Phoenix Suns: Top 15 best draft picks in franchise history

Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns during 108-97 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif. on April 11, 2005. (Photo by Kirby Lee/WireImage)

If you thought that anyone else other than Steve Nash would be at the top of this list, then maybe you’re not old enough to remember him. Not only is Nash the best point guard in Phoenix Suns history, but he is one of the best point guards in league history, and if you count up his MVP trophies (of which he has two), then he has more than any other “traditional” point guard in NBA history, providing a solid argument that he is the best pure point guard ever.

Oh yeah, and he, along with Mike D’Antoni, revolutionized the way the NBA game is played. Take that for data, Golden State Warriors.

Drafted by the Suns in 1996 15th overall, Nash came to a team that already boasted one of the league’s best in Kevin Johnson and only two months into his career would also include another all-time great, Jason Kidd.

While his rookie stats are nothing special – especially considering that he only averaged 10.5 minutes per game playing behind KJ and Kidd – by his second season, Nash began to develop the game that would eventually make him one of the greatest ever as well. Averaging 9.1 points and 3.4 assists per game, again mainly off the bench, Nash’s shooting is what truly set him apart.

Although he averaged 41.8 percent from beyond the arc his rookie season, he attempted only 55 3-point attempts. His second season though he would attempt 195 and drain 81 of them for a comparable 41.5 percent proving that his exceptional shooting was no fluke.

Utilizing the fact that Nash was a part of a position of strength, the Suns traded him to the Dallas Mavericks to pair up with their German rookie sensation, Dirk Nowitzki.

It is absolutely worth noting who and what Phoenix got in return: rookie Pat Garrity, Martin Muursepp, and Bubba Wells. They would also receive Dallas’ 1999 first round pick, which they would use to draft: Shawn Marion.

For six seasons Nash grew and developed into one of the nicest point guards in the NBA, averaging 14.6 points and 7.2 assists per game, while shooting 41.6% from beyond the arc. Dallas would make one run to the Western Conference Finals in 2003 before losing to the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs (an event that would become an unfortunate re-occurrence for him), although Mavs Owner Mark Cuban believed that Nash’s body would fail him soon and allowed the Suns to pilfer the star as a restricted free agent in the summer of 2004, following a career-high assist average 8.8 per game.

As mentioned before, Nash helped to revolutionize an NBA game that had slowed to a boring near-slog, and for four seasons put up some of the best statistics for a point guard in league history. Winning his two MVP’s in 2005 and 2006, and barely finishing second behind Dirk in 2007,

Nash averaged a spectacular 17.5 points and 11.2 assists from 2004-05 through 2007-08, while shooting 45.1 percent from beyond the arc. He not only made the All-Star game in each of those seasons, but led the league in assists for the first three, led the league in free throw percentage in 2005-06 (which he would do again in 2009-10), and led the league in effective field goal percentage in 2006-07.

Phoenix hired Terry Porter as head coach in 2008, a failed defense-first experiment that dropped Nash’s assists per game average below 10 for the first time since 2003-04, although under Alvin Gentry (who was promoted to head coach at the 2009 All-Star break) Nash’s assist numbers would spike back up and he would lead the league once again in 2009-10 and 2010-11 at over 11 each season, while finishing second with 10.7 per game in 2011-12.

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At 37 and with his back severely ailing, Nash requested a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers which was granted in the summer of 2012, although with diminishing results. Playing in only 50 games in 2012-13, Nash would appear in only 15 the following year, and due to his back issues would never play again, retiring after the 2014-15 season in which he never played a game.

In the 1996 draft class, considered one of the greatest of all-time with Kobe Bryant, Ray Allen, Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury, Antoine Walker, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Peja Stojakovic, and others, Steve would finish fourth in points, first in assists (3,864 more than second place Marbury), first in 3-point percentage, first in free throw percentage, first in assists per game, and third in Win Share.

Next: Ranking every Phoenix Suns uniform

Among myriad of top-ten rankings, and a number of regular season records including assists (he owns six of the franchise’s top-10 single-season assist averages), Nash leads the franchise in 3-pointers made, attempted, and percentage, and total assists for the Suns.