Baller Steve Nash Scores a Web Video Three-Pointer

As our February cover story ("Transition Game") illustrates, two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash is quite the creative talent off the court as well as on. Since starting a production company a couple of years ago, he's made viral Web shorts for brands like Nike and Vitaminwater and behind-the-scenes clips co-starring his Phoenix Suns.

You'll have to wait until later this year to see his big break, an hour-long documentary for ESPN on Canadian runner Terry Fox. In the meantime, here are some entertaining clips showing Nash the filmmaker in action. (At the end, don’t miss the chance to vote for your favorite):

Nike Commercials

Video 1: Training Day
Realizing that he wouldn't get a blow-it-out shoe campaign like Kobe and LeBron, Nash approached Nike with a low-budget idea in 2007: a Web video highlighting his unconventional, multi-sport off-season workouts in New York. (The Suns must cringe when they see him skateboarding his way around the city). Nash, who had largely avoided the sports branding machinery over the years, wrote the script.

Video 2: The Sixty Million Dollar Man  
After the success of Training Day (300,000+ YouTube views so far), Nash pitched Nike on a Six-Million-Dollar Man spoof. (Technically, his Suns' contract made him a $66 million man at the time). He took even more control. He wrote it, brought in his cousin, Ezra Holland, a London filmmaker, and split the production costs with Nike.

Vitaminwater Commercials

Video 1: Summer Training
The videos, says Nash, "started purely as a creative outlet. Then we worked backwards to come up with a business model." He and Holland formed a production company, Meathawk, which began producing spots for Vitaminwater after he signed an endorsement deal with the company. This one is practically a satire of his earlier "Training Day" spot.

Video 2: HQ
"The creative director title goes to Steve, not us," Rohan Oza, Vitaminwater's CMO, says of these videos. It isn't just that the ads are clever and irreverent, which matches the brand's sensibility. As Nash roams Vitaminwater headquarters here, he highlights the products' attributes while lampooning the typical athlete/pitchman. The company was so pleased that it aired the spot on TV during March Madness last year.

Video 3: Fashionista
If viewers don't get Nash's sarcasm in "HQ," they can't miss it here. He's over the top in mocking the self-importance of fawned-over athletes and celebrities. "Ezra and I have these stupid conversations about stuff all the time and decide to make something from it," Nash says. "That's our creative process--our normal banter."

Nash's Range--From Slapstick to Action Hero