Before retiring, Steve Nash tutored Fil-Am Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson

Before announcing his retirement this past weekend, Steve Nash spent the last couple of months at the Los Angeles Lakers practice facility doing what he did best throughout his NBA career: making his teammates better.

 

During that span, he worked with a pair of Lakers youngsters, including Filipino-American rookie Jordan Clarkson, teaching the young guard the finer points of the NBA game.

 

Lakers coach Byron Scott credited those sessions for improving one key aspect of Clarkson's guard game,

 

"His passing has gotten much better,” Scott told ESPN.com. "We always talk about the little pocket pass; he’s starting to make that with ease. You start seeing some of the stuff that Steve is talking with him about. 

 

"Sometimes it’s easier to relate to a player like that than it is to us as coaches, because we’re sitting there saying, ‘The pocket pass is open, Jordan the pocket pass is open.'"

 

Clarkson, for his part, was thankful for the opportunity to work with the two-time Most Valuable Player.

 

"Steve’s been patient," Clarkson said. "Steve’s been real patient. He comes in with a good attitude. We work. Shoot, he’s almost like one of my boys, coming to the gym and working. He’s just got a little more experience and he knows what he’s doing."

 

Nash also offered Clarkson one key piece of advice that should serve the youngster well in his career.

 

"Slow down," said Clarkson, whose mother traces her roots to Pampanga. "That’s it. Just period. Slow down, let the stuff happen. Don’t force it." —JST, GMA News