The Steve Nash Effect

Back in high school, circa 2005-09, I use to love the Phoenix Suns and considered myself a fan. At this age you start to semi understand the game and can formulate a fair opinion, since this was the tail end of the Allen Iverson fandom, I fell in love with the run and shoot 3’s mentality. Mike D’Antoni famously created a “7 seconds or less” offensive system where you push the ball up the floor in attempt to get a quick, good look for a shot before the defense sets. D’Antoni has referenced that you do not necessarily need to be super athletic and fast to succeed in said system, but rather “keep going.” The idea here is that once you secure a defensive rebound, or concede a basket, do not stop and lollygag your way down on offense, but keep moving, kind of like soccer. It is widely known that Nash was a big soccer fan, having played growing up, and had the vision necessary to prosper within such an offense.

Prior to the 2004-05 NBA season, the NBA added a new rule change to open up the court to optimistically translate into more points being scored. The rule change was to “curtail hand-checking, clarify blocking fouls and call defensive three-seconds to open up the game ” according to nba.com. Just to give you a glimpse of how this rule affected perimeter players, during the 2005-06 season – one season after the rule was in place – ten players averaged 25 PPG+; KBryant 35.6, AIverson 33, LJames 31.4, GArenas 29.3, DWade 27.2, PPierce 26.8, DNowitzki 26.6, CAnthony 26.5, MRedd 25.4, RAllen 25.1. The NBA witnessed one of its worst defensive outputs in history. With the added addition of the three-second rule, players would have free driving lanes to the basket to create opportunities. With these rule changes, add a few deadly shooters and a pick and roll big who is a ‘rolling’ beast, around a slithery, career 90% FT shooter, 43% 3pt shooter, and a guy that can see passing lanes open up when someone looks blanketed, you have a formula for success.

During the Nash-D’Antoni term, check out where they ranked offensively in the league, especially offensive rating.

Season FG% 3PT% AST PTS ORtg

2011-12 6 17 6 8 9

2010-11 7 4 3 4 9

2009-10 1 1 4 1 1

2008-09 1 5 3 1 2

2007-08 1 1 1 3 2

2006-07 1 1 1 1 1

2005-06 1 1 1 1 2

2004-05 2 1 3 1 1

These results speak for themselves, a true wizard, orchestrating a team with different pieces throughout the years, from their most talented roster, 04-05, to a team you wouldn’t have expected to make it to the WCF, 09-10, and be on the brink of one of the luckiest GW tip ins I have ever seen. Side note, Game 5 WCF, Artest takes one of the most ill advised three pointer in which the Suns rebounded. Jason Richardson was playing terrible the entire game, yet comes up with one of the most clutch shot of his career, hitting a 30 footer off glass to tie the score at 101 with 3.5 seconds left. With 1.1 seconds left, LA takes the ball out, Kobe puts up an air ball in which nobody blocks out Artest, whom comes to save the day, and the rest is history. But I digress. If you notice, Phoenix was in the top 2 offensive rating, six years in a row! Six! That is unheard of in today’s game. In terms of PACE, Phoenix was ranked top 5 throughout the years, and lead the league in assists 3 seasons in a row, 06-08.

It is widely recognized how Nash effected a number of players’ positively and even into career years. Nash’s first season back with Phoenix, he led a team that won 29 games the season before, into a 62 win team. Talk about a turnaround, and from a slow, average looking, unathletic player. Below is a graphic of a few players’ True Shooting Percentage* to display how Nash influenced their shooting abilities.

*True Shooting Percentage – A statistic in basketball used to gauge shooting efficiency that takes into consideration points scored from 3 pointers, fields goals and free-throws to get a meause of points scored each shooting attempt. This is an advanced stat that expands on field-goal percentage to adjust for the fact that not every shot within the FG% is equal. It is calculated by; Points / (2* (FG Attempts + 0.44 * FT Attempst)).

Of the names listed above, I want to talk about three in particular, just to highlight how vital Nash was to their success. Channing Frye, 20/70 career 3 pointers in 4 total seasons prior to joining forces with Nash. In Frye’s first season, he shot 43.9% on 172 of 392 3-point shots. The pick and pop option really caused problems for teams and Frye thrived on open 3’s. Next, Amare Stoudemire. The Nash-Stoudemire pick and roll was devastating. Stoudemire turned into one of the most ferocious finishers in the game, adding a knock down 17-footer that was able to open up the pick and space option. Prior to Nash teaming up with Stoudemire, his FG% was 47%, which by all accounts is terrible for a big. Those numbers spiked exponentially, and goes as follows; 55.9%. 57.5%, 59.0%, 53.9% and 55.7%. Amare chose to sign a 5-year deal with the Knicks in which his FG% numbers decreased significantly and career has been plagued with inconsistency and injuries. Lastly, I may have to disqualify myself for bringing this guy up because of my bias towards how I feel, Joe Johnson. Johnson might have benefited the most from Nash, one season together and he signs a $100M contract with Atlanta, which by the way was one of the biggest mistakes in recent NBA history, but there is my bias kicking in. The season prior to Nash’s arrival, Johnson shot 30.5% on 3-pointers. In 2004-05, Johnson shot an outstanding 47.8% – which is the 19th best single season 3 pt. performance ever – on 370 attempts, 2nd behind Korver’s 449. Johnson was outstanding and the perfect fit for the “7 seconds or less” offense, if only he decided to stay and fight for a championship instead of chasing the money. Johnson’s percentages have significantly dropped since leaving Phoenix, respectively.

Looking ahead to today’s game and comparisons to players in the NBA now, I bring up a conversation I had with a good friend of mine, Domonique Hollins, about the comparison of Steph Curry and Steve Nash. When you think about it, the comparison is very fair. Their games complement one another’s so perfectly, and they run a very similar style offense with a few connections between the two. Alvin Gentry took over for D’Antoni in Phoenix and was with Nash for a few seasons, and this past season was the associate head coach to Steve Kerr. Kerr was the GM of Phoenix from 2007-08 through the 2010 season when he stepped down. I am sure with these two being around during that time in Phoenix, they made the realization that they can do some similar things with Curry running the show as they had with Nash in Phoenix. When comparing the two, Curry and Nash, Curry obviously is more of a scorer, but if you ever watched Nash closely, he could score when called upon and could deliver 40-point games in the postseason when the lights shine brightest. Nash may be one of the greatest passers of all time, if not the greatest passer of all time, but do not knock Curry’s vision and playmaking ability. Curry can hang with the best of them when it comes to creating offense for others. Both are elite shooters, Curry being perhaps on his way to being the greatest shooter ever, Nash has been apart of the all-exclusive 50/40/90 club 4x, which is reserved for only six players ever at this moment. Both Nash and Curry lack the ability to defend the opposition and have been liabilities on that side of the ball, although Steph made some strides this past season, let’s see if he can continue improving. When it comes to the pick and roll, aside from John Stockton, Nash is the premier cover athlete. Both players posses an uncanny ability to be ambidextrous on the court, Nash being one of the best “weak handed” players I have ever watched. Steph will be able to pick up a few tips and tricks of the trade now that Nash has joined the coaching staff, which will make him even deadlier of a player. Both players are phenomenal, without Nash, there would be no Stephen Curry. You have to appreciate guys that look like your average Joe, but can cause havoc on the court and make you believe you can do it too.

At the end of the day Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns revolutionized the game of basketball, and in my mind making him a top 5 player at his position all time. Bringing small ball into the NBA and being successful, led to teams trying to mimic their model – Atlanta, Golden State, San Antonio – which is a beautiful sight to witness. Having the ability to put your 5 best players on the court that can all handle, shoot and pass the ball makes it incredibly difficult on the defense to defend. The pace and space era is upon us which makes shooting a high commodity in the league. So kids, get in the gym and work on your shooting, and remember that if you can consistently knock down a shot, there will ALWAYS be a spot for you on a roster.