The Ringer: Suns have produced several top assist combos of 2000s
Mar 9, 2020, 10:21 AM
Amare Stoudemire #1, Steve Nash #13, Shawn Marion #31 and Leandro Barbosa #10 of the Phoenix Suns celebrate late in the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center on January 22, 2008 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Suns won 114-105. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
It’s not surprising that Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash is half of, not one, but two of the most prolific assist duos in the 2000s so far.
The Ringer’s Zach Kram broke down the numbers for some of the best assist men and their beneficiaries since 2000, and Nash bests even the NBA’s most famous pick-and-roll tandem.
Nash setting up Amare Stoudemire ranked No. 1 by averaging 231.0 assists per season over five years.
Grizzlies rookie Brandon Clarke ranks second this season in points per pick-and-roll possession as the roll man (minimum 100 possessions). He scores 1.48 points per try, an outrageous figure—and he says that because he grew up in Phoenix, he first learned the value of an unstoppable pick-and-roll play from this very duo.
“I was a really big Suns fan, so I was always watching Nash and Amar’e play,” Clarke says. “So it’s actually kind of funny to have something that’s kind of similar to that now — it’s not as good, but it’s kind of similar to that.”
Nash and Stoudemire accounted for the first- and third-most assist combos for a single-season, tallying 282 in 2008 and 277 in 2010.
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Their five-year average of 231 was nearly six more assists per year more than Utah Jazz Hall of Famers John Stockton and Karl Malone, who in three seasons where data was available ranked second on the list.
Just behind the former Jazz stars comes Nash finding Suns forward Shawn Marion. That duo averaged 205.8 assists per season over four campaigns — and that number comes with an asterisk.
Remember, this ranking averages assists on a per-season basis without factoring in games missed within those seasons. So instead of dividing their total number of assists by roughly 3.6, to account for Marion’s trade after the Suns’ 48th game in 2007-08, we divide by four, the number of seasons. With a 3.6 divider, though, this combo would have 229.5 assists per effective season—no. 2 on the list, and knocking on the door of a very familiar-looking pairing at no. 1.
From his time with the Dallas Mavericks, Nash makes a third appearances in the top-10 with 179.3 assists per season while connecting with Dirk Nowitzki.
And just outside the top-10 and preceding the Nash era in Phoenix, Marion and former Suns point guard Stephon Marbury rank 12th with 154 assists per year over three seasons.
