se7en
Go SUNS Go
Right now they already have Nash as the 20th greatest player in NBA history. I hope all of the recoginition the team is getting isn't too much of a distraction. This team doesn't really have a player that handles or embraces the limelight the way Barkley did (or in the case of actual recent champs, Jordan, Shaq etc.) nor does it have that cockiness that the 93 Suns team had. Maybe that's not important. Or maybe Nash is becoming that guy.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/columns/articles/0125p2main0125.html
Nash stature grows
'Hall of Fame Monitor' ranks point guard as one of all-time best NBA players
Bob Young
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 25, 2007 12:00 AM
We should count our blessings with every Steve Nash no-look pass or left-handed scoop shot.
"Great" is a word too casually tossed around but it applies to Nash, and that's not just our opinion.
The folks at www.data basebasketball.com, which is a spin-off of a popular fantasy-league database site, www.rotowire.com, maintain something called a "Hall of Fame Monitor."
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Herb Ilk, one of the three Northwestern graduates who started the sports statistics firm in 1997, put together a formula for predicting whether players will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
It is based on what has gotten players into the Hall in the past, including their career statistics, championships, All-Star Games and whether they've been a first-team All-NBA selection or MVP.
Based on the formula, Nash may rank among the all-time best.
"No league MVP has ever failed to get in the Hall of Fame," Ilk said. "So he's pretty much a shoo-in with two. The most surprising thing to me is his stature. There are not a lot of short guys who are MVPs."
Ilk agrees that fans might not yet appreciate just how good Nash is, and that they're witnessing true greatness, a generational player.
"No offense, but a big part of it is that he plays in Phoenix," he said.
Ilk's formula awards points for the above criteria, including complicated - to us anyway - statistical models of "efficiency" and "approximate value" to their team.
Through last season, Nash had accumulated 273 points, 20th among players all time.
For context, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is atop the list with 833 points followed by Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
Nash, at 20th, falls just behind Elgin Baylor, Julius Erving and David Robinson.
Even if Nash doesn't win a third straight MVP award, but he's first-team All-NBA and his numbers are similar to his first two seasons in Phoenix, he'll move up to about 290 points.
With another MVP he'd jump to around 438 points, which would move him past Oscar Robertson and into the top 10, and would likely move him past Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal among active players.
"The biggest surprise to me when I got into this is how important an MVP is to the Hall of Fame," Ilk said. "It carries a lot of weight."
Ilk is quick to note that just because Nash ranks highly on the scale now doesn't mean he'll remain there.
"Everyone falls off at the end of their career," he said. "A lot of players shoot up, and as their time dwindles their number goes down."
On the other hand, Nash has uncharacteristically had his best years past age 30.
For now at least, if Nash wins another MVP he will rank on this scale ahead of some of the best players in history including Robertson, Bob Cousy, Hakeem Olajuwon, Jerry West, Charles Barkley, Elgin Baylor and Erving.
Even if Nash never wins another MVP, he's a sure-fire Hall of Famer and probably one of the top 20 players in the history of the NBA.
We should all consider ourselves lucky to have watched him play.
Talkin' in the Hall
Ilk and his Northwestern chums, Jeff Erickson and Peter Schoenke, have built Rotowire.com and its various sports databases into a nice business. They supply info to ESPN, Yahoo! and others and produce fantasy-league shows for XM Satellite Radio.
We wondered how some other Suns fared on the scale.
Kevin Johnson's career statistics compare favorably with Hall of Famer Nate Archibald, but KJ never was first-team All-NBA and was a three-time All-Star. His score of 121 would equal the lowest of anybody in the Hall.
Paul Westphal has a score of 143 which is the highest among eligible players not in the Hall. There are 11 with scores lower than 143.
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/columns/articles/0125p2main0125.html
Nash stature grows
'Hall of Fame Monitor' ranks point guard as one of all-time best NBA players
Bob Young
The Arizona Republic
Jan. 25, 2007 12:00 AM
We should count our blessings with every Steve Nash no-look pass or left-handed scoop shot.
"Great" is a word too casually tossed around but it applies to Nash, and that's not just our opinion.
The folks at www.data basebasketball.com, which is a spin-off of a popular fantasy-league database site, www.rotowire.com, maintain something called a "Hall of Fame Monitor."
advertisement
Herb Ilk, one of the three Northwestern graduates who started the sports statistics firm in 1997, put together a formula for predicting whether players will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
It is based on what has gotten players into the Hall in the past, including their career statistics, championships, All-Star Games and whether they've been a first-team All-NBA selection or MVP.
Based on the formula, Nash may rank among the all-time best.
"No league MVP has ever failed to get in the Hall of Fame," Ilk said. "So he's pretty much a shoo-in with two. The most surprising thing to me is his stature. There are not a lot of short guys who are MVPs."
Ilk agrees that fans might not yet appreciate just how good Nash is, and that they're witnessing true greatness, a generational player.
"No offense, but a big part of it is that he plays in Phoenix," he said.
Ilk's formula awards points for the above criteria, including complicated - to us anyway - statistical models of "efficiency" and "approximate value" to their team.
Through last season, Nash had accumulated 273 points, 20th among players all time.
For context, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is atop the list with 833 points followed by Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
Nash, at 20th, falls just behind Elgin Baylor, Julius Erving and David Robinson.
Even if Nash doesn't win a third straight MVP award, but he's first-team All-NBA and his numbers are similar to his first two seasons in Phoenix, he'll move up to about 290 points.
With another MVP he'd jump to around 438 points, which would move him past Oscar Robertson and into the top 10, and would likely move him past Tim Duncan and Shaquille O'Neal among active players.
"The biggest surprise to me when I got into this is how important an MVP is to the Hall of Fame," Ilk said. "It carries a lot of weight."
Ilk is quick to note that just because Nash ranks highly on the scale now doesn't mean he'll remain there.
"Everyone falls off at the end of their career," he said. "A lot of players shoot up, and as their time dwindles their number goes down."
On the other hand, Nash has uncharacteristically had his best years past age 30.
For now at least, if Nash wins another MVP he will rank on this scale ahead of some of the best players in history including Robertson, Bob Cousy, Hakeem Olajuwon, Jerry West, Charles Barkley, Elgin Baylor and Erving.
Even if Nash never wins another MVP, he's a sure-fire Hall of Famer and probably one of the top 20 players in the history of the NBA.
We should all consider ourselves lucky to have watched him play.
Talkin' in the Hall
Ilk and his Northwestern chums, Jeff Erickson and Peter Schoenke, have built Rotowire.com and its various sports databases into a nice business. They supply info to ESPN, Yahoo! and others and produce fantasy-league shows for XM Satellite Radio.
We wondered how some other Suns fared on the scale.
Kevin Johnson's career statistics compare favorably with Hall of Famer Nate Archibald, but KJ never was first-team All-NBA and was a three-time All-Star. His score of 121 would equal the lowest of anybody in the Hall.
Paul Westphal has a score of 143 which is the highest among eligible players not in the Hall. There are 11 with scores lower than 143.
