The History of 7 Seconds or Less

Here’s how the 7 Seconds or Less system was developed.

Apr 25, 2025

Steve Nash and the 2005 Phoenix Suns were revolutionary.

They sped up their game, ran a small lineup, had success doing it (led the league with 62 wins that season), and then, after a few seasons, teams copied them in some way.

Whether teams were using a 6-7 small forward at the 4, running a fast-paced offence, spacing the floor with a 1-in-4-out system, or switching on defence, it was all influenced by the Suns.

Many commentators and fans have even credited modern basketball to that team.

So, it’s kinda crazy to learn that the 7 Seconds or Less offence was born from a pick-up basketball game.

On the Mind the Game podcast, Nash told LeBron James that then-Suns coach Mike D’Antoni saw the team play pick-up during training camp and felt it would be a mistake to slow down the team.

“Mike [D’Antoni] had a great feel for the game especially offensively…he knows the game inside and out but what I loved about Mike was he was willing to go away from what everyone else was doing,” Nash said. “When I signed with Phoenix -2004- as a free agent, came back, started playing pick-up with the guys in September and I think Mike realized there. You know, it was a team that hadn’t won many games, had some young guys Shawn [Marion] and Amar’e [Stoudemire], obviously great athletes. Joe Johnson was developing into a terrific player. And I think he saw us playing pick-up basketball and is like, ‘Why would I slow this down and get into sets that are going to make them less effective than opening this up? Let’s put Amar’e at the five. Let’s put Shawn at the four. Let’s switch a lot more. We’ll find a way to use our quickness to defend in different ways and we’ll outscore people.”

As a result, Nash won back-to-back MVP titles in ‘05 and ‘06, as well as leading the Suns to three Western Conference Finals.

However, they weren’t able to get over the hump either of these times and I think it’s because they were ahead of their time.

The Suns were small during an era of dominant traditional bigs and fast during a time that favoured half-court play.

Wanna learn how to play basketball?

If yes, then you should check out my eBook, This Book Will Teach You How to Play Basketball.

With this eBook, you’ll learn the fundamentals of the game and how to practice them.

Click here to check it out at my store.

Or here to view it on Amazon.

Now, back to the article…

Teams Imitating The Suns

Regardless, D’Antoni’s out-of-the-box thinking became the blueprint for many successful teams, most notably the Golden State Warriors.

Golden State, whose head coach is Steve Kerr, the Suns’ former GM, took key elements from the Suns’ playbook and combined them with the San Antonio Spurs, a team he won two NBA championships with.

He used the Suns’ 7 Second or Less offence and small lineup, and the Spurs’ ball movement and off-ball movement to develop one of the most dangerous playbooks during the mid-2010s.

This led the Warriors to win 4 NBA championships between 2014 and 2022.

Additionally, the early 2010 Miami Heat -the Heatles- also stole elements from this Suns’ team.

According to LeBron, Miami copied the Suns by shrinking their lineup and moving Chris Bosh, a power forward, to center so they could have a faster pace.

“And then you, [Steve Nash], went into Phoenix and changed the whole -‘two bigs? No. One big. I need one rim roller or one guy that can sprint down the floor and beat everybody down…’ And we adapted that in Miami when Bosh became the five.”

As a result, the Heat won back-to-back NBA titles in 2012 and 2013.

This brings me to this question: Had the 05 Suns played during this era, how successful would they be? How Many rings would they have?

Read These Articles

Watch This Video

Throwback: Darius Miles Score 47 OFF THE BENCH

The Old Man Game Newsletter

Discussion about this post