Father
time is catching up. The minutes are piling up. The clock is getting closer and
closer to striking zero. The “7 seconds or less” era is gone. Now it feels like
7 months or less for Steve Nash. Arguably one of the greatest offensive point
guards of all time has done it all. MVPs., All-Star performances, #1 seeds and
league leader in assists. But he has never made an NBA Finals. He has come
close on several different occasions but has never been able to compete for the
Larry O’Brien Trophy. This season has been very difficult to watch for the
Phoenix Suns. A roster filled with role players and unproven guys. Their best
offensive option outside of Nash is Marcin Gortat and that’s not a very good
start. Grant Hill is the starter at small forward and at this point in his
career, Hill is a role player at best. The Suns don’t stand a chance at making
the playoffs and Steve Nash is too nice of a guy to demand a trade. It must be
the Canadian in him.
When
is Steve going to realize that time is running out and that the clock is soon
to strike midnight on his career? When is he going to realize that although he
has back-to-back league MVPs and 8 all-star game appearances that his legacy
will be defined by the number of rings he collects. If his career were to end
today, undoubtedly he is a Hall of Famer. The only problem with that is he will
be remembered as one of the greats who couldn’t win when it mattered. So many
great players have had their careers defined by their inability to win in
crunch time. Look at John Stockton, Karl Malone and Charles Barkley to name a
few. Look at how badly LeBron James gets harassed on a daily basis because of
his inability to buckle down in crunch time and get the job done? Why is Steve
Nash any different? He isn’t. Nash needs to pipe up to upper management and demand
out.
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| 2 HOFs that never got a ring. Thanks Jordan! |
There
are 2 problems when looking at trading Steve Nash.
Problem #1: Trading him to a non contender would make him
upset with the city even if the franchise was getting young pieces out of it.
(I.e., trading Nash to Indiana or Toronto. Teams who have a chance of making
playoffs but have no chance of legitimately contending for an NBA title)
Problem #2: Trading him to a contender is tough because all
of the true contenders are either set at point guard because of the importance
of the position or they are over the salary cap and they can’t make a deal for
Nash.
The
list of contenders in the NBA is pretty short. Miami, Chicago and OKC are the
top 3 dogs in this race. If I had to add 3 more teams to this list they would
be the Clippers, the Lakers and Dallas in that order although I don’t think any
of those teams have a realistic chance at taking the title this season. Looking
at those 6 teams, 4 of them are set at point guard (Chicago, OKC, Clippers and
Dallas) and Miami and the Lakers have their hands tied due to the salary cap.
Of that group of teams, Dallas needs to make a change and add something. If I
were Mark Cuban I would seriously consider trading Jason Kidd before the
deadline and would possibly eye bringing back Nash and reuniting him with
Nowitzki for another run at the title. Dallas needs scoring, 3 point shooting
and a floor general. So far this year, Kidd has been non-existent and Nash is
known for being all 3 of those things.
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| The only guy who could trade for Nash. Do it Mark! Do it!!! |
If
Nash ends up finishing the season with Phoenix, he needs to seriously consider
his legacy. What does he want to be remembered as? I know nothing about Steve
Nash but I would guess that his long lasting legacy as an NBA player may not be
at the top of his bucket list but he may need to reconsider. He could go down
as one of the top 3 or 4 point guards to ever play the game if he can capture a
ring. Would he consider playing for a veteran’s minimum on a contender? Would
he consider coming off the bench behind an up and coming young point guard? Or
does that ruin his legacy because he wasn’t the main piece behind a
championship ring? There will be no asterisk next to his ring if he wins one
because there are asterisks in this life. There are only scoreboards and right
now Steve Nash’s scoreboard reads ‘0’.
