Jason Kidd and Steve Nash Were Point Gods

If an NBA fan is asked who was the best point guard of the 2000’s, his answer would usually be Jason Kidd or Steve Nash (or maybe Allen Iverson, but he was more of a shooting guard).  He won’t really be wrong in choosing one or the other.  In a head-to-head comparison, the two are probably equal.

First of all, the obvious: both were phenomenal passers.  They both excelled in finding the open man, and dishing out well-placed, well-timed, and creative assists.  They made teammates better, and allowed the scorers around them to score much easier.  Both led the league in assists five times.  Kidd has a slightly better career assist average with 8.7 to Nash’s 8.5, and has more career assists with 12,091 to Nash’s 10,335 (they are respectively second and third in the all-time assists list), but Nash had the better assist average in a single season with 11.6 in 2007 to Kidd’s 10.8 in 1999.

Nash was clearly the superior shooter, as he’s easily one of the best shooters that ever played the game.  His efficiency was out of this world, making the 50-40-90 club a record four times (Larry Bird was the only player that managed to be in the 50-40-90 club at least twice).  Meanwhile, Kidd was not a long-range threat for much of his career, and only developed a respectable three-point shot when he was already at his twilight (during his second stint with the Mavs).

However, when it comes to defense, Nash couldn’t hold a candle to Kidd.  Kidd was an elite defender, earning him nine All-Defensive Team selections, while Nash never ever had the reputation of being great in defense.  Kidd was also a significantly better rebounder, and this allowed him to be a triple-double machine.  In this sense, Kidd was a more versatile player than Nash.

As for personal achievements, Kidd had the advantage in All-Star selections with ten to Nash’s eight.  In All-NBA selections, however, Nash had the slight advantage with seven to Kidd’s six, but Kidd had five First Team selections to Nash’s three.  And, again, Kidd made All-Defensive Team nine times, while Nash was never selected (nor even considered).  But when it comes to the biggest individual honor – the MVP award – Nash has the edge, having won it twice, while Kidd never did.

However, Kidd got into the Finals three times, and won a title with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.  He was already past his prime, but he was still the starting point guard and a key role player for that Mavs team.  On the other hand, Nash had never even gone past the Western Conference Finals (it looked like he was finally set to win a ring with Kobe and the Lakers at one point, but that season turned out being an utter disaster).

Indeed, the title of “best point guard of the 2000’s” can go either way.  Regardless, both were transcendental point guards – point gods – during their era, and are more than worthy to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame.

Post-script:

It amuses me to no end that, for two seasons, they were teammates.  Back then, Kidd was just starting to emerge as a superstar point guard, while Nash was still green.  Now, imagine if they got to stay together, playing side-by-side at their primes.  Sure, there could have been a redundancy, but it’s still an exciting “what if.”