Nash Watch Update 2.1

Another day and as of yet Steve Nash is not yet a Raptor. It seems Nash is going to give everyone their shot to impress him. Yesterday, Toronto and New York and today the Nets and perhaps the Mavs. The Mavericks are focused on Deron Williams though as they make their big pitch to land him. If your a Raptor fan you should be rooting for them on a couple of levels. First in any case getting Deron Williams out of the division and conference is a good thing. Second and more importantly in terms of Nash if they get Williams I would feel much more confident the Raptors can easily land Nash over the Nets. In terms of Dallas it becomes a much more tricky situation. Dallas has all this money free to sign Williams but if they fail the could offer a more than competitive offer to Nash if they desired to do so. They also have Dirk who Nash was fast friends with in time with Dallas and has remained close with him.

After today sources say Nash will still meet or plans to meet with the Heat, Pacers and Suns. None of these three I give much chance. Heat can only offer a mini MLE which is 3 million dollars. The Pacers have some serious in house issues as Portland signed their star RFA Roy Hibbert to a max offer sheet. While the Suns are likely just getting a thanks for all you have done for me visit. It seems clear even to Nash that his future is no longer with the Suns. The drafting of Marshall was a sign the Suns see that as well.

Doug Smith in the Toronto Star took a guess that this could last until Wednesday around dinner time. Assuming Nash sticks to this schedule that seems about right. If the Raptors were to make any move that involves Calderon that would be an early sign that Nash is coming on board. It seems in leaving the meeting the Raptors felt confident enough to start exploring that option and try to avoid using the Amnesty clause on him. They could still use it on someone else if successful and try and recruit some more talent to play with Steve Nash. I would say the top guy on that list might be Ersan Ilyasova. A cheaper add on could be Grant Hill to come along with Nash. Hill had been a target of Toronto in the past and would come fairly cheap. Ilyasova would not be cheap and given this market as it has played out not sure Raptors would be able to snag him for a good price.

So back to my Steve Nash Stakeout and keep looking for the latest news @Dinonationblog on Twitter.