Steve Nash: Phoenix Doesn't Cut It Right Now, Where Should He Take His Talents?

The man is 37 years old. His numbers for 2010-2011 were 15 ppg, a league leading 11.5 apg and 49/40/91 percent shooting from the field, three-point line and free throw stripe, respectively.

This man deserves a championship. He is quite possibly the best pure point guard in NBA history.

Here's the unfortunate part: His current Suns team is going NOWHERE. The quality players on the squad can be counted on one hand: Aaron Brooks, Marcin Gortat, Grant Hill and Vince Carter. You know that the team is in trouble when a 34-year-old Vince Carter is considered one of the better players on your team.

Nash is a God in Phoenix. What that man has done for the franchise cannot be put in words. People adore him there; he is a living legend. Can you think of one Suns fan who would begrudge Nash leaving Phoenix for a team where he could get that much elusive ring?

Which team, in your opinions, would be best suited for him to get a championship in possibly the two productive years he has left?

It would seem to me that the Clippers would be the best team suited to his run n' gun style of play, especially if they end up swapping Kaman for Iguodala. Can you imagine how many alley-oops we'd see from him to Griffin? Can you?!

Unfortunately, the Clippers still need a few more years if only for sheer experience. They'd be a top four or five seed if the Iguodala trade went through and they got Nash, yeah, but he hasn't got too many years left in him. Kidd and Nowitzki may finally get their rings. Where could Nash go that would give him the best chance?

The contenders for next season (including fringe ones):

Lakers
Celtics
Heat
Mavs
Bulls
Thunder
Knicks
Magic
Hawks
Grizzlies

(Not the Spurs. Sad to say, they are DONE.)

Of these 10 teams that are a cut above the rest, the Celtics, Bulls and Thunder are fine at the point guard position. The Mavs would obviously not want to replace a 38-year-old with a 37-year-old. The Heat have LeBron and Wade, both who flourish as point guards. So these five are out. The Hawks, frankly, are just not good enough, more like fringe contenders.

Leaving: the Lakers, Knicks, Magic and Grizzlies. Let's look at each team.

1. The Lakers: Could they put together a good enough package for Nash? Without giving up one of their big men, that's doubtful. Would they give up Odom, who's just turned 30 if I'm not mistaken, and coming off a career season, for the oldest good point guard in the league? Nope. Plus, with Mike Brown as head coach, they're going to shift to a more defensive style with Bryant as the main facilitator. It would be a good chance for Nash to get his ring, but honestly, he doesn't fit the team. They need to get younger.

2. Grizzlies: It's an exciting prospect. A good young nucleus of Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol and a spectacularly rejuvenated Zach Randolph. Conley is OK, but this is Steve Nash we're talking about. With so much firepower (not to mention OJ Mayo coming off the bench), could he conjure up something spectacular? I just don't think a Nash-Allen-Gay-Randolph-Gasol line-up is NBA title worthy. It sucks, because Nash could make these young guns even better. But we're looking for what's best for Stevie, not others, right now.

3. Magic: Ughh. What can be said about this team? I didn't even want to include them in a list of potential contenders. It's Dwight, Dwight and more Dwight. The team needs a heck of a lot of rebuilding. Richardson, Reddick and Dwight are the only good players on the team. I don't want to see Nash go to the Magic, toss up a lot of alley oops to Dwight and then be stuck with a corpse of shot jackers when Dwight leaves for the Lakers.

Bringing us to what should be the best contender.....

The New York Knicks. The league's second most complete scorer in Carmelo Anthony and Nash's old buddy in Amare Stoudemire, not to mention the coach he achieved most success under in Mike D'Antoni. The run n' gun days would be back. The roster certainly has a lot of holes, but the main problem right now is lack of facilitation. Billups seems washed-up and injured. Douglas isn't ready yet.

PG-Nash
SG-Fields
SF-Carmelo
PF-Chandler (good chance he'll sign with the Knicks for the MLE)
C-Stoudamire

Fields is an incredible defensive player. He may have not played well towards the end, but give the guy a chance; he's a rookie. He led the LEAGUE in rebounds for guards. Chandler is a good utility player on both ends. The Knicks also have Turiaf, leading to another permutation:

PG-Nash
SG-Fields/Chandler
SF-Carmelo
PF-Stoudamire
C-Turiaf

The New York Knicks would be the best fit for Steve Nash to maximize what remains of his copious talents. This is like his old Phoenix team on steroids. You're replacing Shawn Marion and Quentin Richardson with Wilson Chandler (nearly an All-Star this season) and CARMELO ANTHONY.

I want to see Nash hit the game winner in a 2012 Eastern Conference finals game against the Miami Heat and take one of the best offensive squads in NBA history to the FINALS.

Here's the kicker: It would work out for both teams. If it was a straight up Nash for Billups trade, Billups has a HUGE expiring contract coming off the books after the 2011-2012 season, affording the Suns a lot of cap-space to rebuild their team.

The man has entertained us for years. He's always done what's best for his teammates. Now, things should be done that are best for him.