Steve Nash: The Guy Who Rescued The NBA?

Today is Steve Nash Internet Day, as decreed by SB Nation's Phoenix Suns blog Bright Side of the Sun.  Throughout the day, some of the best NBA writers and bloggers will be sending in their tributes, so check out Bright Side of the Sun for more. 

This is also a convenient time for us here at SBNation.com to throw our hats into the ring with this thought: did Steve Nash (and by extension, the Phoenix Suns) save the NBA? 

Obviously, this isn't literally true.  Nash was around for many years before he came to Phoenix, and while he was good, he was seen as your typical all-star point guard, not the leader of a basketball revolution.  There were also many other factors that brought the NBA back from the doldrums of the early 2000s.

But there was also Nash really bursting onto the scene.  He was the counterculture leader, the quarterback of the electrifying Seven Seconds Or Less offense.  He was the model teammate, the model superstar and the model, well, role model.  He was a far cry from some of the previous "faces" of the league that came across as arrogant, uncaring and spoiled to many. 

And even at age 35, he's still doing it, quarterbacking his team to the top of the Western Conference in classic Nash style.  Take it from this NBA fan -- the NBA is more fun when Nash is doing his thing.  It became exponentially more fun when Nash joined Phoenix, and it remains more fun as long as he sticks around.