After LeBron James and the Miami Heat won the NBA Championship Thursday night, Twitter among Arizonans began to blow up about how a player like Steve Nash can still not have a championship in his career, but former Phoenix Suns player James Jones does (he is a member of the Heat).
Some fans even decried the fact that LeBron James gets a ring before Nash. Whether or not you like LeBron, at this point you have to acknowledge he is the best basketball player on the planet and the league is best its best player is winning championships.
As for the Nash thing, it is sad. As Suns fans, it seems like the world would be a more just place. However, the fact that a role player like James Jones has a ring while Nash does not is no crime. It has happened forever. The right role players with the biggest stars always get that. It is how it works.
Robert Horry was on seven championship teams. Steve Kerr was on five. Ron Harper also was on five. Will Perdue has four rings.
However, those players will not have their overall careers remembered. There will be moments...I mean except for Perdue. I don't know if we will remember him at all.
Nash will be a Hall of Famer. He won two MVP awards. He has made gobs of money. He may yet get a ring.
Unfortunately, very few great point guards end up with championships. Since Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas, the best point guards in the league have not gotten rings. Chauncey Billups did, but he was not considered great. He was very good. Rajon Rondo did, but before he was considered elite. Kenny Smith and Sam Cassell? Good to very good. Jason Kidd did, but it wasn't until he was a shell of himself. Tony Parker did...with Tim Duncan, an elite big man. John Stockton didn't, Kevin Johnson didn't. Gary Payton didn't until he was piggy-backing in the twilight of his career. Nash hasn't. Neither has Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Derrick Rose. And unless these guys pair up with an elite wing player or big man, it probably won't happen.
The moral of the story? Great point guards don't win championships. Role players do when they team up with he NBA's best players.
That could change next year if Nash ends up on the Heat...but his production would look nothing like what it has been in Phoenix and people would say it was more like Jason Kidd's ring.
Oh, well. Just like life, basketball isn't fair. That's just the way it's always going to be.
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