Steve Nash could have earned more money
while enjoying the twilight of his remarkable NBA career in Manhattan, his
offseason home. Or he could have returned to Canada, finishing up his playing
days in Toronto with an eye toward national history and another career in the
front office.Instead, the two-time MVP point guard is going
Hollywood.
Nash is teaming up with Kobe Bryant and
whatever 7-foot stars end up with the Los Angeles Lakers for at least a few more
seasons of title contention on the best team within a short flight of Phoenix,
where his three children live.
So what if the Lakers have been among his
biggest rivals throughout his entire NBA career with Dallas and Phoenix? So what
if he'll be in a backcourt with a ball-dominating superstar who has never shared
possession with a point guard of Nash's abilities? So what if he can't wear No.
13, which is hanging in the Staples Center rafters with Wilt Chamberlain's name
forever attached to it?
''The idea to be close to my son, my
daughters, who will be in Phoenix, was the No. 1 priority,'' Nash told ESPN's
Los Angeles station Thursday.
''Don't get me wrong, it's fantastic,''
he added. ''I think I'm a good fit for the team, and we have a great team, we're
a contender, that's all incredible, too. But as far as getting over the hump and
being able to be a Laker after being a Sun and trying to beat the Lakers in the
playoffs all those years, the reality is it was too great of an opportunity to
pass up as far as my children were concerned. And fortunately for me, it's a
great basketball situation.''
The 38-year-old Canadian says he spoke to
Bryant by phone Monday to see whether he wanted to work together. Bryant took a
break from his basketball camp in Santa Barbara to confirm he thinks Nash would
be a perfect fit in the Lakers' backcourt, providing a dimension they never
possessed even in Derek Fisher's best years - a playmaking talent Los Angeles
hasn't seen since Magic Johnson was running the show.
Nash said Bryant thinks he can be
''somebody to handle the ball and lead. He also felt that we were complementary
leaders. I'm more on the positive side, he's more ... I think as he said it,
cracks the whip. I think pick-and-roll, adding that to the offense and being
able to space the floor for the big guys inside, I think it's a good fit. He was
excited, and I think that was important for me. It's going to be fun to work it
all out and try to create some cohesion and chemistry on the floor and make all
these pieces work.''
The NBA's international superstars are
usually identified as different-looking people with unpopular haircuts and thick
accents.
Take one look and hear one sentence from
Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and Pau Gasol, and it's clear none of them were born in
the United States of America. Yet there are other, less obvious foreign players
in the league: those who hail from the mystical land of Canada, where a wise
moose acts as spiritual leader and Wayne Gretzky is allowed to make up laws as
he pleases.
Among the NBA's Canadians, Phoenix Suns
point guard Steve Nash stands out as the most famous and best player. Now, after
retiring from the national team and as he nears the end of his NBA career, Nash
will serve as general manager of Canada Basketball, the nation's basketball
organization.
"Canada Basketball has been huge in my
career but it's also been hamstrung on many occasions — daily, yearly — in its
existence because of funding," Nash, who deflected questions about whether he
might sign with the Toronto Raptors this summer, said at Tuesday's press
conference at the Air Canada Centre. "We've never had the funding to do the
things or supply the resources that we wanted to. But now, because of the power
and the human resource and the capital of our Sixth Man Group [a group of
private investors supporting the team], we have the potential to do some amazing
things.
"We want to be playing in the Olympics
perennially and we want to be in the hunt for medals," Nash added
Team Canada has a chance to make some
noise on the world stage, and it's important for Nash to be involved in some way
if they want to maximize their potential. As he said in his remarks, money is an
issue, and there's no better way to raise money than by having a true national
superstar involved.
But Nash will also gain a lot from this
experience himself, and not just in the sense that it's a good PR move to show
some patriotism. Nash has never been shy about exploring opportunities off the
basketball court, whether that involves charitable endeavors or selling suits
for Indochino. Holding an important management position that allows him to work
with Canada Basketball's private investors can only help his career. No matter
what he chooses to do with the rest of his life, Nash will have more options and
connections after this experience.
