Phoenix Suns: Steve Nash Well Deserving of Ring of Honor

The Phoenix Suns officially announced (via press release) that Steve Nash will become the 14th member of the Suns Ring of Honor, during halftime of their October 30 game against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Originally drafted No. 15 overall by the Suns in the 1996 NBA Draft, Nash was a member of the Suns organization from 1996-98 and then again from 2004-2012. He posted averages of 14.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 9.4 assists in 744 career games with the Suns, including a blistering shooting line of .504/.435/.907. He won back-to-back NBA MVP’s and led the Suns to the Western Conference Finals on three separate occasions (2004-05, 2005-06, 2009-10).

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Things didn’t start so hot for Nash, though.

Nash Lost His First 13 NBA Games

Those 1996-97 Suns had talent (more on that later), but they just didn’t jell. The organization saw long-time coach Cotton Fitzsimmons resign after starting the year 0-8, bringing on Danny Ainge — whose team then lost the next five games.

At the time, Nash was a bench player, but he did receive his very first start (coincidentally the game that was Fitzsimmons last) on November 14, 1996, when he scored 17 points with seven rebounds and 12 assists in a three-point loss to the Vancouver Grizzlies.

The talent at the point guard that year for the Suns was impressive, as Nash got to play with and learn from Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd, Sam Cassell at different times due to trades. Fortunately for Nash, the organization chose Kidd as the point guard of the future and allowed Nash to spread his wings in Dallas.

On June 24, 1998, Nash was traded to the Mavs for Pat Garrity, Martin Muursepp, Bubba Wells and a first-round pick (which turned out to be Shawn Marion).

Nash Blossomed Into The Best Point Guard Of The 2000’s

Many forget that at first, it looked like the Mavs made a big mistake trading for Nash. He underwhelmed in a major way in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, toiling away on a team led by Michael Finley, Hubert Davis, Gary Trent, Shawn Bradley and a 20-year-old Dirk Nowitzki.

Nash would shoot a horrific 36.3 percent from the field for the Don Nelson-led Mavs, who would finish 19-31. Nash averaged just 7.9 points and 5.5 assists, as he hadn’t quite developed into the star he’d become. Year two was an improvement — as Finley and Nowitzki grew together and ended up averaging 40.1 points, 12.8 rebounds and 7.8 assists between them. It wasn’t until year three (and the new millennium) that things started to click.

There was one major difference between the first four years of Nash’s career and what would follow — he finally, truly got the keys to the car. Nash’s usage rate jumped from a measly 14.5 to 21.1 in his fifth year and all of his other numbers followed suit.

There are a lot of numbers that point towards Nash as being one of the best point guards of his time, but a few standout more than others. From the 2000-01 season through the 2009-10 season, only four point guards had more than 5,000 assists (Nash, Jason Kidd, Andre Miller, Baron Davis). Take a look for yourself:

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/24/2015.

Nash was far and away the best shooter of the group, putting up a sizzling .613 TS%. As it turns out, it wasn’t just point guards. Among all players who appeared in 500 games or more, only Brent Barry‘s .629 was better (and he played in 11,378 less minutes). Nash’s .437 3-point percentage was better than anyone in basketball by 1.8 percent.

Only Nowitzki, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, Chauncey Billups and LeBron James had more than Nash’s 102.1 win shares.

His Greatest Quality Was His Ability To Get The Best Out Of Teammates

It doesn’t matter what sport we’re talking about — if you’re the one commanding the ball the majority of the time, it’s your job to either be a truly elite scorer (thereby making others better by proxy) or you must take an active role in putting your teammates in the best position to succeed.

Nobody would confuse Nash with a scoring point guard (he scored 30+ only 39 times in 980 regular season games), but he was able to contribute to the team’s point total with the way he was able to bring up the level of until-then middling basketball players.

I’m not even talking about the 2004-05 season when Nash turned Joe Johnson, Shawn Marion and Amar’e Stoudemire into All-Stars (though Quentin Richardson owes Nash some gratitude).

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Instead, I look to two other teams — the 2009-10 team and the 2011-12 squad. Nash led the 2009-10 team to the Western Conference Finals with Jared Dudley, Goran Dragic (before breakthrough) and Lou Amundson as the best bench players. That team shot 49.2 percent for the season and 41.2 percent from the 3-point line — both best in the NBA.

Is it that Jason Richardson, a 37-year-old Grant Hill and Channing Frye were playing Hall of Fame ball? Or was it the Nash effect?

How about that 2011-12 team — probably Nash’s masterpiece — where he led Marcin Gortat, Dudley, Frye, Hill and Shannon Brown to a 33-33 record? Nash was 37 at this point and still found a way to shoot 53.2 percent from the field. Nash LED THE TEAM by shooting 74 percent inside three feet.

Nash then moved on to have a couple of not-so-good years with the Los Angeles Lakers but as a Suns fan, I’ve completely blocked those out of my mind. In my heart, Nash will always be a Suns star and thanks to the organization’s no-brainer to put him in the Ring of Honor, he’ll be up there with the greats, as it should be.

Next: 50 Greatest NBA Players Not in the Hall of Fame

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