Los Angeles Lakers: Can Steve Nash Still Produce?
Steve Nash has had an extremely decorated career. He has won two MVPs, made eight All-Star appearances, led the league in assists six times and is the best free-throw shooter the NBA has ever seen. Even though he has not accomplished his ultimate goal (yet) of winning a championship, he will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer and will go down as one of the best point guards to ever play the game. Throughout his career he has made average and sub par players look incredible with his unmatched passing ability and court vision that has not been seen since the days of Magic Johnson.
But Steve Nash is 39 now and will turn 40 before the All-Star break. He has not aged gracefully, lost a considerable amount of his speed and is far past his prime. In the last two seasons, Nash has missed a total of 52 games, a majority of these games coming last season with the Lakers. Now that he is presumed to be healthy, one can only ask, is Nash too old to perform at the elite level that we have been accustomed to seeing? Nash’s 12.1 points per game this year is his lowest scoring average since the 1999-2000 regular season and his 7.2 assists per game is his lowest since 2002-03.
Steve Nash is too old to play at an elite level. Photo Credit: (Flickr.com)
Although he played significantly fewer games last season than in any season in recent history, the Lakers still expect Nash to perform at an elite level when he is on the court. In order for the Lakers to make any noise this season, Nash will have to fully embrace his new designation as the team’s premier long-range sniper. Unfortunately for the Lakers, they have little choice but to run their offense through Nash with Kobe Bryant currently recovering from an Achilles tear.
At the end of the day, in a league where young point guards like Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul and Kyrie Irving dominate, there is just no room for an old man like Steve Nash anymore. Sure, he can hold is own on the offensive end, but when it comes down to the grit of defense, Nash struggles and always has. Almost at 40 years old, Nash can no longer hold his own at both ends of the court and it will only hurt the Lakers in the long run, who essentially do not need anymore problems. Steve Nash will go down as one of the best guards to ever play the game, but Father Time has caught up with him.
His time is done.
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