I've never got the love that Steve Nash gets from fans. He is by far one of the most overrated players in NBA history. Right now he is the most overrated player in the league.
Now people love his offensive game. I get it, who doesn't want to see a lot of points and teams going up and down the court? Yes, Nash has the ability to make fancy passes that make Sports Center Top 10 night in and night out, but let's look at Nash's game as a whole.
The few positives of Nash are that he has great vision of the court when no one is guarding him. He can spot the open man pretty much in his sleep. Nash is great shooter, there's no doubt about that, if you leave him wide open he'll hit that jumper. Nash can hit free throws too, seeing how he's a 90 plus percent shooter from the line.
Now on to the negatives. People tend to believe that he's a great ball handler, but he's not. Most of these assists that you see on highlight reels are from either set plays on an alley oop or in the open court when a team's defense is not set up. This is when Nash can hit that homerun pass with ease.
However, once you put pressure on him he struggles. Seeing how Nash averaged 3.6 turnovers a game last year compared to Deron Williams' 3.3 turnovers per game, Baron Davis' 2.8 turnovers per game, and Chris Paul's 2.5 turnovers per game.
Lastly, the biggest flaw in Steve Nash's game is his defense. He doesn't play a lick of it. I doubt he even knows what defense is. He only averaged .7 steals per game last year. Baron Davis was at 2.3 steals per game, Chris Paul was at 2.7 steals per game, and Deron Williams was at 1.1 steals per game.
Nash has the ability to let the mediocre point guards look like superstars when he tries to play them defensively. Just look at the picture above, you know what Nash is saying to Barbosa, he's saying, "My bad, I didn't mean to let Mike Conley Jr. blow by me."
Nash proves time and time again that he doesn't belong in the top point guard category. I mean if I had a kid, I would make sure he watches Chris Paul, Baron Davis, and Deron Williams to see how to play. Those are the point guards who games should be modeled after, not Nash. Nash is flashy, but he is not a solid player.
27 comments Last one added 11 days ago — Leave a Comment
Michael Wagner 11 months ago
Is top five at your position not elite? To me you are saying he is the #4 PG in the NBA behind Williams, Paul and Davis...If you are in the top five then you are elite...plus 2 MVP awards. He isn't that overrated...
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J. Michael Morris 11 months ago
Exactly, I have heard nobody say he is better right now than the three top point guards in the league Paul, Williams, or Davis.
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Erick Blasco 11 months ago
It's not that Nash can see the open man when nobody is guarding him, it's that he can see the open man when three people are guarding him...or at the only time the open man is in fact open...or that he can make the absolutely perfect pass to the perfectly defended teammate, that will open everything up.
Nash can make one handed, no-look, on target, bounce passes with his left hand, while driving right.
Let that sink in. Try to comprehend just how difficult that is, and what he can do for an offense just by that simple characteristic. The only person I've seen do that before (though my history of basketball-watching doesn't stretch back very far) was Stockton.
He commits turnovers because in Phoenix' open court style, he forces more passes to create tempo and sees things opening up that his teammates don't. Deron Williams doesn't have Nash's vision, and neither does Paul. Not yet anyway.
I guarantee you that if Amare Stoudemire had half the help-defense principals that Nash has, if he played for a real coach once in his mature basketball life, and played in a system where he'd have coaching and defensive teammates to pick up for his basketball flaws, Nash would have at least a Finals appearance.
Nash isn't overrated, he is what he is. The smartest, and best passing point guard in the game, with genius-level IQ and court-vision, tremendous range, a lethal pull up game, who's completely unselfish, has a perfect personality, is an underrated and crafty help defender, who can't defend a fire hydrant one-on-one. You can build around that with the right teammates. The things he provides only come around a handful of times a generation.
You know who else can't play defense? Amare Stoudemire. Nobody ever criticizes him though because he scores a lot, and because there aren't two chic, en vogue, power forwards in the Western Conference challenging him. Believe me, if you want an overrated Suns player, you started with the wrong guy.
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Nick Haines 11 days ago
I think unbiased people are saying that he is very good; but the MVP's were a tragedy. A few players, including Scottie Pippen called him the worse MVP ever. He has more MVP's than Kobe, Shaq, Lebron, KG, Barkley, etc.
Gary Payton, Kidd, Billups, Kevin Johnson, and Stockton were all better players who led finals teams but don't get the media love.
Look what Billups did for Denver; why isn't he the MVP?
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Brent 11 months ago
that is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Maybe on D he is weak but he's short and skinny and still manages to draw in a ton of charges. As far as turnovers, you have to examine that against the amount of possessions the suns average in a game; which due to their typical pace is usually more than other teams. And the bottom line, to just say a player like Nash is somehow 'over-rated' in light of his broader accomplishments (especially how easy he can make it for other players to shine [even ones that in reality are not that good...ah-hem shaun marion, ah-hem]) is just really....stupid sounding.
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Nick Haines 11 days ago
Nash is 6'3, which isn't that short. Just face it, he won't ever lead a champion, he isn't good enough.
Amare, Barbosa, Shaq, Jason Richardson, Grant Hill, Matt Barnes; he's surrounded by adequate talent.
Billups has Carmello, JR, NeNe, D. Jones, K. Mart, Birdman, Kleiza; a comparable group.
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Steven Resnick 11 months ago
Let's take a look at similar offenses that are run at the up and down pace. Baron Davis has always been a player that can take the ball up and down the court in fact his highest turnover season average wise was 3.2.
Chris Paul is an up and down player his highest average turnover wise is 2.5
Deron Williams can push it and he was at 3.4 turnvovers per game
Jason Kidd definitely started the running up and down for Phoenix sure he's averaged 4.1 turnovers per game but he does so much more on the court then Nash does, Kidd's rebounding ability makes up for that.
Chauncey Billups can push the ball up and down especially when he was first coming into the league and his highest average for turnovers in a season is 2.4 per game.
Steve Nash career high for turnovers in a season is 3.8 come on now don't use the excuse of up and down because it just doesn't have any merit.
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Mark Brown 11 months ago
That doesn't change the fact that JKidd averaged 4.1 turnovers.
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Nick Haines 11 days ago
Kidd led 2 Eastern Conference Champions.
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immanuel ikeakanam 11 months ago
don't even compare chauncey billups and even jason kidd to nash none of them ever averaged 11.6 assists per game in any time during their careers like nash and the fact that nash is 34 and handles the ball for phoenix 95% of the time would tell why he has averaged 3.7 turnovers in phoenix. there is no backup pointguard to help nash and when he takes his rests the suns offense always stumbles quite patheticly.
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matt 3 months ago
the thing about this article is that you're only looking at the stat sheets. if you were to actually realize that nash isn't that overrated. he play's in a system that does not emphasize defense. its all offense and most of his turnovers come from a tipped pass. nash is one of the few guards that shoot 50% and besides jameer nelson hes the only one that drops a ton of threes shooting that well. for defense, he is in the top percentage of drawing charges. THE MOST OVERRATED PLAYER IN THE NBA IS ALLEN IVERSON. his true colors were exposed in detroit
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Nick Haines 11 days ago
Kidd is just as old and has averaged more assist in his career.
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Steven Resnick 11 months ago
Jason Kidd right now is a better point guard then Nash and he's a little older than Nash. He handles the ball a lot too he's turnover proned just as much as Nash, but Kidd does everything better than Nash. From rebounding to playing defense. Billups one of the most clutch point guards recently. Solid player and plays defense. The one thing Nash can't seem to play.
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Lamar jackson 11 months ago
Jason kidd isn't even a has been, he's a never was....this article is just isn't worth my time...This guy should be prohibited from ever writing an article again....Steve Nash over rated...geez, ur pathetic. Do us all a favour and give in your resignation forms now, please!!!
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Brent 11 months ago
Its not 'up and down' that I'm talking about per se. Its the number of times the suns have the ball per game vs the other team. as another poster said, Nash will have that ball 95% percent of the time. Thus you have to figure that number in along with the amount of turnovers to get a ratio which will give you a more accurate picture of what is going on. That being said, Phx #3 for pace/possessions last year and #5 in turn over ratio. If this is any reflection on nash's performance its hard to say he is overrated, unless you are using the loosest sense of the word. If fact only the hornets and dallas, ergo paul and maybe kidd (since he came half way through), are above the phoenix on turnover ratio amongst the candidates you have named, and not by all that much... And Chauncey, which I fail to see how his 'potential to push the ball early on in his career' figures in, is much lower down on that metric of assessment. By the way, none of them do the aerobatics that nash performs passing to earn that amazing assist number.
But I don't mean to bore you with the numbers. You seem like much more of a 'truthiness' kind of guy. A go with the gut, to hell with the brain kinda fella. So this probably wont make any sense to you. The bigger point is this. I too miss basketball right now. We are right in the middle purgatory between seasons and everyone is getting kinda antsy for some action, something to talk about, (and in your case something to write about). But that does not mean we (read: you) need to go on ridiculous witch hunts in the search for the most outrageous theory you can secrete onto a page like its some divine revelation just because there is nothing of substance to write about right now. Steve Nash is really, really good. Thats it. You are going to have to live with it. Sorry.
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Mark Brown 11 months ago
Steve Nash's defence has been blown out of porportion. There is no doubt that he is a poor defender, but he is not nearly as bad as everyone thinks. In case you haven't noticed, everyone else has a tough time guarding Paul, Williams, and Davis too. I will give you that he makes bad players look good, but he isn't a 2 time MVP for nothing.
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Steven Resnick 11 months ago
It's kind of like Ichiro getting the MVP in baseball. There were a lot of players mores deserving and the only reason why Nash has 2 MVP's is out of popularity, not on how he actually plays.
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Mark Brown 11 months ago
But Kobe, LeBron, and Tim Duncan are just as popular, if not more so, than Nash, but he still won it.
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Nick Haines 11 days ago
They aren't as popular; it is Like Larry Bird says, the NBA needed some white stars to keep mainstream fans.
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Mark Brown 11 days ago
@Nick:
No offense, but how did you find this article? It's been almost a year.
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jucic jdd 11 months ago
If people can win MVP out of polularity, dont' you think Kobe Bryant would have won 10 MVPs by now?
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Nick Haines 11 days ago
Kobe was accused of rape and he has selfish tendencies on the court. Nash seems to be a likable guy
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Steven Resnick 11 months ago
Nope I don't believe that Kobe would have won because there were other players who meant more to their team than Kobe.
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Mark Brown 11 months ago
But how is Nash winning back to back MVPs just out of popularity? Again, Kobe, LeBron, Duncan and Wade are all just as popular than Nash. And Nash is very important to his team. Have you seen their offense with him on the bench.
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Steven Resnick 11 months ago
How because the Suns became popular because the team could get up and down the court and score points. More pointson the board equalled more interest. Not necessarily meaning Nash was the actual MVP.
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Mark Brown 10 months ago
That's a good point, Steven, I hadn't thought of that. But that would only apply to the casual NBA fan. The voters for the MVP award wouldn't just base their choice on the Suns scoring points, they would select the player they thought was most deserving. In both years, it was Nash. In 04-05, he revitalized the Suns, it was him or Shaq but Nash won it. In 05-06, Nash got the award because of all the changes that had occurred. Stoudemire, Richardson, and Johnson were gone, and Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa, Kurt Thomas and Boris Diaw were either added to the team or blossomed in that year. Their success was because of Steve Nash. Sure, there were more talented players, but Nash was the true MVP.
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Mark Brown 10 months ago
That's a good point, Steven, I hadn't thought of that. But that would only apply to the casual NBA fan. The voters for the MVP award wouldn't just base their choice on the Suns scoring points, they would select the player they thought was most deserving. In both years, it was Nash. In 04-05, he revitalized the Suns, it was him or Shaq but Nash won it. In 05-06, Nash got the award because of all the changes that had occurred. Stoudemire, Richardson, and Johnson were gone, and Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa, Kurt Thomas and Boris Diaw were either added to the team or blossomed in that year. Their success was because of Steve Nash. Sure, there were more talented players, but Nash was the true MVP.
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