To say that Steve Nash was a long shot to be named the MVP (Most Valuable Player) in the National Basketball Association is an understatement.
Twelve years ago when he was a scrawny kid playing for a small high school in Victoria the odds of him being MVP were conservatively a billion to one.
No Canadian under 6’6” had ever even played in the NBA and only one small Catholic University felt he was good enough to merit a scholarship offer. Against all odds, he took that small University, Santa Clara, deep into the NCAA Tournament, where his talent and work ethic became obvious.
He was drafted into the NBA by Phoenix, who traded him to Dallas, in what one major Dallas newspaper headlined as “The Worst Trade in the History of the Franchise”.
With Nash at point guard Dallas became the top scoring team in the NBA, but when it came time to re-sign him at age 30 Dallas felt they could get him cheap by NBA standards and offered him about 1/2 of what Seattle have just paid their 30 year old point guard Ray Allen. There were also strong rumors that a newly signed Steve might be packaged in a trade for Shaquille O’Neal. (Dallas did not offer him a ‘no trade’ clause.)
Phoenix offered Steve money more in keeping with his All-Star status and convinced him that they really wanted him to be the floor general for their team. Steve’s impact on Phoenix was immediate and sustained and they went from a team who didn’t make the play-offs to the team with the best record in the NBA. One of the teams that Phoenix eliminated in the play-offs was Dallas and “The Worst Trade in the History of the Franchise” took on a different meaning.
Statistically the chance of Steve Nash being named MVP was remote, but to measure Steve Nash by statistics alone is like judging a top chef’s meal by its caloric content.
In the past 40 years:
No point guard has won the trophy
No one under 6’6” has won the trophy
No one who can’t dunk has been MVP
Only 2 other white players have made it (Dave Cowans and Larry Bird)
Every MVP has been their team’s leading point scorer
The award typically goes to a big, dominant, high scoring player, more often than not, a center. But for once the writers who vote for the MVP recognized the power of a catalyst who could transform a team with 50 losses to a team with 50 wins and Steve Nash was named MVP with the 7’1” 340lb Shaq in 2nd place.
I’ve written about Steve before in “Well” (Spring 2002) and am still impressed by how he continues to beat the odds and how he continues to make the world around him a little better. He wore a ‘Shoot for Peace’ t-shirt at the All-Star game, he quietly funds a variety of kids’ programs and he never forgets his friends, including former Speakwell employee Simon Ibell, who has beaten a few odds himself by being accepted into the graduate Kinesiology program at UBC. It’s refreshing to see an athlete who has his sport and money in perspective, who is unselfish both on and off the basketball court and is humble in the face of recognition and adulation. I recently met someone who played on the Santa Clara soccer team at the time that Steve was a student. He said that there was no question that Steve was a hero and the proverbial Big Man on Campus, but what impressed him was that before almost every home game the soccer team played Steve would stop by the dressing room, give a few high fives and wish them well, something no other athlete on campus even thought of doing. A couple of anecdotes about his parents might give a clue as to where Steve got his humility and personality.
A number of years back I saw John, Steve’s dad, sweeping up popcorn, cigarette butts and hamburger wrappers below the University of Victoria stadium at a track meet. John explained that the parents of his daughter Joanne’s soccer team were raising money for a road trip by volunteering to do garbage patrol. Joanne is now involved in working with the Steve Nash Foundation. He had one son playing for Canada at basketball, the other, Martin, representing Canada at soccer and it would have been easy for John to write a cheque or say he was too busy, but in the Nash family everybody counts, and everyone does their bit and this meant that John did his shifts on garbage patrol.
On a cold, wet Vancouver evening Steve had left me tickets for a game against the Grizzlies. His mother, Jean, was also waiting to pick up her tickets. The wind added to our discomfort and she wasn’t dressed for the Vancouver winter. Most player’s mothers would have approached security for special treatment, but Jean kept a low profile and quietly waited for the Will-Call window to open. With parents like John and Jean, siblings like Martin and Joanne and friends like Simon Ibell it’s not surprising Steve Nash is a great guy. Now much of his precious free time away from basketball and his two new babies is devoted to the Steve Nash Foundation.
Steve hugging his mother Jean
Steve in Toronto recently to donate $100,000 of footwear & apparel to the Harbourfront Community Centre
Basketball junkies might enjoy Dallas owner Mark Cuban’s 10 page explanation of why he did not re-sign Steve Nash.
The opening lines are, “How could you let Steve Nash go?”; “It’s a question I’m going to hear for a long time.” The hundreds of emails in response are also fun to read. They include, “We’ll just keep drinking Cuban’s Kool-Aid”.
In the past 40 years:
was that before almost every home game the soccer team played Steve would stop by the dressing room, give a few high fives and wish them well, something no other athlete on campus even thought of doing. A couple of anecdotes about his parents might give a clue as to where Steve got his humility and personality.
He had one son playing for Canada at basketball, the other, Martin, representing Canada at soccer and it would have been easy for John to write a cheque or say he was too busy, but in the Nash family everybody counts, and everyone does their bit and this meant that John did his shifts on garbage patrol.
harry back
speakwell