It breaks down like this:
-- The Portland Trail Blazers need a new point guard for 2012-13, and since the team wants to reload -- not rebuild -- getting a better-than-average point guard is of great importance.
-- Steve Nash is a great point guard who becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
-- The Blazers have enough salary cap space this summer to offer Nash, who's 38, the type of contract he's seeking.
There are a couple of "yeah buts" regarding Nash and the Blazers, though.
As in, yeah but new Portland general manager Neil Olshey has said the Blazers aren't looking for aging veterans, and Nash will turn 39 next season.
And, yeah but the Phoenix Suns really, really want to keep Nash, the franchise's most beloved player, until he decides to hang up his basketball shoes for good, and even if they don't have the money Portland can offer, they'll certainly get the point guard's sympathy vote.
ESPN.com's Marc Stein reported last week that the Blazers are on a short list -- along with the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets (assuming Deron Williams goes elsewhere) -- of teams with salary cap space that are best positioned to sign Nash.
So, should Portland pursue him? And would he be the answer at point guard?
Olshey's comments on "aging veterans" aside, yeah, Nash could fit in really well in Portland.
For starters, he and LaMarcus Aldridge reportedly developed a bit of a rapport at the All-Star game this past season, with Aldridge unofficially beginning the Blazers' courtship of Nash.
"Just messing with him about coming here," Aldridge told The Oregonian newspaper. "I was just throwing little stuff out there."
Now imagine Nash throwing passes out there for Aldridge on pick-and-pop plays, or hitting a streaking Nicolas Batum (assuming he's re-signed) on slashes to the hoop.
And imagine, after the disaster that was Raymond Felton's season in Portland, having a point guard who's consistent night in and night out and is also a scoring threat.
It could definitely work.
What do you think, should the Blazers go after Nash?
Source:
Latest on the chase for Steve Nash
Portland Trail Blazers: 5 Reasons the team should pursue Steve Nash this summer
Wooing Steve Nash? Trail Blazers giving it a shot
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Adam Sparks has followed the Portland Trail Blazers since the early 1980s, and has written about the team as a freelancer since 2009.
