2015 Anger General Greatest post-merger Players of All Time #24

[Bush4Ever]

It's also worth noting that Nash was capable of scoring BIG in a way Stockton was not.

Nash scored 30 or more points 39 times in his career to Stockton's 11.
Nash scored 25 or more points 116 times in his career to Stockton's 63.

This is despite Stockton playing about 300 more games than Nash.

While I think Stockton was a better defensive and even a better passer (amazingly), I think Nash's scoring ability is moderate-sized card to play in that particular debate. It's as real as Stockton's defensive advantage is.

[AbeVigodaLive]

The Payton vs. Kidd debate is actually a pretty good one.

My initial reaction is Payton, but maybe I'm getting a little too hung up on the "Kidd couldn't shoot straight" thing.

Shooting/Scoring: Payton clearly
Passing: Kidd, but with Payton not outrageously far behind
Defense: Payton, but with Kidd not outrageously far behind
Team Success: Similiar
Other Hardware: Looks like at glance small edge to Kidd
Advanced Analytics: At a glance...looks relatively similar
Volume over career: Kidd
Peak Peformance: Payton

Steve Nash was not better than either one of them. He never played defense and had he played back in their day the hand checking would have shut down his game. Kevin Johnson was better at the point.

It's not like Nash didn't play when hand-checking was allowed. In fact, he was still making All Star Games...

To be fair, it wasn't until hand-checking was taken away (and he went to a system that was largely designed to his strengths) that Nash built the bulk of his legacy.

[Bush4Ever]

Steve Nash was not better than either one of them. He never played defense and had he played back in their day the hand checking would have shut down his game. Kevin Johnson was better at the point.

I missed this one.

I've gone over this a few times, so I won't repeat.

The executive summary is that it's a much more problematic issue when PGs are deficient in shooting than it is when PGs are deficient defensively, and that's the main reason why I would build around Nash over Kidd.

[Robceltsfan]

Steve Nash was not better than either one of them. He never played defense and had he played back in their day the hand checking would have shut down his game. Kevin Johnson was better at the point.

I missed this one.

I've gone over this a few times, so I won't repeat.

The executive summary is that it's a much more problematic issue when PGs are deficient in shooting than it is when PGs are deficient defensively, and that's the main reason why I would build around Nash over Kidd.

And that's the exact same reason I'd take Payton before Kidd 9 times out of 10.