2020 is a year that
started auspicious for Lee Unagi and his YouTube channel. In case you wonder
why I am writing this is because...that is me. My actual name is Levy Nagy but
Lee Unagi is the version of the name I came up with while I was in Asia teaching
English to kids who wanted a more Asian-friendly name for me as they were
struggling with my natural Hungarian name in the classroom.
I went to sleep last
night getting notifications from YouTube followers and got a bit surprised at
the growing numbers of subscribers on my channel in only a few couple of hours.
First thing I checked when I woke up was the news. Surprisingly for me, I got a
shout-out on Bill Simmons' newest
episode (number 14) of The Book Of Basketball 2.0 podcast on The Ringer
network. Even more surprising was that
his guest was Steve Nash, my all time favorite NBA player whom me and other
knowledgeable NBA fans consider the last pointgod (a point guard who played
godlike basketball) in the NBA.
There was a link to YouTube and a short 7 minute video
with Bill and Steve talking face to face while some highlights of the infamous
Game 4 of the 2007 NBA Playoffs Western Conference Semifinals between Phoenix
and San Antonio were rolling in the background. The poster for the podcast with
Robert Horry's hip checking Steve Nash into the sideline boards was exactly the picture I cropped and used as
a cover for the same very game I uploaded to YouTube in May 2019. That felt
good but...must
have felt awful for poor Steve!
Another quite
shocking thing for me after listening to Bill Simmon's latest podcast with
Steve Nash was to find out Steve never really watched the Suns games over the
last years and especially the fact the game I uploaded - which Bill asked him
to watch entirely so they can talk about in this episode on his podcast - gave
a whole lot of anxiety to Steve Nash because of the way things were handled
back then by the referees, David Stern who died only a couple of days ago, and
the over aggressive Spurs players including Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry. I am
really sorry my upload brought sadness and desperation to Steve Nash who
evidently was lost for words a few times on the podcast. Also I couldn't not
notice Nash wasn't really prepared to have this conversation with Bill despite
he is in general a great spokesman and well informed.
On the same 7 minute
short video from the podcast, people commented on YouTube saying that Steve
Nash is underrated although him and the Suns revolutionized basketball and
shaped it the way it is played nowadays.
- The problem is you bring on a player and it turns into a boring interview. With another NBA writer/historian it’s an awesome back and forth conversation between knowledgeable people. Nash admits he doesn't think about this stuff and can’t remember half of this stuff 👍 but as player interviews go this one isn’t bad.
- This was the best podcast in the series so far. Well done!
- Nash is underrated.
- True but the man did win not one, but TWO MVP’s.
- Yeah. But he still does not get enough credit for it.
- People spent a decade slandering him because a white boy won an MVP over Kobe, sad people!
- He is definitely properly rated.
- ME: He is underrated! Just because you and me appreciate him doesn't mean the majority of the people do the same. He has been underrated all his career starting at the draft and when signed with Phoenix in 1996 (the best draft in the NBA history!) and booed by Phoenix fans (yes, you read it correctly!).
- Nash is underrated because he played on one of the best teams in the NBA, but really was FAR better than the other two of the "big three". Stoudemire and Marion were both fine, but neither had any chops on their own: Nash was the engine and soul of that team. Think abut it: they were mostly even with the Spurs, who had a "big three" who could each create by themselves of play off the ball. Stoudemire and Marion could really create efficiently by themselves. Each brought something. But Nash was the key. Reminds me of Barkley in Phoenix. KJ was never enough as a second fiddle. Same with Nash. Both first ballot HoF-ers.
- Dude would thrive in today’s NBA, was just a little to early.
- Since 2000 I don’t think there is a pointguard that has gotten more people paid than Nash. A lot of players owe him a few steak dinners for what he did to their career.
- Steve Nash is the player that really "changed the game." Everyone else took the league he made to the next level. Congratulations to them, but don't erase what Steve and those Suns did.
- That Horry hip check killed the series. As Simmons wrote in his book "even a washed up Horry could swing a series". LOL
- One of the most controversial plays in NBA history and no one even scored.
- Refs always ruining something.
- Make no mistake, the Suns CRUSHED Cleveland twice that same year. San Antonio went on to sweep them but Phoenix would have as well. David Stern decided the championship when he suspended the Suns' leading scorer and his main back up at the same time.
- Probably one of the greatest teams to never make a finals. Though once or twice they were clearly screwed.
- Thinking about that series just made me sick. The league hated the Suns.
On that last note,
let me add this. The now defunct and much praised David Stern by the media
people who didn’t really know him, helped the Spurs back then and robbed the
Suns of their chance to advance to the next round. Spurs were a great team but
they were preferred by Stern as they better fit the NBA's international
marketing agenda (which ironically was the biggest achievement of David Stern's
career as NBA commissioner).
When fans discuss the commissioner's decision to
penalize the Suns by the book, they all realize the law was applied wrongfully
- and Phoenix fans knew it back then already. One of the comments on my Game 4
video clearly states the undeniable facts. The rule IS NOT if you “leave the bench you get
suspended” or “step on the court when a foul has occurred”; according to Stu
Jackson, VP of officiating, the rule it is: “if you leave the bench DURING AN
ALTERCATION, you get suspended.” If you check the tape, the “altercation”
(assuming it rises to the level) had not happened yet when Boris and Amare came
off the bench. It’s only well after Amare and Boris come to check on Nash and
are right by his side that the altercation takes place. So the suspension of
Amare Stoudamire and Boris Diaw was...unlawful but made by David Stern in a
"horry" (you get the pun!).
A few more things
about me and the passion for basketball and the NBA. I've been listening and
reading Bill Simmons analysis and comments about the NBA for about 15 years,
never really missing any of his podcasts. Steve Nash is the player I tried to
emulate unintentionally during my 13 years of amateur basketball playing. He
was my doppelganger in the NBA. I had played football brilliantly until high
school when I fell in love with basketball. Technically speaking I turned long
25 meter leg shots on the football field I used to kick (and destroyed a few
rusty goal posts!) into later well known long threes on the basketball court
opposing teams were afraid of in the 90s because they didn't know how to guard
them so far from the basket. I played basketball at semi-pro level until
graduating from college when I got my spinal cord injury just like Steve(!),
not to mention I am white European and had long hair for years.
I've watched
Steve's career from day 1 and knew right away he would turn out to be THIS
good. The rest is just hate and envy coming from low IQ players like Shaq &
co. and their so-called "fans" who just jumped on bandwagons like
Lakers, Heat and Warriors at the time. Life is unfair but worth living as long
as you keep in mind what Steve Nash always said (but not many listened):
"Let's have some fun out there!".
