English: Kobe Bryant subs out vs the Washington Wizards (Photo credit: Wikipedia)Steve Nash brings excitement and color, the Lakers newly capable of streaming or soaring in any number of directions, just like the fireworks from the day of his decision.
At his brightest core, though, Nash is best known for two things: commitment forever to team basketball and being universally loved as simply the nicest of guys.
It would seem, in that regard, that he is the anti-Kobe. And if the Black Mamba is a dirty, ball-dominating snake, the Lakers are going to have problems, you'd think.
But Kobe Bryant isn't just what everyone thinks. Steve Nash definitely is not, either.
As they come together after 16 years of building separate surefire Hall of Fame resumes as Western Conference rivals, the easy analysis is that they never needed each other until now, so now it can work.
It's simpler than that: Bryant and Nash are actually a lot alike.
Bryant can believe in any man who believes in himself – and validates that belief by working with dedication to excel at his craft. For all the creativity Nash shows on the court, everything flows out of work ethic and fundamentals ... precisely the foundation on which Bryant has built his legend.
Consider what Nash put on the cover of his basketball instructional DVD back in 2006: "If every basketball player worked as hard as me, I would be out of a job."
Well, Bryant would never say exactly that, of course. But the premise is the important part – and the root of the respect Bryant and Nash have developed for each other since being drafted just two spots apart in 1996 – Bryant 13th, Nash 15th.
Bryant deserved that 2006 NBA MVP trophy that instead went to Nash, and certainly the Lakers' Shaq-less playoff eliminations against the Suns in 2006 and '07 stung Bryant. But Bryant also couldn't miss Nash's diligence in treating and toughness in overcoming a chronic bad back. There was also a true fanaticism for the game.
Those things are big parts of the man code but they're downright non-negotiables in the Kobe code.
And it goes the other way, too.
This very year, back in January after Bryant scored 48 points to beat Phoenix, Nash offered this description for Bryant:
"He's the best player in the world."
OK, then.
Just as Bryant doesn't always care what people think, there's plenty of opinion and contrarian in Nash.
He has worn No. 13 his whole pro career (though with that retired for Lakers great Wilt Chamberlain, maybe Nash now goes with his college No. 11, which failed to bring a ring to Karl Malone with the Lakers in 2004?). Nash isn't afraid to speak his mind against a war or a government. He is 38 but almost never thinks about his age in a society obsessed with the burden of turning 40.
He is so sure he can perform at a high level past that mark (John Stockton turned 41 just days before he retired) that Nash believed he deserved the three-year contract he is getting. With the club trying to prepare for payroll slashing in 2014-15 to avoid the new and very harsh repeater luxury-tax penalties, no Laker – not even Bryant – was under contract as long as Nash suddenly will be when his deal becomes official in a week.
Getting Nash does not change the Lakers' willingness to trade Pau Gasol or Andrew Bynum. So for now, there is only one star certainty: Bryant and Nash will play together, and they will have to figure it out.
Contrarians absolutely love those kinds of challenges.
Bryant is a student of NBA history and appreciates that dynamic point guard-shooting guard partnerships have been rare.
Best such tandem? Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars? Walt Frazier and Earl Monroe? Bob Cousy and Bill Sharman or Sam Jones?
Best shooting guard of Nash's career? Michael Finley? And that's better than anything Bryant has played next to in the Lakers' backcourt all these years.
Bear in mind that Bryant was frustrated by how hard that he, Bynum and Gasol had to work to get their shots in Mike Brown's first season as Lakers coach. Bryant doesn't want to come out to field the ball at the top of the key and crash through or shoot over the whole defense. He wants to get the ball in his sweet spots and do what he does – and his thinking, same as when Chris Paul nearly became his teammate – will be Nash helping tremendously in that regard.
In any case, this union is about far more than Xs and Os.
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