Top 100 NBA Players: #54

Steve Nash

(Simmons: #38, BBR: #31)

Steve Nash is one of my favorite players of all time, so it hurts a little bit to have to put him clear down here on the all-time list, but he has been slightly overrated by the fact that he won two MVP awards that he probably shouldn't have. But just because I don't quite feel he was MVP-worthy does not mean that he his shown some major feats of greatness during his career.

Steve Nash is the holder of several impressive records. One of the biggest is that he has the highest free throw percentage in the history of the NBA. Only two players can claim an overall free throw percentage over 90% for their career, and Nash is one of them. In 2010, he broke John Stockton's record as the oldest player to lead the league in assists, and he broke it by 3 years. The following year, he did it again, setting the bar even higher by winning the assist title at age 37. There has never been a point guard who played this well this late in his career, and that includes Jason Kidd and Stockton.

He is also one of only five players in history to achieve a 50-40-90 season, shooting 50% from the field, 40% from long range, and 90% from the free throw line. Only five players have ever achieved this: Larry Bird, Dirk Nowitzki, Reggie Miller, Mark Price, and Nash. But Nash hasn't just joined that club, he is the captain of it. Nash has achieved it 4 times, including three straight seasons from 2007-2010, while the other 4 have done it only five times combined. Nash barely missed out on making it five straight years in the 2006-07 season, when he finished the season shooting .899 from the free throw line. He is, without a doubt, the best in-game shooter in the history of the NBA.

Steve Nash is one of only two MVP's in history to never make an appearance in the NBA Finals (the other is 2011 winner Derrick Rose). Even with that fact, he hasn't had a complete lack of playoff success. He has been a top 3 player on 4 Western Conference Finalists, but he has never been able to get over that hump. In addition to his eight seasons in the top 3 in assists in the league, which includes 5 times as #1, he has also led all playoff players in assists average 4 times, with an average of 13.3 per game in 2007 as his best performance.

I said earlier that I didn't believe Nash should have won those two MVP awards. It hurts more than you can imagine for me to write that, but it's true. In 2005, when he won his first award, Nash was credited with the Suns' success because he was the new guy in town, but Amare was very impressive that year, and probably should have won the award himself. Here are their stats from that season:

Stoudemire - 26.0 pts, 8.9 reb, 1.6 ast, 1.6 blk, .559 FG%, .733 FT%
Nash - 15.5 pts, 3.3 reb, 11.5 ast, .502 FG%, .431 3P%, .887 FT%

Each was impressive in his own right, but because Amare showed so much improvement that year, people assumed it was because of Nash. Having a great point guard to get you the ball has to help, but it also can't hurt that Amare was 22 years old and still growing as a player. The next year, Amare went down with a knee injury, and the Suns weren't expected to go anywhere, but Nash led them to a respectable record and a return trip to the Conference Finals, so he was able to repeat as MVP, but Dirk led the Mavericks to a better record with better numbers, which are listed below:

Nowitzki - 26.6 pts, 9.0 reb, 2.8 ast, .480 FG%, .406 3P%, .901 FT%
Nash - 18.8 pts, 4.2 reb, 10.5 ast, .512 FG%, .439 3P%, .921 FT%

Nash's resume was definitely stronger statistically in 2006, but his team was not one of the top 3 record-wise in the league, which makes him the only MVP in the past 25 years who can say that. There's no doubt that he's a star player, and he may not be done yet. He could still make a run at the top 50 of all time, but it might take a championship to do it.

The interesting thing about Nash is how he started rising to his peak at the point in his career where most players start to drop from relevance. His peak is higher and has lasted longer than Hamilton's, but Hamilton's playoff success kept him somewhat close to Nash overall. Nash, even though he's several years older than Hamilton, still has a chance to add to his career accomplishments, while Rip seems to be on the downside of his career.