Former Suns forward Shawn Marion sat down with Phoenix Suns Productions to talk about the career of Steve Nash, who will be inducted into the Suns Ring of Honor on Friday, Oct. 30, 2015. Marion and Nash were part of the Phoenix teams that won a combined 177 regular season games from 2004-2007 and twice advanced to the Western Conference Finals. Both Marion and Nash were named Western Conference All-Stars in each of those three seasons.
On how his and Steve Nash’s paths criss-crossed during their respective NBA careers…
It seems like it was just yesterday. I got selected with the ninth pick. With that pick, Steve went to Dallas. Both of us took off the stars. It was pretty sweet. Steve was able to team up with Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley and just get the Mavericks on the right path. I was coming into Phoenix and starting a great run as well. It was pretty sweet. It was a pretty interesting connection for us being on different paths.
On taking the league by storm in 2004-05…
That was the first year of quote-unquote “small ball.” I had to move over and play power forward. I gained 10 pounds of muscle that summer – it didn’t last long (laughs) by the time training camp was over with. That was the year we started small ball. Steve, Q-Rich, Joe Johnson, me and Amar’e, we just took off from the guns. We were out there and everybody was looking [wondering] where we were at. We were on a bullet for the stars and everybody was just trying to catch up with us.
On establishing an star-studded identity with the Suns…
I guess they used to call us the Big Three. Me, Amar’e and Steve, it was awesome, man. I think Coach D’Antoni had a style he wanted to bring to the league and it worked. Of course, there were some adjustments here and there, but for the most part we were able to go out there and give the league something they never expected and didn’t see. Basically it was setting something up for the future. I think you see more small ball now than you ever did in the NBA right now. It’s probably because we started it.
On how Nash and the Suns helped revolutionize basketball…
When you look at the last five years, there’s been more small ball played than I’ve ever seen in the league. Last year, of course, with Golden State winning the championship, they were able to go ahead and get to the top of the mountain, finish what we started back then. You look at all the teams now that have a versatile wing player, they’re able to go small ball. Especially LeBron, he’s able to guard one through five. It’s similar to what we did when we started. They actually won it. He’s able to play power forward or center and cause a bunch of problems on the other end for the guys because they couldn’t go small and adjust to it.
On the tough breaks and bad luck Phoenix suffered during the Nash era…
That’s the one thing about the NBA and postseason life. There’s going to be injuries throughout the year. You don’t know who’s going to go down or what can happen. You’ve got to make adjustments. I think we were able to get through some of those injuries and stuff and still have a successful season, but we never reached the top of the mountain. It was heartbreaking a little bit, because I really did feel like we should have one a championship in one of those years.
On Nash’s passing and shooting…
Steve was by far one of the best probers in the league. I think he set the tone, making sure his pass was going to be an assist. We had a good chemistry. He had chemistry with everybody. He tried to have a good floor balance. He made sure he distributed the ball to everybody evenly and you got your opportunities. Of course there were certain games where they were maybe face-guarding all the perimeter shooters and he had to get his [shots] off more.
He was a great shooter from the perimeter and was an excellent free throw shooter. He was able to do a lot of things that enabled us to be a better team. It was fun. It was fun to watch it, fun to be around it. We had a great run. We just made basketball really, really fun to watch, shooting threes and dunking on people. What more to basketball is there than that?
On playing with Nash during his MVP seasons…
It was magical years to be a part of him winning back-to-back MVPs. We had a magical run. All the guys on the team can actually say it was fun. We had a good time doing it. When you’re out there playing ball and you’re winning and doing things, you get rewarded for it. That was the reward. He was able to go out there and get back-to-back MVPs off of some of the amazing years we had. It showed.