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GREG BRADY: The “most interesting man in the world” has nothing on the “most interesting sports team in the world”—and that team may miss the playoffs. Which brings us to Steve Nash. The two-time MVP flirted with the Knicks and played footsie with the Raptors, then turned a cold shoulder and flew to Hollywood and thought he could be the missing piece in a title run—or at least make life hell for Oklahoma City and Miami. It didn’t happen. It was never going to. It’s Kobe Bryant’s team. You don’t slide into another uniform and make an icon defer to you. Kobe wants to shoot the ball and he wants to carry the ball—either Nash looked past this, or was naive about the facts. Nash’s assists are way down, because Kobe creates his own plays. Nash’s points are down, because Kobe’s costing him shots. Take Dwight Howard—he actually thought he could force a trade to the Lakers, step off the plane and take over the room. Would anyone have dared this with Michael Jordan? Sure, Nash has a better attitude than Howard, and he’ll say all the right things—including his declaration that he doesn’t regret his decision in the least—but either he was hoping to get a title the easy way, on Kobe’s back, or it doesn’t matter that much to him. You can’t hold the latter against him, but if it’s the former, this is on him, not the coach he plays for, the centre he plays pick-and-roll with, or the superstar who was never going to share control of his team.
JIM LANG: To say “Steve Nash made a mistake choosing the Lakers” is the classic, rush-to-judgment method of answering sports questions—the man is under contract for two more years, is a two-time MVP and deserves the time to get his game back near the level we are used to seeing before we judge his decision to sign in L.A. There is the Kobe Bryant adjustment to consider. Anyone who joins the Lakers quickly discovers that everything revolves around Bryant, and if he’s not happy, then nobody is happy. Kobe is also the engine that drives the Lakers’ offence. Everything revolves around him and players have to adjust their style of play to suit whatever he wants. While the skills of the 39-year-old Nash may have diminished over time, nobody can question his passion and commitment to winning. Nash wants to win just as much as Bryant and is not above altering his game to suit Bryant’s needs. Nash isn’t stupid. He is well aware of his place within the Lakers hierarchy and is slowly adopting the role of elder statesman as he realizes that, at this point in his career, he’s not the alpha male anymore. It’s almost certain that there will be changes to the Lakers in the off-season, meaning Nash’s role with the team will become better defined next season. Next year, when they’re back to being one of the top teams in the West, nobody will be pondering whether or not Nash has regrets.