How to Be Steve Nash

All point guards and team leaders should read this:

http://www.charlierose.com/shows/2007/08/27/2/a-conversation-with-basketball-professional-steve-nash

You want to be two-time MVP of the NBA? Work on that jumper. Do those push-ups. Get the mad handle.

But, also, according to Steve Nash, figure out how to be a good mother.

That's his word.

Steve Nash was on Charlie Rose, and talked at length about his job. One of the most under-appreciated aspects of his role, says Nash, is the need to be a mother and a psychologist to his teammates.

The Phoenix guard knows a lot of stuff (except, apparently, how to select a shirt that won't drive the TV cameras insane) and talks about mastering the kinds of things you might learn in some communications class, including non-verbal things like how his teammates are holding their shoulders, what's in their eyes, and what they're talking about. Who is frustrated? Who has lost confidence? Nash sees it as a key to his job to "take them all in at once."

What's the hardest part of all that? I'm guessing a lot of people can tell when Shawn Marion is feeling low, just watching on TV. Reading body language need not be rocket science. But the difference with Nash? He put his finger right on it: "To care."

That's the crucial difference. That's the special part. We all see Marion upset and think it's his problem. Nash sees Marion upset and sees that as, at least in some manner, Nash's problem.

Caring about his team like that, Nash says with the smirk of the understater, "takes some effort."

He also talks at length about things like dedication and inspiration. Without those, he says, you "don't have a chance." They are, he says casually, "more important than talent." More important than talent? A thousand scouts scoff, but Nash, a miniature and not terribly athletic dude running one of the best teams in the NBA, is having the last laugh.

What are you trying to say?
AllAloneBury doesn't care about his teammates?!
Preposterous!

This is almost word for word with what I said yesterday.

I declare today a National Holiday!!!!!!!!! We shall call it Bip-Nash PG lessons day. Everyone go home early.

Bip may be dumb but when it comes to understanding what attributes players and teams need in order to win, what he says is law. It's not up for debate. It is law.

When I was in high school I was great coming off screens. Teams would put their best defender on me and not give me an inch. I'm pretty level headed and don't get frustrated but some days it's impossible not to. You fight and fight and fight and finally get open and your PG misses you. You hit the point where you are ready to explode. A bad PG will tell you to stop whining, get upset that you are upset and miss you the next time. A good PG will not take your reaction personally. He will instead understand what you are going through. Understand that in order to win he can't have you runnign around for nothing. And the only thing he will take personally is the fact that he missed that you were open. He will then get on the big guys to set better picks and will go out of his way to create an opportunity to get you a shot. Whether it's in the halfcourt or the full-court he understands that it is now his responsibility to get you the ball. Everyone loves PG's like that. My PG was like that. I miss him. Maybe I'll send him a thank you card

I wonder who told Marbs to write All Alone on his kicks.
You know he's not clever enough to think of that on his own.

Feeding Eddy might be a problem though.

Nash is a great player and he gets it. I remember a playoff series when he was with dallas and dallas lost, I fogot to which team, but at the end of the game in which dallas was eliminated, nash walks over to a dejected dirk and slaps him five as if to say " hey man, you, we, did our best, don't hang your head". You could just see it, the consoling gesture, the gesture of we are in this together, it is not your fault, I mean nash didn't walk off the floor in a huff ,leaving doubt in teamates minds as if they were at fault, he went right to his guys and gave them five..... That is a real leader, in tough times, low times, true leaders emerge... nash is just that!

I always can tell how marbury wears his towel on his head as to his mood!

The players you guys are describing are the rare exceptions in sports. It's not like we are the one team in the league that has that problem. Many teams have that problem. I think the better your team is that those kinds of things get highlighted. Nash was a good player most of his career but he wasn't seen as the guy that he has now become since his success in PHX. Kidd was always a great PG, but even he had his issues before he came to NJ. Billups was a wanderer for a while and then with the right team he found himself. It's interesting to note that in many of these cases these players didn't always have it all together like they do now. Perhaps the building blocks of who they now are were there, but it takes the right circumstances for it to be fully realized. Who's to say that a guy like Mardy might not develop into that kind of player. It's certainly still possible.

I wouldn't totally rule out Steph having a great season. He seemed to really get it after his poor start last Nov. Maybe he comes in mentally ready this year from the start. To listen to some of us, you would think that Steph still refused to adjust, which isn't the case. When his head is in the right place he's still the most talented PG we have. I'm pulling for him to have a great year. Why not? We have him for another 2 seasons and at the moment there is no better option. He still have a chance to make up for his past mistakes and be a better role model for the younger guards and a better leader for this team. This way when he leaves he's at least done something for the good of the teams future.

Cool, but Nash' defense is EVEN worse than Marbury's.

who you prefer, scott brooks, eisley, chris childs, mark jackson, ward. At some point you have to relize he is who he is a combo guard.

It's like saying why couldn't Ewing be like shaq, kareem, or bill russel.