On Friday, October 30 [limited tickets still available], Steve Nash will become the 14th member of the Suns Ring of Honor joining Alvan Adams, Charles Barkley, Tom Chambers, Jerry Colangelo, Walter Davis, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Connie Hawkins, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, John MacLeod, Joe Proski, Dick Van Arsdale and Paul Westphal.
Jon Bloom: Take us through the experience of being part of the group that lured a guy that would get two MVPs in back-to-back years back to the Valley of the Sun.
Robert Sarver: It was the day after I closed on the purchase of the franchise. We flew to Dallas – Amar’e Stoudemire came with us, Rex Chapman was out there the day before. As soon as free agency opened up which was midnight on the 30th, Rex was there that night to deliver Steve a book and make a pitch to him. Steve had a lot of trust in Rex and was close to him. And then Jerry [Colangelo], Bryan [Colangelo], Mike D’Antoni, myself and Amar’e flew out the next morning and met Steve at a partner of mine’s house. We spent the day there and told him how much we wanted him and what we thought he could do in terms of leadership for the franchise. We made an offer to him, negotiated back and forth a little bit. He said he needed to check with Mark Cuban in terms of his loyalty to him and make sure that he doesn’t want to match that offer. We gave him 10 minutes to do that. He did, and came back into the room and said, “I’m coming back to Phoenix,” and that was it.
Greg Esposito: Have you ever sent Mark a thank-you note for that?
Robert Sarver: [laughs] Listen, as owners we’ve all done things that have been a thank you for another team at one point or another.
Greg Esposito: When you look back at it, did you ever imagine he would have the impact that he did when you were trying to sign him?
Robert Sarver: I did a little bit in that you could tell by talking to him the confidence he had. At the time, Bryan Colangelo was very bullish on that move. He thought that was kind of a missing piece. I don’t think anyone imagined we’d come back to win 62 games the next year or the success we had, nor did anyone imagine with Steve’s age he’d be better in his 30s than he was in his 20s. That was a little bit of a surprise. But we started killing teams in the preseason. Then we got in the regular season and just kept winning. I don’t think we lost our first game until we got to Cleveland. I remember we were up by 17 points with six minutes to go. I was at the game. All of a sudden we lost, and I was white as a sheet. Someone said to me there’s going to be one or two games a year you’re sure you’ve won you’re going to lose and a couple games you’re sure you’ve lost that you’re going to win, and that was one of them. We got off to a hot start and just kept going.
Jon Bloom: When you look at 2010, what stood out to you during that run?
Robert Sarver: He played great. I think part of it is that Steve was so disciplined with his fitness and his diet and such a competitor that he really got the absolute most possible out of a career. That was a great year, too. We surprised a lot of teams. It was an exciting run.
Tim Kempton: Did you have a favorite moment with Steve, whether on the court or off the court?
Robert Sarver: I’ve got a few. I was at one game in New Jersey where he and Jason Kidd had a shoot-out that went into triple overtime and both players had 20-plus assists and just went back and forth. It was unbelievable to watch.
Jon Bloom: That was a 161-157 game back on December 7, 2006. That was one of the ones I remember distinctly. It was kind of teacher vs. student, wasn’t it?
Robert Sarver: It was amazing. These guys just went back and forth. We ended up winning in triple overtime. That would be one. Another one that stood out for me was the first playoff trip to Dallas where Steve had a huge game and he hit a three at the buzzer to take us to overtime and we ended up winning. The biggest thing that stood out to me – especially during the last recession when things were kind of [crummy] – and that was we had a playoff series against the Lakers. We were down 2-1 and we played a game in [Los Angeles] and Steve made a mistake where he kind of dribbled to the side at the end of the game. Luke Walton tied him up for a jump ball. Kobe scored. We lost and we went down 3-1. We got in the lockerroom and everyone was really shocked and upset. We looked at the last play on replay and Luke Walton’s foot was two feet out of bounds, so it should have been our game. Emotions are running high. Steve commanded the lockerrom and said, “Listen guys. You have five minutes to get this out of your system. I don’t want to hear one word about this game after that. We’re a better team than them. I know we’re down 3-1. We’re going to go win three games in a row, one at a time, and I don’t want to hear one more word about this game. We’re going on to the next game.” His will and leadership led us to win three games in a row to win that series. That really drove home a point to me about what a real leader is. That was my favorite moment with Steve Nash.
Greg Esposito: When it comes to sports and business, there aren’t too many no-brainers. But when it came to Steve Nash in the Ring of Honor, was that a no-brainer for you?
Robert Sarver: Yeah, it definitely was. I would argue he’s maybe the best player to ever put on a Suns jersey. Some would maybe say Charles Barkley; you could probably pick either and not be wrong. From his accomplishments he deserved it. I didn’t want him to wait and make sure we did the right thing and put him up right away and that was the decision I made.