Steve Nash used to be a guy that everyone assumed was really cool, but most of us didn't know all that well.

Then he was pretty well described in Jack McCallum's book "Seven Seconds or Less." And he gave a fascinating Playboy interview.

Then he really leaned hard to make that charity game in Beijing a reality.

It's starting to get easier to get a picture of the man.

In a few days, he'll be in a Men's Journal cover story by Paul Solotaroff (sadly, the whole article is not online).

(We have just been talking about hip hop culture and the NBA, so this passage might pack a little more of a cultural punch than was probably intended, but I think the underlying point about Nash is on point.) Solotaroff writes:

The NBA is known, fairly or not, for superstars who roll five deep; 20-something moguls in tint-glass Maybachs who travel with handlers and hangers-on. But when Nash shows up for a meal in Manhattan, he arrives on foot and on his own at a diner he selected. Clad in his permanent off-the-court ensemble -- baggy gym shorts and a sleeveless tee -- Nash is unadorned by tattoos or diamonds or even a watch.

The effect is austere, even by Canadian standards. Nash is entirely in character. At the press conference to announce his return to Phoenix as a free agent in 2004, he wore a pair of golf shoes, the only non-sneakers he owned.

"Sorry if I kept you," he begins (he is three minutes late), "but I've got two babies at home I have to deal with." He laughs. "Just try getting anywhere on time."  

It may be an act, but I have to tell you, I believe it. I believe he's serious about parenting, and intent on being a certain kind of genuine that celebrities need not trifle with. And I appreciate that he does.

There's also a fun little excerpt, in which Nash and coach D'Antoni tweak each other just a little.

"I say this with the utmost respect for Mike, but he let it happen more than he made it happen; he allowed me to run the show," says Nash. "Most coaches haven't got the guts for that, or they try it for a week, and it looks ugly, so they scrap it. But I can't help it. I have to run, and Mike, to his credit, said, 'Faster.'"

D'Antoni chuckles when I quote Nash back to him. "Well, I did have my style, and we were going to play it, but I got the best guy on the planet to run it for me. As for who's the brains here, hell, I'm retiring the day Steve does, so no one figures out if it was him or me."