Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers are struggling and there are a lot of places to go with blame but I am going to go with Steve Nash right now. Yes, I do know he is coming back from an injury and yes I know he hasn’t played all but a handful of games for the Lakers and his impact hasn’t been what this team has needed it to be.
On offense Nash is doing his job in running the offense that is in place but he isn’t making his presence felt enough to make an impact. The Nash we saw on the Phoenix Suns was a player that impacted the game as a passer and scorer on any given night. On this Lakers team he is being way too passive and it is hurting the team.
Nash is still a really good player but he is 38 years of age coming off a broken leg. He has to become more assertive for this team to play better. He has to realize that he is the best shooter on the team and that sometimes the extra pass isn’t needed.
The Lakers as a whole are a very inconsistent three point shooting team and he is one of the players on the team who is actually known for doing that well. I understand that Nash is a facilitator first but he needs to be more aggressive and make other teams pay for leaving him open at times.
Leadership is what Nash has been praised for in Phoenix but in Los Angeles we have seen anything but that. He is well respected enough to become a leader on this team and help control a locker room that is on edge at the moment.
Last season Nash looked great as a Sun and put up very impressive numbers with a mediocre team. When the trade went down to get him we all assumed that the Lakers were getting that same player and so far they haven’t. Hopefully he can make the necessary adjustments in order to become a major factor on this team before it’s too late.
