Doubt can be a huge motivator. (And I’m not talking about the movie starring Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman. That was just depressing.)
You have likely had that moment in life where a teacher, boss, loved one or complete stranger has doubted your ability, in one way or another, so much so that it pushed you to achieve something you didn’t quite know was possible. They become the type of person you use as motivation as you continue to push yourself. If you haven’t, don’t worry, you will eventually get to join the club.
At this point you’re probably wondering exactly what this has to do with the Phoenix Suns. Well, after Sunday’s victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, head coach Alvin Gentry started his postgame press conference with this statement:
“I’d like to start this off by saying, to all you Tebow Haters, take that. That’s right. For all those expert analysts on there who said ‘He can’t do this. He can’t pass. He can’t run a pro offense.’ Take that.”
Once again, the connection between that comment and the Suns isn’t quite clear (outside of Gentry using his press conference like an open mic night to prove he may have a little Louis C.K. in him). That is until you look at it a little deeper.
Gentry spent Sunday talking about a player who spends his time running around wearing orange, throwing passes and making plays to help his team win.
Sound familiar?
Gentry’s original comments may have been about the Denver Broncos’ quarterback Tim Tebow but they seem to also apply to his own signal caller, Steve Nash.
On the same night that Tebow served up a thrilling 80-yard touchdown pass in overtime, Nash did his best Red Cross impression, dishing assistance at a dizzying pace. He doled out an exciting 17 assists in just 28 minutes of play against Milwaukee. It was Nash’s own version of ‘take that’ to the ‘haters’ who had once again started to wonder if he was about to experience a major decline due to his age.
Sure, Nash was off to a slow start, but time and time again, like Tebow, he proves his detractors and critics wrong.
Nash was Tebow, when Tebow was still in pampers and reading the picture-book version of the Bible. He’s the ultimate, “no one believes in me, so I have to prove them wrong” story.
The odds have been against Nash for a majority of his career. Being a good high school point guard in Canada with dreams of playing in the NBA is kind of like being the cute girl in Kentucky with dreams of being the next Julia Roberts: a long shot. When you add in the fact that he had to sit out his junior year in high school due to transferring schools, the road to major college basketball, let alone the pros, was a difficult one.
That didn’t stop him. He was recruited by Santa Clara, a smaller Western Athletic Conference team, and guided them to the NCAA tournament three times in four years. Even that didn’t mean he was a lock to be an NBA starter, let alone a star. He was viewed as too small and too slow to be an impact player. Two MVPs, almost 16,000 points and almost 9,400 assists later, he still has to prove people wrong.
So I’d just like to end this by saying to all you Steve Nash haters, take that. For all those who said ‘He can’t do this.’ ‘He’s too old.’ ‘He can’t pass anymore.’ Take that. Now all we have to do is figure out what the Nash equivalent to Tebowing is.
My vote? Nashing should be pushing your hair back out of your eyes while passing something along to a friend.
It’s your turn. What do you think Nashing should be? Leave your answer in the comment section.
About Greg Esposito