Pioneer for Canadian Players

In my opinion, Steve Nash is a pioneer for the basketball players from Canada that come and play in the United States. Steve Nash okay his college ball at Santa Clara and I am guessing that the percentage of Canadian players in college basketball back then was 1% or lower. Steve Nash played a little soccer in his day, but he was known for his crafty abilities on the hardwood. It wasn't the fact that Nash was from Canada and came to the United States to play college and pro ball, it was the fact that he was was star in the NBA. If Nash would have came to play at Santa Clara and then was not good enough to play in the NBA, I believe we would not remember him. Steve Nash now helps the U19 Canadian National team with basketball skills and coaching. An Indiana High School basketball player by the name of Trey Lyles, who was born in Canada, talked about always being able to go to Nash for anything. I think Nash represents Canada very well by how he handles himself and just the respect that he gets for being such a great player on and off the court throughout his NBA career.

Nash started his career in 1994 at the Phoenix Suns where he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1998. I remember playing NBA Live 2003 on the PS2 and playing with the Dallas Mavericks because of Nash and Dirk Nowitzki. He played in Dallas from 1998 to 2004 where they had some really good teams that were title contenders in some of those years. Nash and Nowitzki never got a championship at Dallas, but they put together some really good seasons and playoff runs. From 2004 to 2012 he went back to the Phoenix Suns where they ran an offense called the run and gun. They in bounded the ball and raced it down the court as fast as they could and shot the ball as fast as they could. They could afford to do this because they never really had any big guys that would slow them down and they had a bunch of shooters that could make shots. There were multiple years where it just seemed like they were the favorites to win the west because of how high powered their offense was. The Sun's were never able to put together a championship run because of the Lakers and the Spurs, but they had some really good seasons and in the 2003-2004 season and 2005-2006 season Steve Nash won back to back MVPs. Today Nash is at the Lakers where he is playing limited minutes and playing for a team that looks like they will not win a championship anytime soon.

Steve Nash was a pioneer for Canadian players and now you see Canadian players all over the place. Last years NBA draft the number 1 pick, Anthony Bennett, is from Canada and he is the first player from Canada to go number 1 overall. In this years draft Andrew Wiggins is a top 3 pick and Nik Stauskas is predicted to be a lottery pick so you can definitely see the growth in players throughout Canada. Steve Nash is a big deal to the NBA and a big reason why there are so many Canadian players coming to play ball.