The Pain of a Steve Nash Fan (NBA.com/Philippines Exclusive)
Below is an except of my article from NBA.com/Philippines.
Unlike some of my past pieces here in NBA.com/Philippines, I have found this one on the Los Angeles Lakers’ Steve Nash one of the hardest to write. Difficult—because he has always been one of the players that I have looked up to and now, at the twilight of his career, a litany of past and present injuries have slowly robbed the former back-to-back MVP of his health and—indirectly—an opportunity for us all to continue on watching him play in basketball biggest stage.
Currently ranked fourth all-time in the NBA’s career assist ladder,1 he is in my opinion, my generation’s last true pass-first point guard. Like Earvin “Magic” Johnson, John Stockton, and Jason Kidd before him, Nash has that special ability to make his teammates better (and potentially wealthy come contract negotiations).
Today’s point guards—outside of Rajon Rondo, Ricky Rubio, and to a certain extent Kendall Marshall—are built a little more in the mold of a Russell Westbrook, John Wall, Kyrie Irving, and Derrick Rose: Scoring point guards who are relied upon to be their team’s primary or secondary scorer rather than their main facilitator.
To read the full article [click here]
The NBA’s all-time assist leaders are John Stockton (15,806 | 1st), Jason Kidd (12,091 | 2nd), Mark Jackson (10,334 | 3rd), Steve Nash (10,296 | 4th), Earvin “Magic” Johnson (10,141 | 5th), Oscar Robertson (9,887 | 6th), Isiah Thomas (9,061 | 7th), “The Glove” Gary Payton (8,966 | 8th), and Andre Miller (8,070 | 9th place).