Was Steve Nash the best offensive player of his generation? | Offense Legends Ep. 4
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- čas přidán 14. 05. 2024
- How good was Steve Nash? Can the best offensive player in the league really average just 16 points a game? What changed in 2005 to win MVP, and and why didn't he have more success in Dallas next to Dirk Nowitkzi?
This episode is part of the the second season of the "Greatest Peaks" series. Season 2 focuses on the legends of NBA offense, examining unique archetypes, controversial players and stylistic spearheads who have influenced the game over the years.
Footage: www.usasportsondvd.com
Support at Patreon: / thinkingbasketball
Book: www.amazon.com/Thinking-Baske...
Podcast: player.fm/series/thinking-bas... or at www.stitcher.com/podcast/ben-...
Website: www.backpicks.com
Twitter: @elgee35
Ben Taylor is the author of Thinking Basketball, a Nylon Calculus contributor, creator of the Backpicks Top 40 series & host of the Thinking Basketball podcast.
Stats courtesy:
www.pbpstats.com @bballport
www.basketball-reference.com
stats.nba.com
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Footage in this video is owned by the NBA and its partners. It is intended for critique and education.
Music:
Fairlight (Detour in Velour)
Alter Ego (Lost)
Hair (Fairlight)
#ThinkingBasketball #OffensiveLegends - Sport
Knew this one was coming Nash gets so disrespected by most fans especially when talking about his MVPs but in reality he’s one of the very best offensive players of all time. Thanks Ben!! 🏀
People who say that know nothing about bball and shouldn't be taken seriously. He's a top 10 offensive player of all time
@@JIT-sz4tftop 5
There aren't many players who can take 29-53 team that's 21st in offense and turn them into a 62-20 team with the #1 offense with the same coach and same roster. Larry Bird is another such player that comes to mind.
@@back2back379Yeah but Jason Kidd did something very similar with Nets a few years earlier but actually took them to Finals two years in a row and no MVP and that's why people call politics on Steve Nash. Yes his first is a no brainer, but Kidd's should have been too. The second is where people can definitely talk politics.
@@rashb3994 Yes Kidd did something similar, and he did place 2nd for MVP voting in a pretty close race, but at the same time, his team also did not get the best record in the league (5th in the league), unlike Nash's team. I'd also say Kidd's impact stats weren't very high, being 52nd in Win Shares per 48 isn't all that eye-popping. Making the Finals also doesn't play into regular season MVP obviously. Don't get me wrong though, Kidd obviously had a huge impact.
From 2002 to 2010 this dude led a team that was either 1st or 2nd in offensive rating. That is frickin insane! Suns were 21st in offensive rating WITH Dantoni. He joins them the next year and theyre IMMEDIATELY No.1. He turned a 29-53 team to 62-20 in one season. Three straight years of being a top 5 player in the league from 2005-2007. COnsistently was a playoff riser
@@DR-qd7go so Amare is getting you 33 wins?
@@DR-qd7go amare played 80 games in 2004-05. He played 55 games in 2003-04. SO he played 25 less games.The closest evidence we have to see how many games the suns WOULDVE won if AMare had played 80 games in 04 is by looking at their record with him in those 55 games. The Suns went 22-33 WITH Amare plying in 2003-04 meaning they won 40% of games. 40% of 25 games is 10 games meaning they probably wouldve won 10 out of those 25 games he missed. 22 + 10 = 32 games so the closest prediction of their record with him wouldve been 32-60. So no they wouldnt have won 40 games without him at best they wouldve won 35 games. Nash still had a 25-30 game increase on the team jus by joining. Doesnt matter if its misleading or not when the final result whenever you take into account everything in context still has him having a super awesome impact
@@DR-qd7go and the reason why they won 44 in 03 and only 29 in 04 is cause marbury and hardaway were traded to new york whereas both had been on the team in 03
@@DR-qd7go also nash won 54 games in 06 WITHOUT amare the entire season
@@DR-qd7go if he only just "benefitted from Dantoni's system" then why were the Mavericks 1st in offensive rating from 2002 to 2004 when he was on there. And Dantoni who coached the suns for 61 games in 2003-04 had the 21st rated offense. U gotta make it make sense man
The most underrated part of Steve Nash was his toughness. Dude would play through anything.
@@DR-qd7goI mean an almost 40 years old dude with spondylolisthesis
@@DR-qd7go bro you probably weigh 300 pounds
**Breaks nose back into place like its nothing**
@@JohnSmith-gn5mb probably just black.
Those moments of toughness of his on the court are still legendary
I love that Steve Nash is getting the respect he deserves. Because of his personality, people dog him now because guys like Shaq will never stop whining about losing an MVP to him. People denounce his accomplishments because he excelled mostly after they took away hand-checking as well. But Nash has been such a humble and gracious dude through it all(still friends with Shaq even after years of slander).
So I'm glad someone is highlighting his talents so they weren't forgotten or shrouded in the world of crappy morning hot takes.
Steve Nash deserved both of those MVPs.
@@gunnernathan7023you literally did not say 1 accurate thing in your whole comment
nah the second mvp was kobes@@AnthonyMcNeil
The Shaq thing is really funny because he had no case at all, lebron or kobe were way more deserving. I think he's just salty that in Shaq's opinion an "inferior" player won one more MVP than him.
@@AnthonyMcNeil crazy as fuck. He didn’t deserve any but the first one is the only one that could possibly make sense
After watching this I realized how close Nash and Curry are. Nash was a better playmaker and Curry is the best shooter ever, but the impact they have on the game is closer than I thought.
They put similar amounts of pressure on defenses, Nash does it with the ball in his hands and Curry does it moving without the ball.
Nash is actually a better shooter percentage wise look it up
@@christianhernandez60290 yeah .428 vs .427, basically the same, but the volume is quite different
Nash may be the best passer ever. Or at least #2
I wouldn't say Nash has Curry's range only White Chocolate was shooting from out there in those days. However everything from the 3 point line and under Nash was on par with Curry. Which is why I think he is better than Stockton. Nash is like giving Stockton Horchek's shooting.
Wake up, babe, new Thinking Basketball video just dropped.
A*
It's a meme or Ur girl really watch this ?
Thanks babe I’m watching it right now 😫💦
@@4thquarter5
They're crackheads that sleep all day, apparently.
My thoughts exactly
Nash is the reason I started playing. He made it look like anyone could get good. He was never close to above the rim, never the strongest, never the fastest, just highly skilled with quick reads and great ball security. He also had a great knack for getting close finishes to fall while getting floored.
This is the greatest analysis of Steve Nash’s game ever bro. He made everyone around him a better player. Truly an amazing point guard.
This is why I'm so annoyed every time Shaq cries about Nash's MVPs. First of all Shaq lied about his stats and second of all, Shaq wasn't even in the ballot for the second MVP. Shaq claims he averaged 28 and 15 when it was actually 21 and 9.
I agree. Great analysis. I forgot how good Nash was
@@TomCruz54321Dirk, Kobe, and Bron were the other in the conversation in '06. Shaq missed 23 games that year and was a little past his prime
Did he or was it mike d antoni system because d antoni had every point guard with their career highs while playing for him don’t forget what he did for Chris duhon and James harden
@deegee7521 Felton played pretty well under him too before he was forced in that trade for Melo
I'm a major Steph Curry stan, so it's awesome to watch this Nash retrospective & see what he brought when coaching Curry: the emphasis on tight handles, the probing of defenses, the shooting/passing/driving triple-threat. Nash was ahead of his time, and deserves his flowers.
Nash is better than Curry. Stop.
@tommywolmart265 steph literally does everything nash does but better, except on the ball facilitation. better shooter, tighter handles, faster, off the ball threat and movement, pick and roll combination, gravity, conditioning, ts% - literally everything. he can play off the ball, on the ball, in the pnr, finding teammates with his gravity, punish mismatches on the perimeter - a much more flexible player offensively than nash. his individual scoring and efficiency way exceeds nash, and he's an excellent facilitator as well - just that nash was better, and curry makes more turnovers in posessions
@@tommywolmart265 2 different type of players. Steph is the more natural shooter even on pull up, moving or catch and shoot. I'd argue he has the crazier hand-eye coordination where he can put up circus shots in messy situations where he's forced to pick up his dribble and just heave something at the back board. Nash was definitely more comfortable shooting on the dribble and even on the move. Because of his amazing balance he's developed post 30s, his biggest asset was blending his passing with his shot making which went hand in hand with how insanely good his handles were.
@@DreamtOfSleepCmon curry is better but there are so many areas nash is better on. Curry is a significantly worse playmaker and passer, hes not doing any of the shit nash did in this video. He also cant probe the defense inside the 3 pointline like nash and doesn't compare whatsoever in his pnr execution. Curry is likely a better overall playmaker because of his offball gravity but he's many times worse on the ball.
@@jojoprocess2820 i mean - you pretty much reiterated what i said, that nash was only really better than curry at playmaking and facilitating. steph is also a very good playmaker, just that he isn't as good as nash - nash has generally better decision making, and doesn't make stupid turnovers the way that curry tends to do, and is all round a better playmaker. saying that steph is worse than nash on the ball, "a significantly worse playmaker and passer" is just wrong though, because curry is a great playmaker in his own right - his assist numbers are lower than nash because the warriors don't use him as the primary initiator (because draymond isn't an off-ball threat and needs to be the facilitator to be involved). just look at the wcsf this year, game 2 against the lakers - when teams overpress on him, he's capable of punishing them with his playmaking. if steph wasn't as great an individual scorer as he was, one of the greatest high volume high efficiency scorers in the history of the game, the warriors would run him more like a traditional PG. the steph-dray pnr is literally one of the greatest weapons the warriors have, historically, so "steph doesn't compare whatsoever in his pnr execution" - what?. i mean, how can you even logically say that steph is "many times worse off the ball" when curry is tenfold the individual scorer that nash is? makes no sense
Now THIS is what a real point guard that makes teammates better looks like. Not all these guys getting 10 assists from lobs and kick outs all of which happen on the downhill attack. They're scoring guards playing in a league that's paced and spaced perfectly for high assist count if they can make a basic read. People bringing up assists to point out someone isn't a ball hog or selfish just doesn't apply in this era.
Joe Johnson shot a ridiculous 47.8% from 3 with Nash and he was just starting to blossom before he left and became iso joe. I know he became a nice all star, but i think his career would have been better if he stayed and blossomed into a star next to Nash and Amare and Marion. Think about it. Iso Joe is one of the most clutch players ever, and while Nash had some clutch moments, Iso Joe via the threat of being a deadly spot up shooter is exactly what they needed to close games out and eventually become champs.
Thanks for pointing out his dribbling. One of the best ball handlers I've seen. Never needed to be flashy with it.
Ya really underrated, not fancy but practical as hell
Could take the ball anywhere he wanted to go, dime with either hand, shoot from anywhere on the floor, seldom got stripped. Not a dunker so he gets overlooked. Huge impact on winning.
You could say between him and Iverson, they both had the handles in the 2000s that were built to get into the defensive traffic and probe with the space. Which opens another style of play making as well since if you can keep the dribble alive and find passing angles as a small guard in different spots of the floor, you could dime up your teammates in some hard to reach spots. Then as teams figured out what to do with more space in the 2010s, that kind of handles to probe defenses was going to be pivotal on offense.
EDIT: I forgot the other 'tall' playmaker of the 2000s who blossomed in his prime in Jason Kidd.
@@t4d0W iversen so much more shot oriented and take way more difficult shots. For a championship team, Iversen attacking efficiency really failed. Much better after switching to Nuggets with better teammates
@@kankantona9070agree. I thought he played the best ball of his career there. I was surprised they didn't hang on to him a Little longer.
Nash's live dribble in the paint was always insane to me. He would snake into the paint get challenged at the rim and just loop around and wait till something was open.
Never seen anyone else do it quite to that level
Chris Paul comes to mind but Nash was something else
@@aaronjohnson6622 Chris Paul, yep.
I think, vice versa prime Nash could have been an adequate replacement for Paul in Lob City.
With some tweaks, of course, cause their paint was a bit more crowded especially with DeAndre and Blake on the court.
"Here. comes. Steve. Nash. The Lob... THE JAAAAAM! .. oh what a monster dunk by DeAndre Jordan!!" sounds about right. ^^
@@dys1525 what i would give to see nash in today's game
I think Steve Nash and AI are two of the most disrespected players of that era. I dunno how people even pretend to themselves Nash didn’t earn that O5 MVP. You could literally just turn on the Suns game in 05 and see how Nash was impacting their winning.
It’s AI. Nash has been getting his flowers as of late. It has been and will forever be AI who’s hated for whatever he does. 2004 Olympics, Losing to Lakers 01, Practice rant, Inefficient, 1997 Rookie Game? Booed, Thug, No rings, Can’t carry a franchise alone, Overrated, ballhog, chucker, Crossing Jordan as a rookie..
I could go on forever but all these things were put solely on him for why he earned everyone’s ire. Nash is nowhere near his bracket of hate.
@@GetBackRy3x both men are some of the ringless GOATs. Nash probably best player to never make a finals and AI might be one of the best to never win a finals.
@@nbarealtalker
I feel that Barkley is head and shoulders above the other ringless players, but AI and Nash are absolutely on the short list.
@@nbarealtalkerthis channel literally made a video dissing Allen Iverson but everyone here is praising nash for losing
@@GetBackRy3xAI doesn't get as much disrespect as Nash. Just watch that open court episode where they discuss the best 10 players of the 2000's and all the panelists put AI and Kidd above Nash and then Shaq does his MVP whining. Shaq would never say AI stole an MVP from him, plus AI may have been more controversial at the time but now he gets more flowers because of his "cultural" influence (see Wade's HOF speech). At the end of the day, Iverson was a great player but Nash had a much better career overall.
Canadian legend. People forget how great he was. Man got beat up given his size at that time and still kicked immense ass. He would have shot soooo much more if he played today too; 43% from 3 on his career is absurd
Like so many other commenters, Steve made me fall in love with basketball. He was a magician with no offensive weaknesses that made the right decision every single time down the floor. The Shaq/uneducated fan argument that he shouldn’t have been a two-time MVP is ridiculous and I feel personally attacked anytime anyone brings it up. I was there, I watched him play and real ones know how good he was ❤
Shaq average was 23 and 10 in '04-5. He wasn't even the best player on his own team. He likes to think he averaged 30 and 15. The next year everybody said Kobe. OK he averaged 35, but on volume shooting. Not efficient shooting and he only outrebounded Nash by like one a game. Had lots of T.O.'s. All his misses are like T.O.'s. Plus Lakers were only a seventh seed. They would use that against today.
I'm not joking when I say he's the best offensive player I've seen in my lifetime. If he played today, with the green light and ball dominant tendency of today's league, his numbers would be insane.
Best passer I've ever seen, best at manipulating a defense, and one of the most gifted scorers I've seen as well. He was the best
Couldn't agree more.
Another thing people forget is how obscenely good Shawn Marion was. The Matrix was absolutely no joke.
Also that plays into the fact, since Steve had great players next to him, he didn't need to be a 20 point pre game scorer. He could score when he wanted to but he didn't need to because he had the weapons
I’m glad so many of the highlights are from playoff games here. Even when the defensive intensity is high he’s legendary.
He was special. I forgot how great he was
Nash was just destroying everyone. I know Popp was so pissed with his incredible defense getting cooked by this guy 😂
A truly unstoppable explorer on offense
Getting cooked? The Suns couldn't take the Spurs to a game 7.
@@thomascrowniii1693wasn't Nash's fault that the suns didn't have a defense outside of Stoudemaire and Marrion.D'Antoni was a offensive first coach he didn't care about defense as much as he did offense that's why teams like the 07 Suns,09 Suns and 18 Rockets couldn't win it all.
Nah Parker was cooking them just as bad on the other end
@24:15 you can see Avery Johnson fuming, at least.
Peak Nash was as lethal as any PG that ever played. Quickness, handle, vision, shooting, he had all of it.
Except defense 🙃😓 or we would've been looking at a multiple nba champ
Nash was/is the ultimate litmus test for NBA fans. Folks that question his accomplishments and ability obviously get their opinion delivered to them by media, rather than formulating it themselves through watching Nash.
The question: Was Steve Nash the best offensive player of his generation?
He was drafted in '96, the same year as Kobe Bryant. So the answer is NO if you actually watched both of them play basketball.
@@thomascrowniii1693 The ultimate litmus test, it never fails.
@MysticMungusSlungus THEN WHY DOES THIS VIDEO EXIST?!?!
Lemme guess, this ISN'T "media" because "reasons", right?!?!?
@@darrengordon-hill Litmus test: Undefeated
@@MysticMungusSlungusyou kids really crowning losers nowadays huh lol
The Robert Horry clip has me triggered 30 seconds in. When they invent a time machine I'm going back to 2007 and seeing what happens if Stoudemire and Diaw get to play in game 5
Suns would win in 2007 championship if that incident never happened.
One of the real shames of that incident was that the Suns didn't even get a chance to celebrate that Game 4 win.
That could have been a true breakthrough for that team - a double digit, 4th quarter comeback against the team that has seemlingly had their number.
And within minutes, the talk turned to "Who's going to get suspended for Game 5?"
Nothing changes. Suns had them on the ropes in game 5 and Nash shot 6-19, that was when the MVP could have made his case….At full strength in game six, they couldn’t force a game seven. It’s okay to admit the Spurs team just had their number until 2010….
If you want to be mad, be mad at the Suns coaching staff that didn’t educate the players on the rules.
Dont need a time machine to see the suns winning that title.
Mind-blowing to to think that most of these highlights were against the Spurs who for that entire era in the 2000s to early teens had by far the best defense in the NBA. Shows how incredible of an offensive machine Nash was! This was an awesome breakdown of so many plays from my favorite player ever next to Steph. Detailed analysis on point 👍🏼
yet the suns can't beat the spurs still after his prime
Actually crazy that even just from the clips in this video alone you can see how much his play style influenced nearly the entire modern nba
yet no one mentions this
I found his playmaking to very similar to playmaking in soccer (pretty sure i remember that Nash used to play soccer as well and is a huge fan). The great midfielders and dribblers were great at drawing in defenses and can split defenses in half with killer passes. Might've been Nash's inspiration for his style!
Fantastic video about my favorite player of all time (I'm a Suns fan) and I've learned to not really pay attention to slander he gets. They either have a short memory or didn't really pay attention when he was at his peak. It was said that he was every coach's dream PG to generate offense on such high efficiency at such a high clip.
yes same observation, the way he moves on the court is soccer inspired. An example in this video is what they call the Snake thing where after going to the screen, instead of him straightforward attacking the basket, he would dance around, put his defender on his back, feel the space, defense and then go for an attack or pull up. Another example is whenever he drives to the basket, he will circle around the baseline and go back at the top of the key to see the weak portion of the tangled defense, which is very much like soccer where you attack and then you are feeling and constantly putting hesitations and pressure in the defense
I rarely comment but this time I had to. Another masterpiece! Nash was my favorite growing up. I loved your Dallas segment explaining the differences in his game. It's now obvious to me that Phoenix truly unlocked Nash's greatness
The first basketball I ever watched was the Nash-era Suns and it made me fall in love with the game. I'll watch highlights from time to time, but this breakdown was on a whole other level. Thanks for doing it justice!
Spur fan here..."Why are you so mean to us!? We get it we get it ..lets show him thrashing another team!"
Nash is one of those guys who nowadays the analytics guys on his team would be telling him to shoot WAY more 3s with his percentages being so high on already moderate volume (and for good reason too). One of those players who I would be so interested in seeing how they fit in today's game; along with Pistol Pete, Drazen Petrovic, and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
incredible break down...grew up in vancouver during the 90's/early 2000's so Nash was the Canadian icon for bball. Every basketball camp we'd hear stories about how hard he worked. "Dribbled a tennis ball all day to school, at school, going home" lol. Saw his highschool footage when he beat my highschool...he had a team full of rugby players and just kept them running in transition like the Suns
Its crazy how the most common discourse I hear about Nash is him supposedly not earning his two Mvps'. Nash has a bare minimum top 40-50 career of all time.
I think you mean top 25 career of all time lol
@@Loris71734 Tbh just being conservative because I don't want to deal with any annoying people lmaoo.
For sure he could be argued there
@@coledorillo6685 Ben himself rate Steve Nash around 23rd on his greatest pick list. There is a podcast on it look it up.
@@coledorillo6685 you're gonna deal with annoying people no matter what you put if you put a ranking, no matter what rank you give there will always be someone to tell you you're too high or too low. It's inevitable
@@Loris71734 Top 25? He’s not even a top 5 point guard of all time lol.
No point guard before or since has had Steve Nash's deadly combination of Pace, Control, and Fluidity. That alone is enough to make him an all time great offensive force in my books
Indeed. A point center on the other hand, jokic may closest emulate being Nashty
I want to piggy back on your comment and point out that for a player that was supposedly slow there exits a lot of film of defenders running to catch up with him. A great player and super slick with the ball.
@@SeeThomasHowl He was slow by NBA standards, but pace is what matters the most, not raw speed. Even the fastest players only do well because they use their super speed precisely.
brave of you to say that when magic johnson exists
while being one of the best shooters ever
Nash played through everything. True warrior.
Prime Nash was un-like anybody!
Elite ball handling, shooting and decision making....... all at break neck speed!
I was never a Suns fan at the time, but dude is a legend who deserves more respect than he gets!!
His shooting and free throw % is a dead give away. What a precision 🎨
Criminally Underrated. You had to have watched the games to actually get it.
What 99% don’t remember is just HOW MANY charges that man took. It shortened his career but he made the absolute most out of it.
it's worth noting that Nash's influence extends beyond his on-court performance. His legacy also lies in his leadership and his ability to make his teammates better, not just through assists and creating scoring opportunities, but also through his basketball IQ and understanding of the game. His tenure with the Phoenix Suns, especially his synergy with Amar'e Stoudemire, is a testament to his ability to adapt his game to complement his teammates’ strengths, making the team more cohesive and efficient.
Nash's career, while illustrious and filled with personal accolades, also highlights the challenges that exceptional players can face in pursuit of a championship. Despite his individual success and the effectiveness of the Suns' offense under his leadership, Nash was unable to secure an NBA championship. This aspect of his career underscores the importance of team depth, defensive capability, and perhaps a bit of luck in achieving the ultimate NBA success.
In the modern NBA, Nash's style of play continues to influence. His proficiency in the pick-and-roll, his exceptional shooting ability, and his quick decision-making are characteristics that are highly valued in today's fast-paced, space-and-pace style of play. Current players and upcoming stars can look to Nash's career as a blueprint for offensive excellence, leadership, and adaptability within the evolving landscape of the NBA.
Ugh, another fantastic video! It was such a pleasure being a Suns fan during Nash's prime. He was always in control, always knew what to do. The game moved around him. His overtime duel with Jason Kidd is still one of the top 5 games I've ever seen.
Oh, that game is insane. Legendary stuff.
Grew up in Phoenix watching Nash and the Suns. People forget how dominant he truly was.
Back in the day my friends and I really studied Nash's tape. His court vision was obviously his best weapon, but the brake shot was a close runner up. If he couldn't make those, nobody would have been worried about 7 seconds.
I love that nearly all of this is vs the spurs instead of a mediocre defensive team.
Man I loved his chemistry in 06 with Diaw, two genius passers picking apart defenses. I enjoyed this 2006 team even more than 2005 or 2007. Peak Diaw, Bell, Matrix. The rise of Barbosa and the ultimate small ball once Kurt Thomas also went down
I agree, that was my favorite team. 2010 was surprisingly fun too. Diaw and Channing Frye were great as small ball fives and really unlocked those offenses. I remember checking the box scores every morning just to see if the Suns dropped 140 or something crazy
Big credit to how Stoudemire had so much mental chemistry with Nash and physical complement in play style.
Every small sized playmaker needs a highly athletic and consistent rim finisher. In part its how the playmaker threatens an easy basket if you choose the wrong decision to commit another body to him but leave the free big running at the hoop.
Special appreciation on this one. Undersized and less athletic but the HEART that guy had. Absolutely gave his all to the game.
Nash was hands down one of my favorite point guards to watch, along with CP3, Rajon Rondo, and Tony Parker.
Steve Nash was always my favorite player growing up and the guy I looked to coming up through basketball. So happy to see you do a video on him!
Steve and those Suns teams are the reason why I fell in love with basketball, thanks so much for this video Ben and team!
I loved watching Nash play because Nash was so creative and as a viewer of the game, you knew there were going to be amazing passes and yet Nash still thrilled so many fans with his offensive talent and gifted vision!!!
He had all the plays and then some night in and night out.
Most underrated MVP. Dude was a total offensive system not just a scorer. Absolutely dominated at his peak.
I enjoyed the hell out of this video. Your comparison to Gretzky was absolutely perfect. He wasn't just a scorer, he was a field goal PRODUCER, regardless of WHO made the shot, and regardless of how many passes away from Nash's initial pass resulted in the basket. The NBA really should track hockey assists (the pass that led to the pass that was the assist). He got injured so much in his later years because, like Gretzky, he was able to dart around defenders, run in circles, and change direction quickly, making his opponents dizzy and flustered, and all of that movement took its toll. Many comments are saying this, but Nash is SO disrespected nowadays. Shaq's whining about losing the MVP to him is so annoying. Shaq was over the hill in '05-'06, and Wade was the main driving force on the Heat.
Nash's Suns should have won the title in 2007 (even as a Spurs fan, I can admit that Horry was dirty and the NBA screwed Nash), and they were a top 1-3 team in the league for most of his time in Phoenix. Without Nash, that team crumbles. He was seriously so hard to defend because he almost always made the right play. Give him too much space, and he hits a 3 in your face with elite efficiency, making you look stupid. If you were dumb enough to foul him, he would hit his free throws with the second best percentage in NBA history, only 0.44% behind Curry. You clamped down on him, and he would either dart around you like a squirrel to hit a layup (again, with elite efficiency), or throw a beautiful pass around YOUR back to a slasher. Basically, he embarrassed you regardless of what you did.
People look at his box score stats and discredit him, but never look at his advanced stats, and usually, they didn't even watch him play. He was the engine of those teams, and the other players were like the fenders, windshields, tires, and mirrors. Those other things are relatively easy to replace, but the engine IS the car, especially when it is a supercar.
I think the problem is people trying to reconcile Nash's performance with never producing a chip. The chip is a product of the overall effort of the team roster and coaching. Nash pushed D'Antoni's concept to its limits. But D'Antoni himself has proven even post Suns that he's not the best HC in getting his team to buy in for defense or handle adjustments. Hell Gentry's concepts was okay but the roster makeup still had that weakness of how the offense kinda bottoms out when Nash leaves the floor. Which shows that the team was lacking another good enough playmaker/ball handler second to Nash to add crazy wrinkles to that offense. Which D'Antoni would get an opportunity coaching the Rockets like a decade later with Harden AND Paul. But still falling short because the best team had multiple ball handlers but also had the best shooters and best defenders in the playoffs.
@@t4d0W Yeah, that's a good point. I still think the Suns should have won in 2007, though, and Chris Paul's injury in the 2018 playoffs cost them the chip, I think. That was their year. D'Antoni had a lot of faults as HC, and his system didn't work without floor generals like Nash, Harden, and Paul (i.e. some of the best ever), but those teams definitely suffered some bad luck that really exposed D'Antoni's faults in an unfortunate way. Half court sets in the playoffs were his weakness, and that dirty hit/unfortunate injury really drove the dagger into his heart.
Steve Nash was GREAT point guard, definitely top 5 all-time. He was great at all the necessary skills for a true point guard - dribbling and ball handling, passing, shooting, and making teammates better. Nash is also the leader in 90/50/40 seasons with 4. The next closest is Larry Bird with 2.
Top 5 all time? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Top 5 PG? Easily.
@@VER01897 Magic, Isiah, Chris Paul, Kidd, Billups
I think that's 5 already and I could probably come up with another 10 if I looked it up
@@DanielSong39 Magic? Yes. Isiah? Probaby. Chris Paul? I don't think so...
And if you want to bring names like Kidd or Billups...😂
@@VER01897 I was going to say Parker too but I concede that those two were on level terms
I'm gonna be the happiest Basketball fan when in a few years the Jokic episode comes
This man is so underrated. I sincerely hope that Steve Nash gets more attention. He inspired little guys to be a straight baller and stay tough, kind of like AI and Isaiah Thomas(if asking which one, both were tough as hell).
More than any other episode of greatest peaks ever I just...I don't know what you do to stop him. It's like watching a computer play chess against humans--it's just checkmate no matter what you do
It feels so simple, just never pick up the ball and wait for an opportunity. It's like the defense doesn't bother him at all.
Checkmate means you won. What did he win?
@@thomascrowniii1693 basketball games
Only when you're on defense. As good as Nash and that Suns team were on offense, their defense wasn't as good, Nash specifically.
@@thomascrowniii1693Almost like the nba is a team sport
These videos are so good. Steve Nash was a straight up baller. When he was playing with Dirk and Finley that was fun to watch too.
Cam’ron always seemed like he appreciated Steve Nash, he had like, more than a couple punchlines about him, all complimentary. Admittedly weird barometer, but looking back Cam’ron doesn’t have many positive rhymes about any one in particular so I feel like it actually means something.
7:35 That move and that PASS is nasty
Suns fan for over 20 years. This man was so incredible.
Those Suns teams with Nash and Amare were so fun to watch. I’m a lifelong Lakers fan and those Suns teams were my faves to watch
this series has been great so far at quantifying relevant stats to explain to hardheads who havent watched them
I remember myself realizing how good Nash was during the 2000 olympics and call it for a breakout year for him and Dallas. Some people were saying "look what a non top20 PG can do", while my take was "that was not just a top20 PG"
I remember watching that super early in the morning too
He really made that Suns team fun to watch in 2005. I remember on ESPN they’d show Nash running and gunning throwing alley oops and dimes from half court winning by like 30 points 😂
Amar'e was a PROBLEM... Elite dunker/rim finisher, great hands and feet, mobile and capable with quick moves, great midrange shooter🔥🔥🔥
Didn't feel like 30 minutes
Thank you for the breakdown - Steve Nash is an inspiring leader
Interesting to see so much footage against the amazing Spurs - who usually got the better of Phoenix - and how Nash was very effective against them and the defensive legend in Tim Duncan
Thank you for the video Ben 👏🏻
Love this video! Nash's brilliance, skill, and accomplishments deserve to be talked about way more often. It's popular for people to talk trash about him now but he was absolutely dominating the league in his prime Suns years in a way no one else really has, or could.
I was one of those Nash naysayers until I really watched him play. This guy destroy defenses.
How many finals did they make since he was destroying every opponents defense?
@@manz7860 google it
@@manz7860nash suns problem was defense and D'Antoni's lack of adjustment in game thats why they never made a Finals appearance.. nevertheless, nash is a defense desteoyer
Steve Nash lying flat on his back from the bench when he wasn't playing is one of my most endearing memories of him
Wish there was a channel with half this quality for soccer 😢
Watching Nash in high school made me love basketball in a way I never had before. Steve Nash is my favorite basketball player of all time.
Quality video. Love seeing Nash get the respect he's due.
Nash is the only guy I've seen that seems clearly better than Jokic as a passer.
Tbh, jokic nuggets could've been paralleled to the what if nash suns as a complete complete team could be
Jokic as nash with height
Murray as a deadly barbosa/bell/richardson
Kcp as a mini version of diaw with higher efficiency
Mpj and AG as hybrid versions of marion and amare
as a facilitator, yes. as a passer, Jokic's deliveries are unmatched. Nash was just so much more mobile and crafty moving the defense around to create openings, while jokic just reads what the defense will give him and get the ball to them that way.
Shaq is so petty about those MVPs. Nash was better plain and simple. Shaq can't accept that he let his peak slip away early due to poor conditioning, diet, and ego.
He thinks his winning one and 4 rings makes him automatically MVP every year. Dominant idiot.
i'm NOT certain what the 05 and 06 playoff numbers are steve nash and shaquille o'neal but in 80 the nba declared the greatest player ever as bill russell and there's a documentary called the greatest player ever starring wilt chamberlain
I was waiting for this video for the longest!!!!!
Legendary stuff. Hoping to get a Dirk's video soon. 🙏
I’m not sure he’ll make one, he did cover some Dirk games on the NBA’s channel though
Might do a bit of Dirk in the Jokic video because Jokic is weirdly a lot like Dirk and Nash put together
@@JHouston62Jokic is fat
I would love to see yall do t-mac, moses malone, ewing, dwade, dirk, julius erving, jerry west, clyde, wilkins, karl malone, john stockton, paul pierce, and so much more. I know a lot of stats weren’t kept back then but a video on some of these legends would be amazing. One of the goats of basketball youtube.
Melo, Harden, Russ, Big o would also be amazing
If youre making a specific repeat of your Greatest Peaks series, the LEAST YOU CAN DO is make a more compelling intro that isnt recycled from the first series AND includes the players you plan to cover in this series!!!! Seriously!! It makes it all so much more compelling to watch!
My God what a fantastic video. Almost every clip is from the playoffs and i've never seen Duncan so helpless.
He was so skilled it was insane. He also had great coaches in gentry and dantoni
His ball security, his probing drives, and his hair trigger passing with either hand untelegraphed is mind boggling. Surprised more players today dont utilize this.
Cuz Everyone wants to be curry & shoot 3s from the parking lot
It's not an easy combination to master. That level of ball security in crowded lanes alone is a very difficult skill. He's not an easy player to model yourself after.
I mean you said it yourself, it's incredible. Not many players are elite at even one of those things let alone all of them.
@@chagatainouveau Exactly. Last short guard to play in that probing, dish setting way besides CP3 was probably Rondo, a whole decade ago, and he couldn't even get to the same level because his shooting woes made him easier to cover.
Because those kind of handles and passing vision can't be achieved by 'just practice'. In some cases its a gift having that sixth sense to see through traffic and having the hand-eye coordination to zip passes and confusing defenses with blending the shot with the pass. The problem is people don't think its such a unique talent when only a handful of players who come up every generation actually show it off consistently. Also you get better results playing that probing style getting at the basket as a bigger player because you can just jail the smaller defender behind you and just take on the big defender. Being bigger also means they can see more of the half court better even when guarded by multiple bigs/wings in traffic. Sounds awfully familiar from another Mavs play maker/scorer right?
People’s all time rank is changed if this man struck gold, this was beautiful basketball to say the least. You couldn’t have today without him, that’s for sure.
Nash is my all time favorite, so im hyped as hell for this video
Nash is proof that you don't need to be super tall OR super athletic to succeed at basketball. Dude was so high IQ that he could create advantages for his entire team singlehandedly.
You just need others on your team that are super
He was super athletic
@@xavierb9061He made that team super though lol without him they wouldn't have been nearly as good
@@xavierb9061true but its the nba so super athletes are everywhere. High iq players like him are much less common and way more valuable
@@jojoprocess2820 he had marion richardson and amare...what team has those 3 athletes in starting lineup? Saying nash is best, so 3 athletes not including best player?
Please do john Stockton as well..... Him, Tony parker, bob cousy and Nash are getting underrated as the years pass. These guards like curry and kyrie also transcend various era of not only the NBA but also basketball as a sport in general. Great video as always.
I don't think Stockton is underrated. He def played in a time and had a helluva career where his endurance notched him the ability to hold unbreakable records at least to this day (career assist totals and steals). Though for a limited distributor role, Stockton was willing to do dirty work that you would expect on bigs would do like set off-ball screens for teammates. Which is why Jokic shows bigs as play makers are supremely valuable because they involve themselves so much in actions that help generate offense especially in the modern game.
Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant were my favorite players growing up but Steve Nash really made me fall in love with basketball. This is an awesome video showing what made him so special!
One of the most efficient players of all-time
I think it says a lot when Steph Curry, the greatest shooter of all time, says that he took a lot of inspiration from Steve Nash and Reggie Miller. I honestly think Steph is one of the easiest players nowadays to determine who their influences are because he has perfectly adopted Miller's off-ball movement and also added in Nash's creative finishes and ability to keep the dribble alive. I'm certain he's gonna be in this video series somewhere.
Idk if there will be a curry video for this series because he already made one for greatest peaks
Seems like this series is more on the players who didn't make the cut for Greatest Peaks for one reason or another.
It's fun to think that Steph is basically an amalgamation of Nash's playmaking and efficiency, combined with Miller's off-ball play and raw shooting guts. I love the clip where he answered that he'd give his rings to them if he could.
Curry is not in the same stratosphere as Nash in terms of play-making, and also Nash's mid-range is better, but he clears him in all other aspects@@amplesstratleholm7609
top 5 handles all time, no one gives him that, he aint flashy but he HAD a handle like no other
Finally. As a casual fan I have been waiting for this channel to cover Nash so I could get a better understanding of him, because it was very obvious most people didnt know how to evaluate him.
I think a lot of people have trouble coming to terms with the idea that he was a better offensive player than Shaq, Kobe, Dirk, and Timmy for that 2005-2010 stretch.
I am not sure why. He had games during the playoffs where he'd turn on the jets and put up an effortless 30@@hb-robo
Loved your retrospective on Stevie Nash. Both my wife and I are Nash fans having regularly watched him during his playing days at Santa Clara University. My wife is a Broncos alumna and I am a Cal grad, so when Steve played against Jason Kidd that was a great game to watch between two future NBA players.
Hate how Shaq keeps burying Nash every time his name gets brought up. Now people actually think he was overrated. No one passed as good as Nash did
Shaq is double coping, getting big dogged by DWade in the 06 Finals solidified his victim complex.
I'm from BC and graduated from the University of Victoria. I often played with Nash in the summers at the McKinnon Gym. What I know about Nash is that he should have been taking more 3's. He even said so himself.
I've been waiting for a Nash episode and woke up today with my dreams answered! This Suns' team was a big reason I became a hoops fan
He was the most fun player to watch and his play changed my world, anything could happen when the ball was on his hands, and every game was like a magic show, my fav player growing up
Answer: yes, pretty arguably. 10 years later, he may have had a good shot at being the greatest shooter ever.
It's really disappointing that he never got a ring, and I think it leads to many people not giving him a second thought.
Kobe and Nash were drafted the same year; so the answer is inarguably: No. He's not a better offensive player than Kobe.
@@thomascrowniii1693 Weirdly enough, I'd actually put Kobe higher on defence (during his peak years) and then Nash higher on the offensive end.
To be fair though, I didn't have an interest in basketball during their era, so your opinion is probably more valid than mine, at least by the eye-test standard
@morganfletcher8669 There is no comparison between the two of them offensively. Kobe could score off the dribble through, around and over defenders. He could score in the post. He could score from midrange. He could score from 3. He could score out of isolation. He could score with either hand from 15 feet and in. And this is coming from someone who isn't a Kobe Bryant fan.
@@thomascrowniii1693 I get where you're coming from. In case it wasn't obvious, I'm also not much of a Kobe fan, so of course I'm going to display some bias here.
There is no comparison in that Kobe averaged 25ppg over his career whereas Nash averaged 14ppg. That isn't even close.
However, Nash just shot it better from literally everywhere.
Nash shot 59% within 5ft, Kobe shot 58%. Nash shot above 45% from almost everywhere within the arc, where Kobe averaged closer to 41%.
I don't think the 3pt percentages need mentioning.
Of course, the shot selection makes a difference here. Kobe chose very deliberately to shoot it over defenders, and his percentages suffered a bit from this, but he still made them at a high-enough clip to be a huge offensive weapon. Obviously he was considerably bigger than Nash as well.
Nash might have been too much of a passer. In situations where Kobe would have shot it, he'd absolutely find the right pass instead. This is why Nash averaged 8.5 assists per game where Kobe averaged 4.7 - and I don't think the personnel on their team changes this here, Kobe had Shaq for a while and Nash had strong big-man counterparts throughout his career too.
If Nash had shot more, he probably wouldn't have gotten as many assists and his efficiency would have suffered too, but in that regard I think that's a good thing, it means he chose the correct option almost every time. Kobe probably could have done with a bit more on the passing end, in my opinion.
And in the end it is just my opinion, so it's fair for us to disagree here. Hope you're having a good day, sorry if you didn't want to read all that lol.
@morganfletcher8669 If you had 2 minutes left in a tied game 7 to win it all, I wouldn't hand the ball to Nash over Kobe to win me that game.
Steve Nash's game was pure magic. One of the best playmaking minds to ever grace the hardwood floor. He was like the Chris Paul of the NBA.
Just an amazing player.
"the Chris Paul of the NBA" is crazy
Pause
@@Star-pl1xs ☠
@@Star-pl1xsmore like the Jason Kidd of the NBA
@@breaknfiction21Even that comparison doesn't work. Kidd was a significantly better defensive player even in his latter years.
What is crazy to me is that his slower pace added so much. Slower > shorter steps > better ball control because you're dribbling straight down more so = quicker ball reactions and better response time for pull ups or passes. Never really looked at this before until you mentioned his balance but if you pay attention to his strides you'll notice they seem a bit short. Seems intentional to maximize his style. But maybe I'm just crazy lol either way Nash is awesome.
Imagine Nash on last year’s Miami Heat…
Nash running the offense
Herro as a secondary shot creator & more spot ups
Strus for spot up & movement 3s
Jimmy as another secondary shot creator & slasher/cutter
Bam as the modern day Amare, but with elite defense
He took his kids to the park by my house when I was too little to know about him. I hope the Suns win soon! Thanks for the video Ben!
I can see how Nash’s style of play would have influenced or paved the way for someone like Tyrese Haliburton
Another great video. Glad to see you're not on the "Steve Nash should've shot a million threes" bandwagon. But more importantly, it really gave me a greater appreciation of his impact on offense.
All the talk about his ballhandling wizadry got me wondering if we'd get a CP3 video. Would like an in-depth analysis seeing if CP3 had similar offensive impact. Would like to see that before a Harden video (though to be fair, for this series Harden is a must).
You got me at Steven John Nash and the Beautiful Mind clip at 11:48
Thank you for making this video. In the past couple of years I noticed Nash became even more disrespected and forgotten at the same time. Mostly because Shaq (MVP gripes) , Stephen A. (Nash was hired because of privilege) and coaching. Even his coaching career was ended and spit on unfairly. He was doomed from the first day. He was given probably the worst 3-4 personalities in Basketball (ever?) and people are blaming him not handling them.
Disagree with you on his coaching. He should have never got that position to begin with. His head coaching tenure was a failure. Not to say he couldn't be a head coach again someday and enjoy success, but he wasn't ready for the position when he got it
Shack is the most overrated player ever. His range is very limited and nick named the shack attack 😢