You can see the line from then to now, from Steve Nash to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the similarities and differences all ending at the same point in Canadian basketball history.
There are other dots on that line, to be sure聽鈥 from Eli Pasquale through Jay Triano, Leo Rautins and Bill Wennington and Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph and Denham Brown and Andrew Wiggins and others who don鈥檛 come immediately to mind. But the connection between Nash and Gilgeous-Alexander is fascinating on so many levels.
They are basketball giants, the first and second Canadians to be voted most valuable player in the NBA, but they are also talismans for the game in this country, and it鈥檚 been quite impressive to watch them make an impact on a generation.
Nash was the selfmade great, bucking long odds with an unceasing appetite for self-improvement and self-belief, the underdog who willed himself to the pinnacle of his craft. It was a joy to see and cheer for: the stories of dribbling a tennis ball to enhance his skills, the salesmanship it took to even find a college to take him, an incredible work ethic that allowed him to rise to the heights that he did.
It鈥檚 been equally a joy to cheer for Gilgeous-Alexander, who took advantage of every opportunity and pursued a dream many thought folly: navigating the high school and AAU process with his unyielding work ethic, big American school for a year, an NBA apprenticeship, the arrival. Maybe more advantages than Nash had, but both arriving at the same place.
The continuum of the game here.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the nature of life, you learn from the generations before us,鈥 Nash said in a call with reporters this week. 鈥淲e look up to people, we try to emulate them and then we add something to it.
鈥淚f you look at the NBA or you look at any walk of life, we constantly evolve as human beings, so that evolution starts with an example. His ability to take those cues from the generations before him 鈥 to meet them, to build on them and now to exemplify them for the younger generation聽鈥 is so powerful.鈥
If there is one thing Gilgeous-Alexander has shown, much like Nash did, it’s that steadfast belief in yourself is a necessary and vital component to success. Just as Nash dreamed in the early 1990s and would not be dissuaded, Gilgeous-Alexander set goals, dreamed them and turned them into reality. Listening to him talk the night his MVP win was announced was like listening to Nash nearly two decades ago.
鈥淚 always thought that I could be a really good player, because I had seen what putting your head down and working and controlling what you can control can do for you,” Gilgeous-Alexander said the other night.
“I dreamed about it as a kid, but as a kid it’s a fake dream. As the days go on and you realize that you get closer to your dream, it’s hard to not freak out. It’s hard to not be a six-year-old kid again. And I think that’s what’s allowed me to achieve it. I tried to just not focus on it, and just worry about what’s gotten me to this place.鈥
And then Nash basically mimicked it this week.
鈥淢y story is pretty improbable; I love that about it. I wasn鈥檛 6-8, 260 and the fastest, strongest person. And so I love my story, if I can say that, because it鈥檚 improbable, and I think it shows people that you can accomplish a lot more than you are allowed to believe if you work for something, you find belief, confidence, momentum and have the discipline to do it with passion every single day.鈥
The passion is true within the sport, indeed, but past the game as well. Having had a front-row seat to Nash鈥檚 ascent and having now watched Gilgeous-Alexander, it’s remarkable to see how similar they are in the way they live their lives: their inquisitive nature, the way they see the world and probe it, feel it.
The basketball work comes first聽鈥 it has to, in order to achieve such greatness聽鈥 but it cannot be all encompassing. There needs to be a balance. We saw it then and we saw it now.
Nash loved his soccer and was well aware of issues away from the court: supporting environmental causes, creating a stir with a quiet protest by wearing a 鈥淣o War. Shoot for Peace鈥 T-shirt deep in the heart of 2003 Texas at an NBA all-star game.
Gilgeous-Alexander loves his fashion. He draws and creates (including his trademark logo). He escapes from the rigours of his job and lets his mind go.
Put it this way: Both have attended the Met Gala, an over-the-top event about as far removed from professional basketball as you can imagine.
Iconoclasts, true to themselves.
鈥淵ou have to be true to who you are. That鈥檚 what allows you to flow and live and find that balance within, according to how you are and how you鈥檙e wired,鈥 Nash said.
鈥(Gilgeous-Alexander) is definitely a curious individual. You can tell that in the way he goes about his process and his career. He鈥檚 pushing boundaries and that鈥檚 a really powerful trait in itself 鈥 that curiosity and that thirst for knowledge and understanding and the need to push him.
鈥淚f that鈥檚 how you鈥檙e wired聽鈥 and I think Shai鈥檚 wired that way 鈥斅爁inding that balance, using that curiosity, taken that passion and turning it into discipline, I think, is a part of the puzzle that makes him so great.鈥
There has been much written and said about the throughline from Nash to Gilgeous-Alexander this week, just as there had over the years leading up to the MVP connection being completed.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 need it, and at the same time there鈥檚 no better feeling than watching these guys thrive and them saying that you鈥檇 had an impact on them,鈥 Nash said. 鈥淭hat makes it all worthwhile and special and, I don鈥檛 know, there could be very few compliments higher than that. It鈥檚 an honour.鈥
It鈥檚 not a stretch to think Gilgeous-Alexander will sound precisely like Nash should a third MVP from Canada ever materialize.
It鈥檚 a continuum. A heritage. A history.
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