The NBA season officially begins tonight, however, for Suns fans, we have to wait until Thursday to see our favorite team in action. That leaves time to squeeze in one more player "holiday" before the real fun begins. We will close out these features for now with 24 hours of posts dedicated to the ring leader of the Suns' Magnificent Seven (my name for Mike D'Antoni's "seven starters"), two-time MVP Steve Nash.
As usual, today's post will include some facts and trivia, and tomorrow, we'll follow up with a second post featuring reader-suggested YouTubes and commentary. So break out those keyboards and shoot me over your favorite videos, or share your thoughts in the comments.
A Few Quick Facts about Steve Nash (from Wikipedia, Suns.com, Steve's NBA player profile page, and other sources):
Full Name: Steven John Nash
Birth Date: February 7, 1974 (Johannesburg, South Africa)
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 178lbs
College: Santa Clara
Trivia:
- Is a three-time MVP--twice in the NBA and once as a teenager playing soccer in British Columbia.
- Was booed on draft night by Suns fans hoping to land a bigger name with their 15th pick.
- Was also booed in Dallas when he first started playing there.
- Was traded to Dallas in June 1998. The Suns used the 1999 first round pick acquired in the deal to draft Shawn Marion.
- Is the lowest-drafted player ever to win NBA MVP as well as the first Canadian.
- Joined Larry Bird, Reggie Miller, and Mark Price as the fourth player ever to to shoot better than 50% from the field, 40% from three-point range, and 90% from the free throw line. (Dallas' Dirk Nowitzki became the fifth player to accomplish this feat in 2006-07).
- Has a tiger named after him. (video here)
- Has the third highest free throw percentage in NBA history. Ironically, it was a narrow miss on free throw percentage (.899) in 2006-07 that kept him from repeating the 50% FG/40% 3PT/90% FT feat.