I know what you're thinking: He's STILL dwelling on the fact that Nash lost the MVP to his friend Dirk? My answer: No, not really.
But the past few weeks have made me think about the status of the NBA, NBA players in general and specifically the players on the Phoenix Suns.
My thinking went something like this: Let's say I'm the new GM, Steve Kerr. My new team just lost in the playoffs to the San Antonio Spurs for myriad reasons: Poor shooting by some bench players, stupid mistakes by players who should know better, abominable decisions by the NBA heads and poor luck in running into the San Antonio Spurs at a time when the Spurs were running on all cylinders. So what do I do? If I could blow up the whole team and start all over, who would I start with? What would I change?
And that brought me to Steve Nash. Throw away salaries for a minute and say you can trade any player or combination of players for any other player or combination of players. Who would you start with?
After thinking about this long and hard (10 minutes give or take 8 minutes), I would have to say I would start my team with Steve Nash. Despite the fact that he is 33 years old. Despite his bad back problems. Despite the fact that he has never been to the Finals.
And many of you may be asking, "Why?" You're in luck! I'm about to explain.
Is there any other player that can inspire his teammates to be better by example than Steve Nash? Is there any player that makes more of his teammates better than Steve Nash? Is there any player who can do half the things Steve Nash can do with the ball while on the court?
I think the answer to all three of the above questions is "No". There is no one like Steve Nash. You go down the list of "stars" in the NBA and there are very few who would make me think twice about taking them before Nash. LeBron, Duncan and that's about it. Not Dirk - he can't control his team. Not Kobe - he doesn't command respect from his teammates. Not Greg Oden - He's an unknown quantity in the NBA. Go down the list and there is a reason not to pick any other player.
I'm sure many of your are reading just waiting to get done so you can click on that comment button and tell me how wrong I am. And that's ok. I'll admit that I'm a little biased.
But remember this: Steve Nash took a team that had won only 29 games the year before he got there and turned it into a 3-time Division winning team. LeBron hasn't done that (yet). Duncan didn't do that.
No one else makes their teammates better. Whether it's because he's a great playmaker, a wonderful leader or a little bit of both - it doesn't matter. Steve does what most players in the NBA don't do. He makes his teammates better just by playing with them. That's a special quality. And that's why Steve is still the MVP in my book.