Nash was a good help defender but yeah, prolific scoring PGs would eat him alive on that end. Thing is, he more than made up for it with what he brought to the table. He is one of very few players in recent times that truly made all the players around him better. That is an invaluable commodity. The combination of selflessness and passing ability and as if that wasn't enough, he's an amazing shooter and someone you could have absolute confidence in at the line when the game is decided on those charity shots in the closing seconds. MVP MVP I will always appreciate what he did for us even if we couldn't get over the hump. It would be nice for him to swing back over and retire without playing. He retires here in my mind regardless, he was never a Laker, they just gave us a couple free picks.
How cute. Almost getting to the finals. Wow, such a great accomplishment. Almost made me forgot you root for the Celtics and the Lakers. And they lost soundly in the conference finals. It wasn't even close. So no, your statement as false. But since we are on the subject of almost, how about almost getting his team eliminated in the first round against a one man team? Everyone knows he didn't deserve that 2nd MVP.
When did I use Steve Blake as a knock on Nash? Maybe you should trying reading? I used Steve as a long line of example of how players' numbers got inflated under Pringles, who generously let his players spend energy on only one side of the court. Jeremy Lin got paid. Earl Clark got paid. And the way things are going, Jodie Meeks will get paid.
Was Nash very good? Yes. Was he better than CP3? Absolutely not. Was his offensive numbers inflated due to Pringles? Check his TS%. While it remained high, it dropped significantly once Pringles was fired. Numbers don't lie.
Oh please, you're really trying to knock Nash like he couldn't accomplish much? We'd have at least two rings if Joe Johnson didn't bust his face in the playoffs and Stern didn't fuck us against the Spurs. Does anyone really doubt we'd have gone all the way if not for the hip check fiasco? Cavs in the finals? Easiest finals match up in years. At the end of the day, we didn't make it but lets not pretend that Nash wasn't good enough to accomplish more. Nash most certainly did deserve a second MVP, just not the year he got it. He should have got it the following year when Dirk laughably got it. It evened out.
Nash prime over CP3 prime no question. CP3 is great but he isn't as good a pure shooter or FT shooter nor as good a passer. He also didn't elevate his teammates games like Nash did. He racks up numbers and is terrific, he gets his teammates involved as evidenced by his assists but I wouldn't say he made any of them flat out better players, just gave them better scoring opportunities like any good PG does. You're really going to point at reduced numbers in later seasons without looking at the difference in rosters? You mean Dudley couldn't put up the same numbers as healthy STAT? You don't say!
