It is often said that a sign of greatness is making others around you better. If that’s the case, then there can be very few better than Canadian basketball player Steve Nash.
Nash is a two-time winner of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in the National Basketball Association (NBA): for the 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 seasons.
Nash recently achieved another significant milestone in his career. He surpassed the 10,000 career assists mark. An assist is a pass made by a player that sets up a basket for a teammate.
Nash plays point-guard. His role is to run the team’s offense by controlling the ball and making sure it gets to the right players at the right time. The more assists he gets, the more points his team scores.
Nash becomes only the fifth player in NBA history to surpass 10,000 career assists. He joins NBA greats John Stockton, Jason Kidd, Mark Jackson and Magic Johnson in this exclusive group.
At 38, which is relatively old for a professional basketball player, he is still performing at a high level.
This year he has already had to overcome a serious leg injury. He has come back strong and currently ranks in the NBA’s top 10 assists leaders.
Nash is in the 17th year of his career. He is on a new team, the Los Angeles Lakers. He is playing with arguably one of the best players in NBA history, Kobe Bryant. Expectations are high; however, the Lakers are struggling.
No matter what happens this year, though, Nash is nearing the end of a fantastic career. Having reached 10,000 assists, along with two MVP awards, he is one of the greatest point-guards ever to play the sport.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
“It is often said that a sign of greatness is making others around you better.”
How do you think Steve Nash has made his fellow teammates better?
Can you think of any other examples that prove this saying true?
Reading Prompt:
The article states, “At 38, which is relatively old for a professional basketball player, he is still performing at a high level.”
Most people think 38 is a young age. So why do you think it is a relatively old age for a professional basketball player?
Primary
Make inferences about texts using stated and implied ideas from the texts as evidence (OME, Reading: 1.5).
Junior
Use stated and implied ideas in texts to make inferences and construct meaning (OME, Reading: 1.5).
Grammar Feature: Compound Word
A compound word is made up of two separate words. Find and circle all of the compound words in this article.
