Phoenix signed guard Steve Nash and traded him to the L.A. Lakers for 2013 and 2015 first-round draft picks and 2013 and 2014 second-round draft picks.
Nash immediately makes the Lakers a championship contender again. |
For Los Angeles:
The Lakers have completely revamped their aging, dysfunctional team by bringing in one of the best floor generals in the game. Steve Nash, even at age 38, is still a phenomenal point guard and is in tip-top shape that will allow him to play somewhere between 35 and 40 minutes a game. While he isn't at his 2006 MVP-caliber form, he still was an all-star last year and averaged a double-double.
The Lakers squad he joined has serious championship pieces, but they couldn't gel last season, most likely because of the absence of point guard Derek Fisher. Kobe Bryant went back into 40-plus-shot-a-game mode and that obviously helped the Lakers in no way, shape, or form. Pau Gasol digressed back into his Downey days and Andrew Bynum become seriously disinterested. Metta World Peace on the other hand was throwing bows and getting himself kicked out of games.
Simply put, the Lakers were a mess, but now they have another strong leader to come in and control the flow of the game. Kobe Bryant will still remain the number one personality on and off the court, but Nash will be able to take some of the load off of Bryant who clearly is not a point guard and only passes when he's enjoying himself. Kobe was pissed last year at his soft, disinterested and out-of-their-mind teammates and handled it as he always does by doing it himself. Now he'll have Nash to get the ball in his and his teammates hands in the right situations, and I think even Kobe understands that Nash is in his stratosphere. When Kobe gives you his respect, you're a god damn basketball god and that is what Steve Nash is. Kobe has to be content right now, and maybe that's why he was talking smack about the Dream Team.
Anyways, it is a phenomenal situation for the 38-year-old point guard because this team is instantly again a championship contender, especially if Nash can coerce Bynum into caring about playing basketball. Nash has every accolade in the history of the game, except for a championship. Here's his chance. Just don't be surprised if the Heat are playing the Lakers and not the Thunder next year.
Grade: A-
For Phoenix:
The Suns have done great things this offseason, but I'm not sure this was one of them. You get what you can out of Nash, and that's fine, but who knows what else was out there. The first round picks they're getting from the Lakers are unfortunately not back-to-back thanks to a new CBA rule that prohibits trading first round picks consecutively. You also have to think, the Lakers are going to be good in 2013, and 2015, so you're looking at a 25th or worse first round pick.
That isn't good value. The Suns have done fine in free agency after Nash left, but Toronto was looking to sign-and-trade Jose Calderon, why not execute that move? I'm just not sold on draft picks especially when they're late first-rounders, getting a player back would have been a much better trade. The Suns had to make the move, which is always a terrible situation, but I thought getting a real, live, experienced NBA player would have been a better move.
Grade: C
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