National Basketball Association

The Starting Five: Steve Nash's transformative legacy

Published Mar. 24, 2015 4:03 p.m. ET

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While Stephon Marbury has been busy solidifying his status as the Michael Jordan of China, let's take a look at what's been going on back home:

So Steve Nash has retired while sort of employed as a Los Angeles Laker.

But posterity claims have been made in Phoenix, where the mold-shattering playmaker was a two-time league MVP while playing for the Suns.

In the days following his announcement, we've grappled to measure Nash's protean impact on basketball.

Most of the tributes focus on how — while performing in Mike D'Antoni's spread-the-court, pick-and-roll-heavy system — Nash altered game play at all levels. When looking at ball-screen frequency, the staggering jump over the last 10 years would not have occurred without Nash's capacity to read and exploit every permutation.

We're also reminded how Nash was one of the game's greatest marksmen, achieving career 180 status (90 percent on free throws, 50 overall from the field and 42 beyond the 3-point arc) when not using his passing skills to maximize the potential of teammates.

Beyond his off-the-court philanthropic record, perhaps the most important legacy left by Nash was his ability to broaden our perspective on athleticism.

That "athleticism" reference generally has conjured notions of explosive speed and vertical lift. Nash had neither.

But his balance, agility, biomechanically advanced talent to change speed and direction — combined with outrageous, personally-crafted dexterity — became a rallying point for anyone previously disposed to abandon their dreams.

And that's a tremendous footnote to any legacy.

Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett are two of many who successfully navigated the preps-to-pros jump.

University of Louisville coach Rick Pitino provided a talking point last weekend by opining that players should have the option of going directly from high school to the NBA.

In the crosshairs of Pitino's assertion was the "sham" aspects of the system now referred to as "one and done."

While opponents of the preps-to-pros application claim all sorts of ridiculous fallout from prospects skipping college entirely, please take a look at some numbers.

Since 1995 — the year Kevin Garnett's academic issues inspired a leap to the NBA instead of investing a year in junior college — 39 prospects have declared for the draft over that 12-year period.

That's hardly an epidemic, and it seems like a grain of sand when compared with the number of high-school youngsters who forego a college education for far riskier pursuits, like in the entertainment field.

Of those 39 on the preps-to-pros roster, 32 can be considered successful; our qualification for this judgment is having played in the NBA for at least eight seasons. Although these players have experienced varying degrees of success, 10 of the 32 have been All-Stars. That's a pretty strong ratio.

In terms of on-court development, college coaches are limited by the NCAA in time allotted to help build skills. And since when has being on a college campus accelerated the off-court maturity process?

Admittedly, this space recently provided an update on Karl-Anthony Towns, the Kentucky freshman post player whose steady rise has inspired some NBA draft watchers — and league personnel guys — to rate him as a superior prospect to Duke's Jahlil Okafor.

One NBA scout calls Jahlil Okafor one of the best low-post prospects in years.

Well, we understand the reasons for such a long-term projection — Towns is a more versatile, committed defender and (for now) looks more comfortable turning, facing and sticking a jump shot.

But in terms of being an offensive threat on the post, he's not even close to Okafor.

For validation or condemnation, we contacted four NBA personnel sharpies and solicited their opinions.

Three were in agreement, while the fourth thought the difference in post play wasn't all that significant.

"As far as footwork overall and balance in general, recognition, hands and finishing skill, Okafor isn't just far ahead of Towns right now," one of our experts said. "He's one of the best low-post scoring prospects we've seen in years ... but the other guy's gonna be a pretty dang good basketball player, too."

In addition to the draft class of 2013, it's just nice to be witnessing the seeming rise of skilled players willing to work close to the basket.

Now that his Florida Gators have slogged through a rare losing season, Coach Billy Donovan finds his name among candidates to fill whatever NBA vacancies currently or will exist.

Florida's Billy Donovan turned the NBA down once, but he's back in the crosshairs of teams looking for a coach.

Donovan, who has coached Florida to back-to-back NCAA championships, flirted with coaching professionals when he agreed to join the Orlando Magic in 2007.

Even though he walked away from that opportunity, it reportedly could be presented to him eight years later.

And with Oklahoma City Thunder coach Scott Brooks riding the hot seat for a while, that potential opening also has been listed as possibility.

Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg has also once again been tagged for NBA consideration, with rumors of Tom Thibodeau's rift with the Chicago Bulls inspiring Hoiberg's name to reach the top in connection with his former team.

On the playing front, one name inspiring considerable chatter is restricted-free-agent-to-be Khris Middleton, who is averaging 19 points per game in March for the Milwaukee Bucks. Unfortunately, Middleton hasn't prevented the Bucks from losing all but 4 of 17 games — including six in a row through Sunday — since trading away Brandon Knight.

Despite their young talent on the wings, however, don't expect the Bucks to allow Middleton to walk away.

This week's most-compelling matchup actually brings two disparate basketball styles to Memphis on Friday night.

Friday brings us a stylistic Western Conference showdown between the frenetic Warriors and the grinding Grizzlies.

In the Grizzlies and the Golden State Warriors, we also have two polar opposites who happen to be atop the Western Conference standings.

As for those stylistic notions, Golden State is No. 1 in pace among NBA teams; Memphis rolls in at 26th. Based quite a bit on this difference in tempo, the Warriors lead the league in fast-break points, while the Grizzlies are 20th.

The Warriors are fifth in frequency of 3-point attempts; the Grizzlies are 29th.

Golden State — expecting a return from injury for deadeye Klay Thompson — is fourth in the league for percentage of points delivered via the 3-point shot. The Grizzlies, who prefer grinding with Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, are 29th ... and first for percentage of points from inside the arc.

Will this be a prelude to the conference finals? Hey, the West is way too brutal for us to go there.

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