"Kevin Johnson and Steve Nash were not just ships passing in the night. For two years in the late 1990s, the point guards were Suns teammates, passing to help win games.

Few could have predicted that Nash would one day break Johnson's Suns record for career assists (6,518), but Nash can do so if he records seven assists at home Monday night against his old team, Dallas.

Nash played sparingly as a rookie and remained a reserve the next year because of Johnson and Jason Kidd.

Johnson saw big-time potential in Nash, a 1996 first-round pick with whom Johnson shared his final full two seasons with the Suns.

"You're as good as anyone I've played against," Nash said Johnson told him at the time. "You have to keep believing in yourself and keep working. You can do all the things all the other great guards can do. You just have to keep practicing, and one day you'll get the opportunity to show it."

Two Most Valuable Player awards and five assists titles (working on six) later, Nash's passing fancy has proved transcendent. Nash is not just the greatest passer in Suns history, he's sixth on the all-time NBA list after the surreal experience of passing his childhood hero, Isiah Thomas, and his early mentor, Gary Payton, last season. Despite all his talent, Nash is not sure where he would be without those words from Johnson.

"Coming from Victoria, B.C., and going to a smaller school (Santa Clara) and playing behind a Hall of Famer (Johnson is a nominee), maybe I did need to really believe in myself because I was always just trying to reach the next level," Nash said. "I was never the chosen one. It was great that he (Johnson) was generous enough to offer that confidence and wisdom.""