Acquired Tastes: Steve Nash

There's no question that the likes of Kobe, LBJ, D-Wade, Melo, Mister Zero, et al, are more athletic and more talented than the league's reigning MVP. But, as long as he has the basketball in his hands, none of these super-duper stars can match Steve Nash's sheer genius (Rosen, 2007).

Ever since that crusty old coot Charley Rosen became a believer in the wonder that is Steve Nash, which the normally grumpy Rosen giddily capped with a ringing endorsement of Suns basketball after that delightful Suns-Mavericks game where Nash willed the Suns to victory in Dallas, I suppose it is time to seriously reconsider Steve Nash for an unprecedented third regular season MVP trophy. I've seen quite a number of talented point guards in my lifetime, but I've never seen anyone make his team better, in such a joyful fashion, the way Nash does.

Nash's particular genius, I suspect, has a great deal to do with his documented excellence in another team sport, football. Here's a fascinating excerpt from The Arizona Republic:

On his first birthday, Nash received a soccer ball as a present. Nash's father, John, played for a semiprofessional league in England before moving to Johannesburg, South Africa, where a better-paying team was courting him. The family soon relocated to Canada because Nash's parents didn't want their son exposed to a culture of apartheid.

A love for soccer moved with the family.

Although Nash excelled in a variety of sports in high school, the year he was both his school's chess tournament champion and soccer MVP best foreshadowed what was to come.

"I've always thought soccer was a good explanation of who is he as a basketball player," said brother, Martin, 29, a professional soccer player in Canada. "Soccer is not a sport where you can be an individual. The role he played in soccer, playmaker, basically the point guard, is kind of the role he played in every sport, from rugby to lacrosse to hockey."

Steve Nash said people tell him that he "looks like a soccer player playing basketball."

"I'm not sure how it's manifested itself, but it certainly had an impact on me," he said.

This theory is supported enthusiastically even by football analysts. According to SoccerBlog.com:

Steve Nash said people tell him that he "looks like a soccer player playing basketball." In a radio interview he talks about soccer and its similarities to basketball, " the same angles, timing, and using space to your advantage." There is truth in his words. Many foreign born NBA stars who come from strong soccer playing countries seem to show much more creativity than their American counterparts. We see it in Dirk Nowitzki and Manu Ginobili (who unfortunately seems to have picked up the less salubrious aspects of soccer) Nash feels that is so. `You see it a lot in international players the influence soccer has had.

"It allowed them to gain an advantage somewhere along the line. Whether it be agility or footwork, or passing angles and finding creative ways to get the ball either to the basket or to pass it to someone. I think there is something to be transferred from each sport."

As one who plays, and fails to excel, in both sports, I can see how Nash's ability to create opportunities for his teammates where none are apparent is directly related to the mindset required of a football player. Short of recommending that aspiring Filipino basketball stars should start with developing their budding ball skills with football, and then fine tune their basketball specific skills from there, let me end this post with some Steve Nash football goodness. Click here and here. Enjoy!