Ranking the Top 5 point guards in NBA History
The NBA has had some legendary and incredible point guards. The Point Guard position in basketball is also referred to as the 1 spot. This signifies the importance of the point guard to the flow of the attack for the team. The point guard is comparable to a quarterback in American Football or a playmaker in Football.
Traditionally it has been the point guard's responsibility to handle the ball and make the most of the team's 24-second possessions. They create the best chance of scoring a basket for their team. The point guard and the coach must be in complete sync on the plays to run or the possession will come to nothing. The point guard ensures that the ball finds its way into the hands of the right player at the right time. If no player is open, the best point guards are more than capable of finishing the job of scoring themselves, often from beyond the three-point line.
Over the decades there have been many great point guards in the NBA. It is inevitable that some great ones will be left off the list.
So without further delay, let's get on with it.
5 - Steve Nash
Championships: 0
Career averages: 14.3 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 8.5 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG
Achievements: 2x MVP, 8x All-Star, 7x All-NBA Selection, Hall of Famer.
This one is controversial and rightly so. Many NBA purists will gasp at the thought of Nash being placed ahead of John Stockton on any Best Point Guards List.
There are two reasons for place Nash ahead of Stockton, the all-time assist leader in the NBA. John Stockton played alongside another Hall of Famer in Karl Malone. Stockton was an understudy to Malone, a two-time MVP, and benefitted from having someone of Malone's caliber to convert his passes into baskets.
Nash's prime years came with the Phoenix Suns, where he won two MVP titles, something John Stockton never did. Nash was the leader of the team, unlike Stockton. He won his MVPs without the presence of any player who came even closer to getting into the Hall of Fame.
Nash was also a far better shooter than John Stockton, a four-time member of the esteemed 50-40-90 club in the NBA. That is 50% shooting from the field, 40% shooting from beyond the three-point line and 90% shooting from the free throw line.
Only one other player has done this twice and only eight other players, besides Nash, have ever achieved this feat in the NBA. Stockton is not one of the eight.
Nash was a player who made his teammates better, and got them to produce far greater performances than they did without him. He was a passing maestro and had a knack for finding his team-mates in the perfect spot for them to score.
Fans used to say of Nash that he could make even a stone score in the NBA. Nash controlled the tempo of the basketball. When he wasn't looking for open teammates with his deadly accurate passing, he was flying past defenders to score. He often used his trademark layup near the basket or knocked down threes from a distance.
Nash was a complete offensive package and deserving of his number five spot on the list.