some. He could and did elevate his scoring when he needed to. Not to 30 ppg overall a whole season, obviously, but that was never the point. His offensive impact was immense, which is what makes this an interesting discussion. The fact that Shai is a higher-volume scorer than Nash isn't the end of that discussion, either.

[TheGeneral99]

Nash averaged 24ppg in the 2005 playoffs and 20.4ppg in the 2006 playoffs, being the Suns #1 option in the playoffs.

I think its pretty well documented that Nash could have easily averaged well over 20ppg if he chose to was and was the guy that routinely closed out for games for the Suns.

Also, it remains very important to understand the difference between "leads in PPG" and "first option" in the more general sense. Watching the games, you'd get a clearer sense of how that team functioned, for sure. And as you said, the playoffs showed some other things as well.

You can cherry pick Nash’s best year, and even then, Amare was the number one option, averaging ~30ppg.

Just because Nash was creating the offense as a PG doesn’t make him a number one scoring option. The comparison here is between Nash and SGA.

You’re being pedantic if you think guys like Nash, Scottie Barnes or Chris Paul are number one scoring options.

Anyone with a clear mind will understand that Shai is a true number one scoring option in a way that Steve Nash never was. To insist that Nash was a similar scoring threat is clearly wrong.

Amare never averaged 30ppg.

He averaged 26ppg in 2005, missed the entire 2006 season, averaged 20ppg in 2007, 25ppg in 2008 etc.

Nevertheless, someone mentioned Nash in 2006, Amare was injured that entire season and Nash averaged nearly 20ppg on low volume and led the Suns to the conference finals.

Nash was also the guy who routinely closed games for the Suns, Amare was pretty raw offensively, especially in the mid-2000s, and was an incredible pick and roll finisher and explosive monster around the rim.

I don't think anyone here is arguing Nash is a better scorer than SGA...there is no doubt that SGA is the better scorer, but Nash's scoring is significantly underrated.