Why is Steve Nash so overrated?

I don't know that he's overrated. Overhyped maybe, but it's recognized that he's not among the top point guards, mostly due to an utter lack of interest in playing defense.

that john denver is full of shit man,

and so are you

He is the Wayne Gretzky of the NBA. If you don't know what I mean by that, you don't know hoops.

I am a suns fan and as such have enjoyed his play over the last couple of games, but I have to admit that he can be rather inconsistent and he usually seems to come out on the short end when playing against the better pgs in the game.

Why? He's white.

stunt double for tom petty in all his videos. little know fact.

probably. He doesn't have the ball handling or passing skills of Jason Williams and Stockton was better at making assists.

I think it's recognized that he's the best and most creative passer currently in the game, that his career shooting percentages (48 FG%, 90FT%, 43 3FG%) stack up with the very best ever to play the game, and that most importantly he's a tough, gutty leader. I don't think anyone has ever pretended that he's an elite or even average defensive PG, nor has he ever been asked to be.

terrible defender but no one currently in the league is as good at getting his teammates high percentage shots. Stoudemire gets most of his dunks and layups off Nash penetration and dish. he is also a very high percentage shooter for a point guard. not as tough physically, nowhere near as good with the steals, and not quite the passer but a bit more aggressive with his shot than stockton. both great at running teams.

Just because the poster above mentioned it, for comparison purposes, here are Stockton, JWill, and Nash.

FG%-FT%-3FG%-Assists

Stockton: 51.5-82.6-38.4-10.5

JWill: 39.6-81.6-32.5-6.3

Nash: 48.7-90.0-43.2-8.0

I would argue that Nash compares reasonably well with HOFer Stockton. Stockton was slightly better inside the arc and had 20% more apg, but Steve is a better all around shooter. JWill is (was?) fun to watch, but doesn't belong in this discussion.

I should note that Nash compares reasonably well *offensively* with Stockton. Stockton was a notorious and feared pick-pocket.

Steve seems pretty tough to me. He reset his own displaced nose cartilage the other night. If Kobe or LeBron did that (instead of dropping gentle hints in the media about their elbows or taped-up shooting fingers), the game would instantly be stopped and they'd be instantly flown to Springfield, Mass for immediate canonization.

statistician wrote:

Stockton was a notorious and feared pick-pocket.

Best ever.

Stockton would get torched just as much as Nash if he played today. Stockton played when you could basically grab people on the perimeter.

statistician wrote:

Steve seems pretty tough to me. He reset his own displaced nose cartilage the other night. If Kobe or LeBron did that (instead of dropping gentle hints in the media about their elbows or taped-up shooting fingers), the game would instantly be stopped and they'd be instantly flown to Springfield, Mass for immediate canonization.

I mean c'mon how many times can he get his nose displaced or knocked down by other players? Yet, you don't seem him whining about it. I'd say he's one tough bad azz.

Nash is without a doubt a great player, he shoots well, gets the other guys involved and takes care of the ball (about a 3 to 3.5/1 assist to TO ratio for his career). And he is in a system that completely plays to his strengths in pushing the ball up the floor and creating plenty of space for him to work. One of the best PGs of this generation, so I don't know where the overrated part comes...maybe since he hasn't taken a team deep enough into the playoffs? Who knows.

Defensively he admittedly isn't the greatest, but if you aren't a great on-ball defender you have to rely on help, rotation, etc. I don't see him getting that a lot in Phoenix as most of the time some of his teammates see playing defense as killing time until they get the ball back again.

Overrated? If you wanted to have a team built around one guy (not necessarily a championship team), I think right now you'd have to go with Nash after Dwight Howard and LeBron.

You can fill your teams with a bunch of swingman who can run and shoot decently (easy to find anywhere) and your team will be competitive because he will get them shots. He literally increases the shooting percentage of everyone on his team by 2-5%.

I'm not saying he's better than Kobe or Dwyane Wade because he's not, but if you put a bunch of guys like Boris Diaw, and Raja Bell, you'll have a playoff team. whereas a Kobe/Dwyane team with guys like that might not make the playoffs.

Also, it's easy to rip on him now, he's 36 and has been an injury concern since he was 28.

Because he sported a Los Suns jersey.

Nash's #s are misleading as he played behind J-Kidd for years, getting minimal minutes.

He shoots more that Stockton ever did, especially under pressure

Stockton was way faster, quicker hands

An ESPN insider article recently did a study and named Steve Nash the greatest shooter of all time.

His composite 3 pt shooting percentage, free throw percentage and field goal percentage.

Do you realize that he shot nearly as well from 3 this year as kobe bryant did from all fg's?