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Speaker 3: Welcome in to another special episode of the What's Try
Speaker 3: with Nick Wright podcast and YouTube show. This is part
Speaker 3: of our series the fifty Greatest Players of the last
Speaker 3: fifty years in the NBA. Today we will reveal players
Speaker 3: forty three through forty. There are some very familiar names
Speaker 3: on this list we are, I mean, we're already getting
Speaker 3: to the real meat of the list. But the person
Speaker 3: we are going to start with I feel was the
Speaker 3: single most glaring omission from the NBA's just released top
Speaker 3: seventy five list. Now, we've had a few people already
Speaker 3: on my list that didn't make the top seventy five.
Speaker 3: Sidney Moncreef, who we discussed, Bernard King, who we discussed
Speaker 3: who I felt were unfairly excluded. After this name, we're
Speaker 3: about to reveal, there's only one more person on my
Speaker 3: list that is not on the NBA's list, and that
Speaker 3: will be contrab And we will get to him of
Speaker 3: probably a couple months from now, because he is very
Speaker 3: high on my list despite not making the top seventy five.
Speaker 3: But this person right here, in my opinion, his absence
Speaker 3: of being on the top seventy five list nearly invalidated
Speaker 3: that list in its entirety. This person is, of course,
Speaker 3: the forty third best player of the last fifty years
Speaker 3: in the NBA Dwight Howard.
Speaker 4: For forty three Dwight Howard.
Speaker 3: The fact that he was not included on the top
Speaker 3: seventy five list made that more about popularity than about credibility.
Speaker 3: Dwight Howard, let's go over his resume five times. We're
Speaker 3: gonna go slow on this. By the way, five times
Speaker 3: All NBA First Team for context, that is more than
Speaker 3: Dark Novitzky, Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett or as of this moment,
Speaker 3: Steph Curry. None of those guys have as many first
Speaker 3: teams as Dwight Howard.
Speaker 4: He is a three.
Speaker 3: Time Defensive Player of the Year APEX Dwight in Orlando
Speaker 3: was so far and away the best defensive player in
Speaker 3: the league there was not even a debate or.
Speaker 4: A discussion about it.
Speaker 3: Career top fifteen all time and rebounds and blocks, and
Speaker 3: now I want to talk about the MVPs because yes,
Speaker 3: he's five time First Team All NBA plus one time
Speaker 3: second team, two time thirteen. But the MVP part of
Speaker 3: it is really the biggest part of his case. There's
Speaker 3: a five year stretch where he was a consensus top
Speaker 3: five player.
Speaker 4: You saw it right there.
Speaker 3: He finished second MVP voting once and he finished top
Speaker 3: five three other times, so he has four top five
Speaker 3: MVP finishes. And when he was at his apex, we
Speaker 3: will go to the postseason. He was the best player
Speaker 3: on a finalist. A finalist by the way that if
Speaker 3: not for the courtney Lee missed putback, maybe maybe takes
Speaker 3: that Lakers series not only to seven, maybe they win it.
Speaker 3: But how did Dwight peak? Dwight before his bat gave out?
Speaker 3: For he had real issues. And again some of this
Speaker 3: is his own doing because his game never matured, and
Speaker 3: some would argue he never matured. I understand that, but
Speaker 3: you can't hold the potential against him when what he
Speaker 3: realized was so great. Peak Dwight not only beat Lebron
Speaker 3: in a series, but the series that the Magic beat
Speaker 3: the Cats. Lebron in that series averaged thirty nine, eight
Speaker 3: and eight. It might be the single best series Lebron's
Speaker 3: ever played, one could argue, and Dwight beat him in six.
Speaker 3: With Jamir Nelson, Hadu Turklou and Rashard Lewis as his
Speaker 3: key contributors, Dwight in that series averaged a humble twenty
Speaker 3: six and thirteen and in the deciding game six to
Speaker 3: go to Dwight's first career NBA Finals, He put up
Speaker 3: a forty and fourteen forty and fourteen to send Lebron
Speaker 3: home to go to the finals, and then they lost
Speaker 3: in six to Kobe obviously, So then was Dwight's career
Speaker 3: over there? No, everyone kills him for the Lakers year,
Speaker 3: even though that was one of the what five years
Speaker 3: he led the NBA in rebounding his first year in Houston,
Speaker 3: you guys remember the playoff series that was Dame's first
Speaker 3: career walk off the Dame where he waves goodbye to
Speaker 3: everybody and he beats Houston in round one. In that series,
Speaker 3: Dwight averaged twenty six and fourteen with three blocks for
Speaker 3: a series again that his team loses in six.
Speaker 4: For in the playoffs from.
Speaker 3: Two thousand and eight to twenty fifteen, so the entirety
Speaker 3: of his prime and then a couple of years after
Speaker 3: his prime, he was twenty and fourteen in the playoffs
Speaker 3: and by the way, he's now a champion now. Was
Speaker 3: he a huge part of that Lakers title?
Speaker 4: Seem No? But was he getting minutes? Was he valuable?
Speaker 4: You bet your ass he was?
Speaker 3: Is not being included in the top seventy five is ridiculous,
Speaker 3: and I want it Before we get to our caller,
Speaker 3: I want to ask him on's a quick question.
Speaker 4: You don't do a tunnel on these shows, but it's good.
Speaker 4: I'm glad you're here.
Speaker 3: Do you feel like Dwight is viewed by a lot
Speaker 3: of people, particularly your age are younger, as more of
Speaker 3: a joke or more of an all.
Speaker 4: Time I'd say it's pretty mixed, but I'm probably going
Speaker 4: to err on the side of a joke. Yeah, I
Speaker 4: think so. I think that you don't.
Speaker 3: I mean, you don't have a lot of recollection of
Speaker 3: when Dwight was dominating the league. No, you remember like
Speaker 3: you remember the images of the slam Dunk contest and
Speaker 3: then the bad stand Van Gundy press conference. Again, he
Speaker 3: was an absolutely all parties agreed top five guy in
Speaker 3: the league for a five year stretch, top three guy in.
Speaker 4: The league for a two year stretch.
Speaker 3: For him to be non included in the top Nunning
Speaker 3: five list was outrageous. I think we have a caller
Speaker 3: that is going to comment on Dwight Howard. I want
Speaker 3: to hear it.
Speaker 5: Question for you, Nick, if you took Moses Ballone's accomplishments
Speaker 5: and Dwight Howards and you made it a blind resume test,
Speaker 5: how would you be able to tell the two apart?
Speaker 4: Just curious?
Speaker 3: Okay, all right, so Rick is actually going a step
Speaker 3: further than I would go. Rick is saying he and
Speaker 3: Dwight Howard and Moses Malone have similar resumes. They flatley
Speaker 3: do not. Now now I have to give Dwight all
Speaker 3: that praise. I now have to bring realities. Moses Malone.
Speaker 3: You're going to see him on this list. He's not
Speaker 3: just a top thirty guy. He's not just the top
Speaker 3: twenty five guys, not just the top twenty guy. He's
Speaker 3: not just a top fifteen guy of the last fifty years.
Speaker 3: Dwight has four MVP top fives. Moses has three actual MVPs.
Speaker 3: Dwight was the best player on a finalist, Moses was
Speaker 3: finals MVP on arguably the greatest team to ever play,
Speaker 3: the eighty three six Ers. So listen, I think it
Speaker 3: made it pretty clear. I'm a big Dwight Howard supporter.
Speaker 3: Let's not go crazy and acting he and Moses Malone
Speaker 3: of the same resume.
Speaker 4: They do not.
Speaker 3: Moses Malone and his fellow Sixer teammate Julius Irving are
Speaker 3: probably two of the most disrespected players in NBA history.
Speaker 3: We'll get to them in a few months on this list,
Speaker 3: but now we will get to number forty two. And
Speaker 3: number forty two is another controversial inclusion.
Speaker 4: Number forty two Anthony Davis.
Speaker 3: So Anthony Davis's top line resume is a clear, no
Speaker 3: doubt guy. But then it gets a little hazier. So
Speaker 3: he's four time first Team All NBA.
Speaker 4: Which, as I mentioned just a.
Speaker 3: Moment ago, that's the same number Dirk and Kevin Garnett,
Speaker 3: two of the greatest power forwards ever. But he has
Speaker 3: no second or third team All nbas. He just has
Speaker 3: those first Team All nbas. He was third in the
Speaker 3: MVP voting in twenty eighteen, and by the way, he
Speaker 3: has another top five, so he already has two top
Speaker 3: five MVPs. We know he's a great defensive player, four
Speaker 3: time All the Defense, three time champion Blocks Champion. The
Speaker 3: question though, is the resume thick enough if he had
Speaker 3: a bigger body of work, his top level talent and
Speaker 3: his top level achievements, if the body of work were bigger,
Speaker 3: would have him higher than forty two. I'm comfortable with
Speaker 3: where he is because even though his playoff resume does
Speaker 3: not span many games, he has an underrated, unbelievable playoff resume.
Speaker 3: So I'm going to tell you some things I'm certain
Speaker 3: you don't know about Anthony Davis. He is for his
Speaker 3: career twenty seven points per game in the postseason. That's
Speaker 3: good enough for top ten all time. During that title run,
Speaker 3: he was twenty eight and ten. He was the second
Speaker 3: best player on a champion. That has to matter. He
Speaker 3: goes to the Lakers, they immediately win the titler the
Speaker 3: second best player. And the first two games of those finals,
Speaker 3: which were the first two finals games of his career,
Speaker 3: how does he answer the bell? Thirty four nine followed
Speaker 3: by thirty two and fourteen after two games of those
Speaker 3: NBA Finals looked like man, is Anthony Davis going to
Speaker 3: be Finals MVP?
Speaker 4: Maybe? But it wasn't like.
Speaker 3: He had just started showing up to the playoffs with
Speaker 3: those finals when he was with New Orleans. Not only
Speaker 3: did they sweep Portland, people forget this game. I don't
Speaker 3: to win his first playoff series ever, Game four against
Speaker 3: Portland forty seven and ten forty seven and ten to
Speaker 3: send the Blazers, who were favored in the series home,
Speaker 3: then in his first playoff series with the Lakers to
Speaker 3: close out Portland forty and nine. The next round against Houston,
Speaker 3: he was good. Don't forget the Western Armands Finals, Western
Speaker 3: Hermand's Finals. Hey, battle of the big men, Jokicch versus
Speaker 3: Anthony Davis. Yokicch would go on to win the next
Speaker 3: MVP and damn near win another MVP right after. How
Speaker 3: did Anthony Davis end up doing it? How do you
Speaker 3: do against Jokis? Now on they win five? He averaged
Speaker 3: for the series thirty one and six against the guy
Speaker 3: who would then immediately become in some circles the best
Speaker 3: player in the league. He had a buzzer beating playoff game,
Speaker 3: winning three in that series. And so I think that
Speaker 3: the playoff resume again doesn't have a ton of games.
Speaker 3: He has thirty nine career playoff games. He's scored twenty
Speaker 3: five or more in twenty.
Speaker 4: Nine of them. She has shown up.
Speaker 3: And as far as his regular season resume, the MVP
Speaker 3: finishes the all NBAS speak to it. Here's another thing.
Speaker 3: Career in the regular season twenty three and ten. Some
Speaker 3: context in the last fifty years. So from this list,
Speaker 3: our start of it. How many twenty and ten regular
Speaker 3: season guys do you think there are? He is twenty
Speaker 3: three and ten. Ten other guys in the last fifty
Speaker 3: years to average twenty and ten for their careers.
Speaker 4: He's at twenty three and ten.
Speaker 3: So the championship, the peak in New Orleans, the playoff
Speaker 3: run with the Lakers, the fact that I think this
Speaker 3: list will look stupid as soon as two or three
Speaker 3: years from now if he's not included. He has to
Speaker 3: be on it. I know he became because he got
Speaker 3: hurt this year. Again somewhat unbald. He shouldn't have been
Speaker 3: top seventy five guy. Let's be honest and Davids top
Speaker 3: seventy five guy, and we're not including what you do
Speaker 3: in college. But the title run at Kentucky matters at
Speaker 3: least a little bit. Is number one pick title in
Speaker 3: Kentucky amazing. Immediately sounds like top seventy five guy. We
Speaker 3: have an Anthony Davis caller.
Speaker 4: I do believe.
Speaker 6: Anthony Davis, always injured. Anthony Davis. Two playoff appearances in
Speaker 6: seven years in New Orleans. Anthony Davis, that's who you
Speaker 6: got in your top fifty. I can't wait to find
Speaker 6: out where you have Kevin Love.
Speaker 3: Okay, Comparing Anthony Davis and Kevin Love is just totally disingenuous.
Speaker 3: Anthony Davis didn't have a lot of success in New Orleans,
Speaker 3: but he had more success in New Orleans than Kevin
Speaker 3: Love did in Minnesota. And Kevin Love, when he did
Speaker 3: team up with Lebron, was not the second best guy
Speaker 3: averaging twenty eight and ten in a playoff run. He
Speaker 3: was the clear and obvious third best guy who became
Speaker 3: a liability.
Speaker 4: At spots in the playoff run.
Speaker 3: So, I again, that's a that's just not a fair
Speaker 3: com and I understand he doesn't have and I've said it,
Speaker 3: I said it for I'll say it again. The volume
Speaker 3: you would love to have, but the top level production
Speaker 3: is so good plus never backing down in the playoffs again.
Speaker 3: Top ten all time playoff points per game. A guy
Speaker 3: who in his first playoff series victory closed it with
Speaker 3: a forty seven and ten, his first playoff series with
Speaker 3: the Lakers close it with a forty and ten, opened
Speaker 3: his first two career NBA Finals games with thirty two
Speaker 3: and thirty four. Top seventy five player will be back
Speaker 3: with players forty one and forty right after this.
Speaker 7: Hey there, Ryan Reynolds here, it's a new year, and
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Speaker 7: Give it a try at midmobile dot com slash switch.
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Speaker 8: taxes and fees, Extra speeds lower above forty gigabytes on
Speaker 8: unlimited cementmobile dot com. For details, Welcome back into What's
Speaker 8: Right with Nick Wright podcast and YouTube show special editions
Speaker 8: Best fifty players the last fifty years in the NBA.
Speaker 3: We are counting them down. We are already to number
Speaker 3: forty one. Today, we will do forty one and forty
Speaker 3: then we'll be back in one week with we're already
Speaker 3: into the top forty players, thirty nine and so on
Speaker 3: and so forth. We already did today Dwight Howard and
Speaker 3: Anthony Davis. We're going to stay with a couple contemporary names.
Speaker 3: The oldest name involved in today's edition is player number
Speaker 3: forty one, and that is iconic Gary Pate. The glove
Speaker 3: number forty one, Gary Payton. We'll go through the accolades.
Speaker 3: Those should be relatively simple. He has on the MVP front.
Speaker 3: It's interesting he has won top three, as you can see,
Speaker 3: third in nineteen ninety eight, but six times he was
Speaker 3: top six, so he has no other top fives.
Speaker 4: I expanded it to six.
Speaker 3: Because five separate times he came in sixth in MVP voting.
Speaker 4: He won a Defensive Player of the Year. Why does
Speaker 4: that matter?
Speaker 3: He is the only back court player to win Defensive
Speaker 3: Player of the Year in the last thirty plus seasons.
Speaker 3: In the eighties, Jordan One Moncrete won backcourt guys could
Speaker 3: win it. From the nineties to right now, the only
Speaker 3: one to do it was Gary Payton. He's one of
Speaker 3: the greatest defensive players ever. Peyton was a Defensive Player
Speaker 3: of the Year and in fact was the only guard
Speaker 3: to win the award for thirty plus years. Marcus Smart
Speaker 3: just broke that streak actually this season with Gary Payton
Speaker 3: presenting him that award, as they are now the only
Speaker 3: two guards to win this award since the eighties. And
Speaker 3: then you get to the tougher part of Gary's argument,
Speaker 3: which is he was good in the playoffs. It's hard
Speaker 3: to argue he was great in the playoffs, which because
Speaker 3: those accolades I just listed those types of MVP finishes,
Speaker 3: those all NBA appearances, how long he played, and the
Speaker 3: fact that the statistically he's never going to get the
Speaker 3: full He's always going to get a bit of the
Speaker 3: short end of the stick because so much of his
Speaker 3: impact was on defense. You would think deserves to be
Speaker 3: a little higher than what he is. Some would certainly
Speaker 3: argue you should be ahead of the guy who's we're
Speaker 3: about to introduce you to, who's very next on the list,
Speaker 3: who also is a point guard who played just after Gary,
Speaker 3: well really at the same time as Gary's, just they
Speaker 3: their careers at least overlapped the end of Gary's to
Speaker 3: the beginning of the next guys.
Speaker 4: So why is Gary not higher?
Speaker 3: Because the playoff resume has some we're missing some spots. Now,
Speaker 3: he was the best player on a fivest and in
Speaker 3: that run to the finals in nineteen ninety six, he
Speaker 3: was twenty one, five seven and two.
Speaker 4: That matters.
Speaker 3: That absolutely matters. It was the best he ever was
Speaker 3: and in those finals. Don't listen to what Michael Jordan
Speaker 3: tried to tell you on that propaganda fest that was
Speaker 3: called The Last Dance, where he's like, oh, Gary Payton
Speaker 3: never really bothered me that much. In those NBA Finals,
Speaker 3: George Carl foolishly did not let Gary guard Michael at
Speaker 3: the beginning of the series. The Bulls promptly went up
Speaker 3: three games to nothing. Jordan did whatever he wanted. Then
Speaker 3: once they put Gary Payton on Michael game four, the
Speaker 3: Sonics won, Game five, the Sonics won Game six, was
Speaker 3: close until the end. The Bulls end up winning the title.
Speaker 3: In those final three games, Michael Jordan was twenty three
Speaker 3: points per game and thirty seven percent shooting.
Speaker 4: It is far and away.
Speaker 3: The worst three games of any of Jordan's Finals appearances,
Speaker 3: so Gary gets credit for that. The problem is on
Speaker 3: his playoff resume, not a lot of other.
Speaker 4: Great moments he had.
Speaker 3: In two thousand, he had won great game against Utah
Speaker 3: thirty five, ten to eleven and six.
Speaker 4: That's, you know, the one of his few.
Speaker 3: Thirty point career playoff games and his only career playoff
Speaker 3: triple double. He Overall, he averaged twenty two to seven
Speaker 3: during his nine year playoff prime. Again, that's good, and
Speaker 3: he did it with great defense, but it wasn't enough
Speaker 3: to quite break through even when he had Apex Sean
Speaker 3: kemp Now.
Speaker 4: Where I don't think he gets enough credit as this.
Speaker 3: He was a more than a rotation player for the
Speaker 3: Miami Heat that won the title in two thousand and
Speaker 3: six with Dwayne Wade. During that playoff run, he was
Speaker 3: twenty four minutes per game, so he's at the end
Speaker 3: of his now.
Speaker 4: The numbers aren't good, but.
Speaker 3: He was valuable enough to be on the court for
Speaker 3: half of the game in those in that playoff run,
Speaker 3: and in Game five of the six Finals, the critical
Speaker 3: game for Miami to win their third straight to go
Speaker 3: up three games to two, he played thirty one minutes
Speaker 3: in that game that was a one point Miami win.
Speaker 3: So some high leverage moments in there as well. But
Speaker 3: he's not higher because there's not a lot of great
Speaker 3: iconic playoff moments we can point to. Let's go to
Speaker 3: one of our callers on a Gary Payton question.
Speaker 9: I'm Martin Weis. I'm about to tell you why Gary
Speaker 9: Payton is a no doubt top twenty player of all time.
Speaker 9: First of all, one of the two to three best
Speaker 9: two way point guards in the game, thirty fifth all
Speaker 9: time and points tenth all time and assists that wasn't
Speaker 9: even his specialty. Nine defensive teams in a row. I mean,
Speaker 9: come on, one, seventeen year career, Hall of Famer, top
Speaker 9: seventy five player and the best NBA trash talker in
Speaker 9: the history of the game, Top twenty without a doubt.
Speaker 9: Talk to me, Nick, am I tripping?
Speaker 6: Or no?
Speaker 4: All right, Martin, you're my guy. That's Martin Weiss. Great
Speaker 4: job by him, Yeah you're tripping.
Speaker 3: There is no argument that can be made that he's
Speaker 3: one of the twenty the greatest players the last fifty years.
Speaker 3: This is not too many other point guards. So like
Speaker 3: forget Magic and step and Isaiah, But there isn't a
Speaker 3: compelling argument that Harry Payton's had a better career than
Speaker 3: Chris Paul. Just doesn't exist. Chris Paul is also the
Speaker 3: best player on a team that lost in the finals.
Speaker 3: His other accolades far out strip Gary. There's not a
Speaker 3: compelling argument that he was a better player overall than
Speaker 3: John Stockton or even Jason Kidd. Both those guys went
Speaker 3: to two finals, so stock him the second best player.
Speaker 3: Kid was the best. So now we've got what seven
Speaker 3: point guards at a minimum ahead of him, So there's
Speaker 3: seven point If there's seven guys in your own position,
Speaker 3: had to you, you can't be top twenty all time.
Speaker 4: But I do appreciate that young Martin is.
Speaker 3: Respecting his elders and respecting what a great defensive player
Speaker 3: Gary Payton was, and maybe I should give him a
Speaker 3: few more bonus points for trash talk. Number forty is
Speaker 3: a guy not known for his trash talk, instead known
Speaker 3: for his beautiful floppy hair. And that is our first
Speaker 3: Canadian on the list, maybe our only Canadian on the list.
Speaker 4: One Steve Nash.
Speaker 9: Number forty, Steve Nash.
Speaker 3: So you guys know this already, back to back MVP.
Speaker 3: What you might not know is this, after he went,
Speaker 3: he won the MVP. The next year, he wanted it
Speaker 3: again the very next year, Dirk's year, he came in second.
Speaker 3: He almost won three straight MVPs. He is a four
Speaker 3: time fifty forty ninety guy. He won five assists titles
Speaker 3: and all NBA teams three times first team the three
Speaker 3: years I just mentioned, two times second team, two time
Speaker 3: third team, so seven total all NBA teams and his
Speaker 3: apex with the suns, I mean, they were the seven
Speaker 3: second or less suns were a real thing. And the
Speaker 3: way if if he probably would.
Speaker 4: Have shot more, if he would have shot more threes.
Speaker 3: If they would have had the data that we have now,
Speaker 3: maybe they do breakthrough and they did have some bad luck. Demonse,
Speaker 3: you're too young to remember this, but Joe Johnson was
Speaker 3: a key player for them. Breaks his face during one
Speaker 3: playoff run, the notoriously cheap Robert Sarver.
Speaker 4: Won't pay him and then he ends up going to Atlanta.
Speaker 3: Another one, Amari Stodemeyer gets suspended after Steve Nash gets
Speaker 3: body checked by Robert Rory, so he gets suspended for
Speaker 3: a critical game against the Spurs.
Speaker 4: They lose.
Speaker 3: So he had his opportunities sometimes they were you know,
Speaker 3: you feel like there's some big what ifs. With that said,
Speaker 3: it's not like he didn't have great playoff moments. Despite that,
Speaker 3: he was the best player on a team that made
Speaker 3: three conference finals, and people should go back and think
Speaker 3: about when.
Speaker 4: He truly broke through the year. He one league MVP.
Speaker 3: They are playing Dirk, his old team, his old teammate Dallas,
Speaker 3: the team that wouldn't pay him in the West in
Speaker 3: the Western Conference semis games four, five, and six. To
Speaker 3: move on, here's what Steve Nash did to get to
Speaker 3: his first career conference finals.
Speaker 4: To beat his old team, to beat Dirk Game four,
Speaker 4: forty eight, five and five. But they lost.
Speaker 3: So now it's two to two Game five, thirty four,
Speaker 3: thirteen and twelve. They win and move and get to
Speaker 3: a game six, game six, thirty nine, nine and twelve
Speaker 3: to get to his first career Western Armends finals.
Speaker 4: All right, so then think about what he did the
Speaker 4: following year. Down three to one to Kobe and the Lakers.
Speaker 3: Now wasn't great Lakers team, but down three to one
Speaker 3: in the first round, how do you do?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 3: He goes thirty two and thirteen in Los Angeles in
Speaker 3: Game six and then beats Kobe in a Game seven,
Speaker 3: the famous game where Kobe refused to shoot in the
Speaker 3: second half. So a three to one comeback against Kobe
Speaker 3: when he's the best guy that's got a matter from
Speaker 3: during his three years of when he won league MVPs
Speaker 3: and almost one a third in the playoffs in the
Speaker 3: playoffs twenty one and eleven on fifty to forty ninety
Speaker 3: in the playoffs over that three year stretch, and then
Speaker 3: the brief Steve Nash kind of renaissance when it looked
Speaker 3: like the Sun's run was over. They make another Western
Speaker 3: Armends Finals in twenty ten, and in Western Arms Finals
Speaker 3: Game five, it's two to two against the Lakers, the
Speaker 3: defending champion Lakers. Is a chance to break through and
Speaker 3: get your first NBA Finals. He has twenty nine and
Speaker 3: eleven and that's the game the Suns had won, and
Speaker 3: then metalworld Piece tips it in and the Lakers go
Speaker 3: up three to two, and once again there's a big
Speaker 3: what if with Nash. So his apex didn't last quite
Speaker 3: as long as some other guys because he got started slow,
Speaker 3: because he wasn't really the centerpiece of a guy until
Speaker 3: he'd been in the league damn near a decade. But
Speaker 3: once he was the centerpiece of a team, they damn
Speaker 3: near reinvented basketball. He's the fortieth best player despite his
Speaker 3: defensive limitations of the last fifty years.
Speaker 4: Let's get to our Steve Nash caller.
Speaker 10: Question for you, Nick, do you think that nash is
Speaker 10: back to back MVPs have actually hurt his legacy That
Speaker 10: so many people make a point of proving that he
Speaker 10: didn't deserve back to back MVPs. The pendulum has actually
Speaker 10: swung too far, and if he just had the one MVP,
Speaker 10: it'd be like, yeah, you know what, he deserved that MVP,
Speaker 10: But the fact that he got back to back people
Speaker 10: want to knock him down. Maybe having one would have
Speaker 10: been better than having too.
Speaker 1: What do you think?
Speaker 4: So?
Speaker 3: I think it's an interesting point by Wilds, my buddy,
Speaker 3: that does the back to back MVPs thing almost get
Speaker 3: used as a cudgel against Nash because we look back
Speaker 3: on it, we're like, oh my god, he shouldn't have
Speaker 3: been back to back MVP. To a degree, I agree
Speaker 3: with him that it maybe gets used against him in
Speaker 3: some barroom arguments, but I.
Speaker 4: Don't think it's for me.
Speaker 3: It doesn't get used against him when people who know
Speaker 3: what they're talking about stack him up against the other
Speaker 3: all timers, because just like with Shaq, you don't hold
Speaker 3: against him the only one one. He probably should have three.
Speaker 3: I don't really I don't add a ton to nash
Speaker 3: his case because he has that second MVP. It's more,
Speaker 3: there was this brief three year stretch of time where
Speaker 3: he was one of the five best players in the league,
Speaker 3: and that is immensely valuable. He's as similar as the
Speaker 3: situation that Dwight had. There's a stretch of time we
Speaker 3: are consensus one of the five best guys. The fact
Speaker 3: that he won a couple MVPs doesn't help him as
Speaker 3: much as some might think it should, but it certainly
Speaker 3: doesn't hurt him in my eyes. Now, had he won
Speaker 3: a third straight, which he almost did, and the list
Speaker 3: of guys with three straight MVPs are Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain,
Speaker 3: Larry Bird, and Steve Nash, that wouldn't have been great.
Speaker 3: That might have got him kicked off the list on principle,
Speaker 3: but they didn't.
Speaker 4: Dirk ended up winning it. Okay, there it is. We
Speaker 4: are through players fifty through forty.
Speaker 3: Next week we start with player thirty nine and listen,
Speaker 3: I'm not so to spoil the list, but nothing will
Speaker 3: get people to tune in like a promise of the
Speaker 3: ratings bonanza that is next week's episode. Bob McAdoo prominently
Speaker 3: featured to see that