Raptors sing the praises of future hall inductee Nash

TORONTO Steve Nash might not have pioneered the move, but the Canadian point guard certainly made it popular.

Nash was most famous for boldly dribbling through the paint along the baseline and gathering opposing defenders before scorching them with his lightning-quick precise passes to open teammates.

It was both incredibly effective and altered the way basketball is played. And when news broke at Toronto Raptors practice Thursday that Nash was headed into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, they were singing the praises of the 18-year NBA veteran.

“Bob Cousy started that (offensive tactic), where you called it ‘the midget,’” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “Now they call it ‘the Steve Nash.’ Steve took it to another level with the lobs to (Amar’e) Stoudemire or Shawn Marion. I told Shawn all the time he owed Steve a lot of money because Steve made his career, made his job easy by making the passes right on time, on target. He made a lot of guys very good players.”

While an official announcement is expected Saturday, reports Thursday have Nash, Jason Kidd and Grant Hill headed to the hall.

The 44-year-old from Victoria was the face of Canadian basketball for the better part of two decades and when he retired in 2015, his 10,335 assists ranked him third all-time behind John Stockton and Kidd. He became the first Canadian to win the NBA’s MVP award in 2005 with the Phoenix Suns and then captured it again in 2006.

Kyle Lowry grew up watching Nash and Kidd and eventually played against both of them.

“Steve kind of changed the game to what the game is now with the uptempo (style of play),” Lowry said. “I’m sure all of his teammates loved playing with him when he just started playing basketball, kicking it out.”