Steve Nash says meeting with Dwight Howard got “contentious” … but that was a good thing
Los Angeles Lakers point guard Steve Nash joined the show to talk about trying out for Inter Milan in soccer and Dwight Howard leaving the Lakers this summer.
Nash talked about flying to Los Angeles to meet Howard and talk about rejoining the Lakers. “It actually got a little bit contentious,” Nash said. “I think he went form not considering coming back to actually considering it. … We got some things out. Dwight was able to say things that bothered him about this season. We tried to figure out how it could work in the future.”
Nash said Kobe was very honest in the meeting with Howard. “[Kobe] told him that he’s hard to play with,” Nash said.
Nash said no matter what they said, Howard probably wouldn’t have come back. “I really don’t think he felt that comfortable from the jump,” Nash said.
Dan asked Nash if he wanted Howard back. “It’s hard to say you don’t want a guy back,” said Nash, “who has all the tools that he has. At the same time, if he’s not happy, it’s probably best to move on.”
Dan asked if he thinks Howard had the skills to win a title. “He absolutely has the skills to win a championship defensively,” Nash said.
Nash also weighed in on a number of other topics:
— Dan asked Nash if his try-out was serious. “If you ask me, it’s serious,” Nash said. “If you ask Inter Milan it’s a joke.”
Nash talked about how America would fare if athletes played soccer and not other sports.
“If you had Adrian Peterson and Allen Iverson playing on the soccer field from when they’re 5-years old,” Nash said, “they could be world class players.”
Nash said growing up playing soccer taught him how to see the court, and he’s not sure he would have made the NBA if he didn’t play soccer.
— Dan asked if the Lakers had an issue with him playing soccer. Nash said he thinks they know that he plays all the time in the summer. — Nash said he has two years left on his contract and that will probably be how long he plays. He said he can’t predict how it will unfold, but it’s a “difficult, dangerous trying time for an athlete” when he has to figure out when to stop.– Dan asked if Kobe wins a sixth title, can he be fairly compared to Michael Jordan. Nash said that’s tough because he grew up idolizing Jordan. He told a great story about playing against Jordan and asking for his shoes after the game.