Phoenix Suns: As It Stands, Is Steve Nash the Greatest Sun of All Time?
As the Phoenix Suns (28-27) make the turn for the home stretch of their 2010-2011 regular season, they find themselves doing it once again behind the leadership of Steve Nash.
The two-time MVP is in his ninth season with the Suns, dating back to the 1996-1997 season when he was drafted 15th overall by Phoenix.
No Suns' player, past or present, has more MVP awards, All-NBA First Team selections or three-point field goals than Nash.
Factor in the six seasons Nash spent in Dallas from 1998-2004 and his production seems even more astounding.
Dallas Days
Nash's career numbers are more than Hall of Fame-worthy, but just imagine the legacy he would leave in the desert if the six seasons he played in Dallas were instead played in Phoenix.
Four hundred and eight of Nash's 1,068 career games played came in a blue and white Mavericks jersey—that's 38 percent of Nash's career games played.
If Nash was never traded to Dallas in 1998, then he would lead Alvin Adams by 80 games for most played by a Sun all-time (as well as minutes played).
Nash's statistics during those six years in Dallas certainly contribute to his Hall of Fame resume; however, they eliminate more than one-third of the career production from his Phoenix legacy.
Think of it this way: Nash is one of the all-time greatest Suns ever, with only seven seasons under his belt as a starter for Phoenix.
Phoenix's Sun
Nash is more than a fan favorite in the desert. Fans for years have watched Nash sweat, cry and bleed for the purple and orange.
Charles Barkley took the Suns to the NBA Finals in 1993, something Nash has never done, but Barkley was never the victim of such cruel playoff torture.
There are games that stick out in the minds of Suns' fans everywhere. Games 1 and 4 of the 2007 Western Conference Semifinals certainly qualify.
Nash played with a busted-nose in the fourth quarter of Game 1, willing the Suns back to tie the game with a three-point shot late in the game. Cameras caught Nash wiping the blood off of his nose with his jersey several times.
Game 4 saw Nash getting body checked into the scorers table by Spurs' forward Robert Horry, resulting in an altercation that ended up costing the Suns two key players (Amar'e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw) for Game 5 of the series.
The Suns would lose that series and several others in their quest for the franchise's first championship.
Legacy
If Nash's career ever ends, he will close the book to one of sports' greatest stories.
Recruited by no major schools, Nash became a star for the Santa Clara Broncos, leading them to a three-point win over the No. 2 seeded-Arizona Wildcats in the first round of the 1993 NCAA tournament.
Selected in the first round behind names like Lorenzen Wright, Todd Fuller, Vitaly Potapenko and Samaki Walker, Nash was again under the radar.
He struggled in his first two seasons in Phoenix and was then traded to Dallas, where he developed into a dependable point guard after only a few seasons.
Upon his return to Phoenix, Nash became elite and eventually the league's most valuable player.
The rest is history.
Nash's individual accolades will likely be unmatched by another Suns player. His team's success in those few seasons with the Suns won't soon be forgotten by Suns' fans, so is he the greatest Sun of all time?
Is it hot in the desert?
Patrick Clarke is a Featured Columnist for the Phoenix Suns and a student at Towson University.
