The best of the best of the best excel in any system.
Players a level down could rise and fall depending on the
situations they were in. Drafted by Phoenix in 1996, Nash went from a backup
with the Suns to an All-Star level point guard with Dirk Nowitzki’s Dallas
Mavericks. He still was not on a trajectory that would put him into the top
100. In his first eight seasons in the NBA, his best score in my system was
246.74.
After the 2003-2004 season, the Mavericks didn’t want to
commit too much money to a 30-year-old point guard. The Suns though jumped in
with a bigger offer and Nash went back to Arizona. He joined Phoenix at the
perfect time. Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson and Amar’e Stoudemire were coming in to
their own and Mike D’Antoni brought in an uptempo system that had gone out of
style.
The Suns went from 29-53 the year before Nash joined to 62-20. In fact, over the next three seasons, the Suns went
177-69. Nash led the league in assists all three seasons and five times in the
next eight years. Before his second Suns stint, Nash never shot better than
48.7 percent. He shot above 50 percent seven times in the next eight seasons.
His advanced stats improved as well. His PERs didn’t
increase all that much, but his win shares increased. In his first eight years,
he had one year of 10.0 win shares or more. After joining D’Antoni’s team, he
had four straight above 10.0 win shares and his top two box +/- and VORP
seasons.
What really drove him up the list though was his MVP votes. The
NBA sports writers voted him MVP in 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 and second in
2006-2007. The MVP votes gave him three straight seasons above 310. That was
enough to push him ahead of a player such as John Stockton, who was better far
longer but never got the MVP love.
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Steve Nash
bio info
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Career
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1996-2013
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Games
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1,217
|
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Points
|
14.3
|
|
Rebounds
|
3.0
|
|
Assists
|
8.5
|
|
FG Pct.
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49.0%
|
|
All-Star games
|
8
|
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NBA MVPs
|
2
|
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NBA titles
|
0
|
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Playoff seasons
|
12
|
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Playoff games
|
120
|
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Points
|
17.3
|
|
Rebounds
|
3.5
|
|
Assists
|
8.8
|
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FG Pct.
|
47.3%
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Hall of Fame
|
2018
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Top 100
rankings
|
||
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Points
|
Top 100 ranking
|
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1-year
|
344.52
|
44th
|
|
5-year
|
1,506.48
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37th
|
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10-year
|
2,537.44
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43rd
|
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Career
|
3,225.65
|
44th
|
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Steve Nash
at his peak
|
|||
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2004-2005
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Nash
|
Top 5
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Points
|
|
PER
|
22.0
|
26.98
|
|
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Win Shares
|
10.9
|
14.63
|
|
|
Box +/-
|
1.7
|
7.65
|
|
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VORP
|
2.4
|
7.30
|
|
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Total Advanced Stats
|
37.0
|
56.55
|
65.43
|
|
Playoff PER
|
23.4
|
27.24
|
|
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Win Shares
|
2.1
|
3.64
|
|
|
Box +/-
|
4.6
|
8.21
|
|
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VORP
|
1.0
|
1.75
|
|
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Total Advanced Stats
|
31.1
|
40.84
|
76.14
|
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Reg. Season Win %
|
80.00
|
80.00
|
|
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Playoff Win %
|
60.00
|
60.00
|
|
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MVP Voting (75 points)
|
1,066/1,270
|
62.95
|
|
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Playoff MVP (25 points)
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0
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0
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Total Score
|
|
|
344.52
|
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Nash’s 10 greatest seasons
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|
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2004-2005
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344.52
|
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2006-2007
|
338.58
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2005-2006
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314.14
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2009-2010
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262.49
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2002-2003
|
246.74
|
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2001-2002
|
245.04
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2000-2001
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214.46
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2007-2008
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199.45
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2003-2004
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189.78
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1997-1998
|
182.23
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Career
winning percentage
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|||
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W
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L
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Pct.
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Regular Season
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764
|
453
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62.78%
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Playoffs
|
57
|
63
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47.50%
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