Now that it is official and a done deal, lets talk about what Steven Nash would bring to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Benefits
1) Pick and Roll
Finally and I mean finally the Lakers are going to run some quality pick and rolls. The last time that has ever happened was let me think ... Nah, forget it. It has never happened before. Steve Nash probably one of the best and most experienced point guards in the league, and also one who does one of the best pick and rolls on the court and probably in his sleep as well will contribute big time offense for the Lakers. Gasol finally has a guard, who is one of the best PG in the NBA who can create quality pick and rolls with him and would be able to maximize and draw out Gasol's potential completely. And to be honest during Gasol's time in LA, his potential was never fully maximize firstly due to the triangle offense under Phil Jackson and now under Mike Brown who probably has the least creative offense in town. But with Nash on court, everything will change, it would be finally be the Gasol who plays for the Spanish national team on court and not the Gasol we have been seeing so far.
Beside Gasol who would benefit with the acquisition of Nash is Andrew Bynum. Bynum probably the most skilled big man on court in the NBA now would finally have a true PG to feed him the ball down low to destroy the opponent. Bynum now will not need to create his own offense himself most of the time now but rather Nash would feed him the ball for the easy basket. And with Bynum not needing to create alot of his offense on his own, this would allow him to conserve his stamina and would last and be productive in the game longer and would in turn benefit the Lakers a ton.
2) Spreading the floor
The problem with the Laker offense last season was it was too concentrated, one dimensional. With Steve Nash all of that is about to change. With his ability to spread the floor at will anybody in the Laker team can score and of course this would mean it is harder for the opponent to defend the Lakers. One should go look at Steve Nash videos while he was at the Phoenix Suns and see how he spread the floor that create so much panic in the opponent's team defense.
3) Perimeter Shooting
With Steve Nash on the Laker's roster now, the Lakers perimeter shooting capabilities went up a notch. It used to be the Lakers would depend on Kobe Bryant for the downtown shot most of the time, Meta World Peace, Matt Barnes and Steve Blakes would chip in the rest. But to be honest of all the names I have mentioned over there, probably only Bryant has decent perimeter shooting percentage and to a certain extend Steve Blake as well. The thing is the Lakers never had decent perimeter shooting percentage let alone player ever but with Nash on court all that is going to change. Perimeter shooting will definitely be part of the Laker's offense now. With the acquisition of Steve Nash, it also has lowered the need to get a three point sniper from the market.
4) Better Transition Offense
With Nash, the Lakers would have better transition offense. Transition offense is something that is severely lacking in the Lakers and with Nash coming on board, transition offense would be something to look out for for the Lakers. By the way I am not saying the Lakers would do massive loads of transition offense all of a sudden like the Oklahoma Thunders but at least there would be an increase in the amount of transition offense for the Lakers.
5) A offensive commander not named Kobe Bryant
For the past few years the only guy who has been commanding the offense is Kobe Bryant. But now with Steve Nash at the helm, the Lakers have a guy who has been commanding mesmerizing offense for his entire career and it would be intriguing and definitely a huge plus point for the Lakers offense. With Nash commanding the Lakers offense like how he did in Phoenix, the Lakers set offense would probably be right there on top with the San Antonio Spurs and the rest like the Miami Heat.
6) Teams like the San Antonio Spurs will not be so much of a problem now
The Spurs has always been a tough team for the Lakers to handle. One of the reason for that is because the offense was so stagnant, the Lakers found it difficult to break down the Spurs defense after awhile. But with Nash on court now, it will be more of an even match up now for the Lakers.
Drawbacks
1) Age
Its inevitable that such a factor would be mentioned. At 38 years old, Steve Nash should be commended for playing at such a high level given his age. It is also inevitable at his age, he would tire easily and would probably not be able to play 48 minutes night in and out. So with Nash out for a rest or so, how the Lakers is going to play is one question but will Nash be able to last till the post season is an even bigger problem.
2) Injury
Steve Nash has a nagging back problem that has been hounding him for a long time. And that is only 1 big so called "injury" and it would certainly hamper him and his performance throughout the strenuous regular season let alone the post season . So what happens when more injuries creeps in, Nash contribution would certainly be limited tremendously. And when Nash is down, would the Lakers offense become stagnant again as we have seen so many times before? That is a question the Lakers have to answer.
Non Factors
1) Steve Nash defensive capabilities
Lots have been said about Nash's defensive capabilities and many have mention that Nash has close to 0 defensive capabilities. The problem with that kind of statements is, if Nash plays close to 0 defense it is actually a lack of respect shown to Nash because certainly Nash does not play as good of a defense but to say he plays 0 defense it is a huge overstatement. Secondly the Lakers never had a point guard who played good defense trust me on that and I mean NEVER had. So even if Nash plays "close to 0" defense its not like its something new for the Lakers to handle. The PGs who have ever played for the Lakers aren't really good defensively as well, just look at Derick Fisher for an example and how many world championships they won with Fisher's defense? FIVE people! FIVE!
And this last point which I am about to make would probably settle this issue once and for all and that is in this day and age defensive duties at the PG position isn't so much of a factor really. How many people in this league is able to guard Russell Westbrook one on one during the game? That would be close to 0 if not 0. How many people in this league is able to guard Rajon Rondo one on one during the game? That would also be close to 0 if not 0. And does being not able to guard those two PGs mattered to the Miami Heat who happened to beat those two teams in the playoffs? NO certainly it didn't matter to them because first of all they EXPECTED RONDO to go blow past whoever who is guarding him, they EXPECTED Westbrook to blow past whoever is guarding them and with that all they did was to make adjustments to the team defense to make up for the lack of defensive capabilities to stop those type players. In short they know how to DEFEND as a team. By the way I have only mentioned two point guards, what about Deron William? What about Chris Paul? What about Derrick Rose? What about Tony Parker? (By the way no one has ever made a huge fuss in regards to Tony Parker "close to 0" defensive capabilities) So with all of these points I have mentioned, please don't get me started about "Nash's 0 defensive capabilities"!
And so in my opinion, I have relegated Nash's defensive liability to a non factor.
Conclusion
Bottom line is this, Steve Nash would definitely improve the Laker team tremendously. And with Nash, it would certainly put them almost on par with OKC and would probably be the Miami Heat's biggest nightmare! All the Lakers have to do is to keep Nash healthy till post-season and let Nash's basketball do the talking.
That's all from me! Signing off!
