It's no secret that Steve Nash was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers for a few mediocre and pointless draft picks, but the real story behind this is how he is going to coexist alongside Kobe Bryant, a man who has been the unquestioned focal point of the Lakers' offense ever since 2003.
Is Kobe Bryant willing to relinquish control of the ball to Nash? Would he be fine taking three or four fewer shots per game? Is he okay letting other guys on his team be the hero at the end of the game? And most of all, is he willing to share the limelight with another superstar for the first time since playing with Shaquille O'Neal?
For the most part, it seems that Kobe is on board with the idea for now, but will that ring true for the remainder of the season, or will the Kobe of old rear his ugly head?
Assuming that Bryant and Nash are capable of playing alongside each other for the purpose of conversation, let's take a look at how the Lakers offense is going to look with Nash at the helm, specifically based on how Nash impacts Kobe.
Pick-and-Roll
While this may not deal with Kobe directly, it very well should be the new focal point of the Lakers' offense, which may be a bit difficult considering Mike Brown is a bit of a lackwit offensively compared to many of the other coaches in the league. This pretty much sums it up.
Steve Nash, even at his advanced age, was one of the best point guards in the league at creating off the pick-and-roll, according to Synergy Sports.
Steve Nash Impact: he created/scored 22.4 points per game on the pick and roll in 2012, 12th among TEAMS in increasingly PnR heavy NBA.
— mySynergySports (@mySynergySports) July 6, 2012
Nash wasn't good with the pick-and-roll, he was amazing. Not only was he one of the best point guards in the league, he was better than most teams.
