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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKEND

February 15, 2008

Steve Nash

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA

Q. What is your plan this afternoon?
STEVE NASH: We're going to try to help rebuild this city.

Q. Yeah?
STEVE NASH: Yeah, we're excited to get out there and learn a little bit more about the state of the city. It's been some time since the hurricane, and hopefully we hopefully we can educate ourselves and help.

Q. Do you think the game against Golden State yesterday, how does coming here help?
STEVE NASH: Well, luckily we beat Dallas last night after the Golden State game. So having a back-to-back, and then coming here at 7:00 in the morning, it's a little tiring. But I'm happy we got the win yesterday.

Q. What is Shaq's personality like?
STEVE NASH: He's boring. We're going to try to get him out a little bit. Liven him up. Get him comfortable in front of the microphones.
No, he's been amazing. I think obviously he's charismatic. And he has a great personality. That's what's exciting to our team. To get that done, and the skills that he can bring to our team, we're all very excited the prospects.

Q. Considering what you did last season and what you're doing now, did you need a change?
STEVE NASH: No, we didn't need a change. I think everyone felt like this was an incredible opportunity and difficult to pass this one up.

Q. Now what do you think about people saying you're not going to run as much? Or do you have two styles?
STEVE NASH: I think we're versatile. We're a capable team. This last week without Shawn or him. I think we can still play a lot of minutes without Shaquille. When Shaquille plays, we can still be a fast-break team. We can guard the basket, rebound. One of our biggest weaknesses is rebounding, which goes hand in hand with running. So we think that he can really fit well with our team and give us some versatility and some options.

Q. Do you see this as the right approach to combat San Antonio and the defensive match-up that Amare was facing in last year's Conference Finals?
STEVE NASH: I feel like it was just a great opportunity. We didn't have to make a trade. We felt like we were very close last year, we had some bad breaks, but we felt like this was an opportunity that was pretty incredible and special for us to add a guy like this, with his ability and size. He adds so much to our team that we lacked. So considering his motivation, we felt like it was a great opportunity for us.

Q. Has his presence helped you focus back on basketball now and sort of taken some of that shine off being the franchise sort of player and let you work closer with the coach?
STEVE NASH: I've never really felt like that. I always just concentrate on basketball.

Q. Okay, cool. This is the 40th season, obviously, for the Suns. Where do you see yourself in comparison to the other players that have come to this franchise? What does this mean for you to come to this franchise?
STEVE NASH: Well, I love it. I was drafted by the Suns, to come back here and have success here, making the Conference Finals. Top record in the league. Taking the team back to a very successful place and having the city abuzz with our success has been a lot of fun for me. So there have been a lot of great players in Suns' history, and to be up there with some of the best teams. That's great.

Q. If Kobe can't go, do you think you should get the start?
STEVE NASH: I never thought about that. Of course.
No, I think that, I don't know, the coaches will figure that out. That's not important to me. I think it's not something that I'm thinking about.

Q. Byron said he feels obligated to ask you though if that's the case just because of your tenure?
STEVE NASH: Well, I'll have to think about it then. Look at our rosters. Maybe I'll be the player-coach.

End of FastScripts

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