Stockton was never "embarrassingly" bad. He was never even below average as a point guard (beyond his rookie season). I don't think PER is a be-all, end-all conversation ender, but he was putting up a 21 PER at age 40 (his last season). His minutes had dipped to about 28 per game, but that's still amazing. In fact, ever since he first began posting 20+ PER seasons (his fourth season, at age 25) he never again dipped below 20 PER for the rest of his career. That's just unbelievable consistency of excellent play. His Assist Rate was still phenomenal at age 40 and he was still scoring extremely efficiently. Even defensive metrics think he was playing good defense at age 40. I think Stockton is both overrated and underrated. He was never a transcendent superstar, IMO, but he had one of the greatest overall careers ever. And the numbers support what I actually saw. He was still smart, setting teammates up and shooting well. He never looked overmatched.
Stockton had incredibly large hands for a guy his size, quick hands and he was a super smart player. Even with the athletes at PG today I think Stockton would have given guys fits. Ultra competitive, too.
Nash would be too expensive in terms and assets to acquire him, and too expensive in terms of the contract he is apparently demanding. And has been pointed out, he would not be the Steve Nash we've all coveted for the last decade if Nate were still the coach. It was a nice dream for the nano-second it lasted.
I think Nash is too established a star to be forced into an ill-fitting role by McMillan. I feel fairly sure that if Nash were magically added to the current Portland team, he'd play his own way, regardless of what McMillan said. I think McMillan would lose the team and, probably, the support of management if he benched someone like Nash, so he wouldn't really have any leverage. That said, I don't see any real likelihood of Nash coming to Portland. The Suns aren't going to trade him to Portland without getting someone like Aldridge or Batum back, and trading either of them for Nash (even though Batum is not as good a player as Nash right now) doesn't make sense for Portland. As a free agent, Nash would probably want to join a team closer to contention if he left Phoenix.
When I watched him the last year or two he was noticeably slower, whiffed on defense and was had to step down his minutes. That said, he was still a savy veteran guard but much less effective overall. With respect to Nash, I know he still has talent... but my primary concerns are paying someone a $10 million + contract at ages 39 and 40. More susceptible to injury, fewer minutes, a defensive liability... I just don't think he's worth it. I admit, maybe I'm really missing the boat on it, but for some reason, white and unathletic NBA players really tend to die on the vine late in their 30's. I don't see why he'll be any different.
I get that train of thought and think it is most likely correct. I loved our offense the brief time in pre-season when Andre Miller did it "his way" instead of Nate's way, for example. However, if the rest of the team isn't playing Nash's way, or isn't allowed to play Nash's way, it still hinders Nash from being Nash and our players from reaping the full benefits of playing with him. It's all just conversation anyway, since it isn't going to happen.
All players die on the vine in their late 30's. Its not just a white guy thing. You're changing your tune from embarassing to noticeably slower. Dude, still averaged almost 2 steals a game.
We would have taken Bowie over Lin because our scouts loved Bowie. Then Chicago would have taken Lin and won 7 championships in a row. Next, Dallas would have passed up Jordan because they had Mark Aguirre, the top 6-6 forward in the league. Then Philadelphia would have passed him up because they had the aging Julius Erving. Well, to make a long story short, I calculate Jordan would have fallen to 19th, where Portland drafted Bernard Thompson who was 6-6 and weighed 210. So Jordan had the right height to fit right into that slot. After further analysis, I find that our scouts might have been high on Thompson, so Jordan might have fallen further, costing us Randy Dunn in Round 10.
The crazy thing is that Nash was 22 years old when he was drafted and didn't really dominate at the collegiate level. In today's NBA, he'd be a stretch in the first round. Throw in that he didn't hit 8 apg until he was 29, and his career has been almost unparalleled in NBA history.
