Headstrong: Steve Nash can be stubborn about his hairstyle and his endorsements . But that singlemindedness has made him one of the league's best point guards

Sporting News, The, Feb 11, 2002 by Sean Deveney

There is a scene in J.D. Salinger's novel, The Catcher in the Rye, where Holden Caulfield is on a date with old flame Sally Hayes. Sally tells him he should really change his hair, because his current cut is "corny" and, if he changed it, his hair would be, "so lovely."

Caulfield's reaction: "Lovely my ass."

Little wonder, then, that Mavericks point guard Steve mash finds Caulfield to be a kindred spirit. Few in the NBA have as well-known of a coiffure as mash, like a ball of unraveled yarn lounging over his boyish face, sometimes pointing, Medusa-like, in several directions, sometimes parted and nearly tucked behind his ears as if he were a Pilgrim on the Mayflower. He ignores advice to cut it, gel it, comb it or acknowledge its existence.

What most don't understand is mash really does not care about his hair. Maybe he would brush it if it were something he thought about, but he doesn't. It's a misconception that mash has cultivated his hair as part of an image, that his wayward locks make him seem more rebellious. Even Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says, "It is all about Steve's hair. He loves the fact that it gets such a response from people." Nash's reaction: Response my ass.

"I really don't care what people's response is, this is just how my hair is," he says. "I don't take care of it, or comb it, or put anything in it, or style it or anything. When people comment on it, it is funny to me that it draws such attention. It makes me realize how insignificant that sort of thing is, how silly it is to get carried away by that."

Such is the fish-out-of-water nature of mash, making him an unlikely candidate for NBA stardom. In an image-conscious league, mash does not cultivate a persona. He lets his hair simply flop where it pleases. He shuns attention. After Canadian sports journalists nominated him as the nation's male athlete of the year, he politely requested his name be removed from consideration because he felt there were more deserving candidates. He enthusiastically read journalist Naomi Klein's 1999 anti-globalization book, No Logo, which includes several chapters blasting one of the NBA's best bedfellows, the logo-centric sneaker companies. According to his agent, Bill Duffy, the book influenced mash, who turns down most endorsement offers. "I can think of several big things we have put in front of him, but he is not interested," Duffy says. "He has his principles, and we respect that. I talk to him a lot, but we don't even talk business. There's a lot more to Steve than that. He has perspective on everything he does."

Though he is able to maintain his perspective on the world, Nash still is a tenacious and driven basketball player. His ability to balance those aspects, being at once laid-back and ambitious, has been vital to his success. Outside the NBA limelight, Nash, who recently read The Catcher in the Rye for the first time, might be a Caulfieldian misfit--as he says, "Caulfield was an amazing character, and I guess I see some similarities to me, but I think we all can relate to him"--but on the court, he has become the fulcrum of the 33-14 Mavericks, one of the NBA's best teams. In his sixth season, Nash is averaging career highs in points (19.5) and assists (7.9), and his stardom was confirmed by his selection to the Western Conference All-Star team last week, an honor he was certain he eventually would achieve.

"Once I figured out I could play in the NBA, I also figured I could be an All-Star," Nash says. "I knew I could do it. And if I didn't, I think that would be my misgiving, not anyone else's. It would depend on my commitment to the challenge. Because I felt like it was something I am capable of. With hard work and mental growth, I knew I could get there."

Not long ago, such confidence on Nash's part would have sounded delusional. Entering last season, the Mavericks brought in competition for Nash, acquiring point guard Howard Eisley from the Jazz and giving Eisley a seven-year contract. That competition continued a trend in Nash's pro career. In his first two seasons with the Suns, Nash was buried behind point guards Jason Kidd and Kevin Johnson and averaged just 16.7 minutes. He was traded to Dallas before the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season and was awarded a ballyhooed six-year, $33 million deal by the Mavericks, who also made him a co-captain. Keeping mum about injuries to his ankle and back, Nash played in pain and played terribly. He lost minutes to journeymen Erick Strickland and Robert Pack and shot just 36.3 percent in his first season in Dallas.

By the end of that season, Nash was a regular target for homecourt booing. The Mavericks, touted as a potential playoff team by coach Don Nelson before the season, were a 19-31 disaster, and Nash took most of the blame. But he did not have trouble keeping his perspective. During the worst of the booing, Nash recalls seeing his younger brother, Martin, in the stands, laughing. After seeing Martin's reaction, Nash began chuckling to himself as well.