During his 19-year career in the NBA, Steve Nash went from potential draft bust to Dirk Nowitzki’s star teammate in Dallas to a two-time NBA MVP with the Phoenix Suns. Nash’s career may have ended on a sour note in a disappointing short stint with the Los Angeles Lakers marred by injuries, but the superstar will still go down as one of the best floor generals in NBA history.
— Have you seen the ‘Lakers Nation’ phone case? —
One of the main reasons for Nash’s NBA success was his incredible shooting ability. There’s no question Nash was an elite passer, mentioned in the same breath as Magic Johnson, Pete Maravich, and John Stockton, but his shooting ability was second to none.
With Nash heading into retirement, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors may be the next best shooter at the point guard position. As arguably the best shooter in the game today, Curry has taken his game to the next level this season, but Nash believes the Warriors guard may already be the greatest shooter of our time, via Ric Buchler of Bleacher Report:
“Consistency,” Nash said. “Can someone consistently make shots, night in and night out, year after year? That’s the true mark of a player. You could break it down a lot of ways, but that’s the bottom line. How rare are off nights? There are certain guys, they shoot the ball, you always think it’s going in. Steph is able to seamlessly get his feet down, gather his weight between his feet and go up in the air and shoot it in rhythm as if he’d just been standing there, caught it and shot it.
“Truly, from the eye test, he’s the greatest there’s ever been.”
During his six-year career with the Warriors, Curry’s three-point percentage has never dropped lower than 42 percent and has reached as high as 45. Curry’s field-goal percentage is equally efficient as well as his free-throw shooting. The reigning NBA MVP’s career averages is shooting 90 percentage from the charity stripe and 47.1 from the floor.
Nash’s career shooting numbers are very similar in comparison to Curry. The two-time NBA MVP shot 49 percent from the floor, 42.8 from three-point range and 90.4 from the free-throw line. Impressive to say the least considering these averages spanned over 19 seasons, but he seems convinced that Curry will surpass him as arguably the greatest shooter of all-time.
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