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Steve Nash took the razor blade and ever so carefully began scraping away the excess paint on the windows of the little bungalow on Lizardi Street in the Holy Cross section of the lower Ninth Ward, one of the areas devastated by flooding after hurricane Katrina.

Nash, along with a heavy-hitting roster of his NBA all-star squad teammates, including Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh, spent yesterday afternoon painting and scraping a small gathering of homes edging closer to being livable again, 30 months after the disaster had levelled the already challenged neighbourhood east of the city's tourist district.

It was raining. And you didn't have to go far to see vacant lots where homes had been bulldozed or others where flood and then fire had left crumbled husks that are many months and many thousands of dollars away from being places to live again.

If you listened carefully, you could here the sound of water dropping in a bucket in between Nash's scrapes or Bosh's enthusiastic use of a roller — no ladders or extensions required — to paint walls of the bedrooms inside the same house.

But the Victoria-raised Nash is a veteran of charitable endeavours and firmly believes an afternoon visit and a little elbow grease can make a difference, even in a place where so much work needs to be done.

"Someone has to do these kind of tedious jobs, it might as well be us," the Phoenix Suns' point guard said. "When you see the devastation that's here, it's hard to believe it's been 21/2 years, but hopefully by us coming here, we can raise some awareness and get the message out that this city still needs help."

The NBA has always prided itself on its service role. Since launching NBA Cares in 2005 — the league's community outreach initiative — it has raised $62-million for charitable causes and NBA people have contributed 450,000 hours of volunteer service.

Yesterday, the league was able to enlist the help of 2,500 volunteers to participate in 10 service projects across New Orleans.

NBA commissioner David Stern set the tone this time last year, when the viability of the storm-ravaged city as a site for the league's midseason showcase was still in question.

He left no doubt the all-star game would be here, and the league would do its part to contribute to the recovery of community hosting the event — though he seemed to resent that more was being done elsewhere.

"Politics and government are not our beat," Stern said at the time. "[But] it sure would be nice to see a plan, almost unrelated to basketball, completely unrelated to basketball, to deal with the issues for the people of New Orleans … because it really is not going to be that much fun to be there if progress hasn't been made.

"You take your guests on tours of areas that have been devastated and where it seems like very, very little has been done. We don't understand it."

A year later and Stern is hardly alone.

Just a few blocks from where Nash and his fellow all-stars were painting, Roy Dillon was finishing up brake work on a pickup in the shop he built behind his house on St. Claude Crescent.

Like nearly everyone in this neighbourhood just a few hundred metres from where a levee broke, Dillon was displaced for months. Unlike many of his neighbours, he moved back.

He rebuilt his home with the help of a $26,000 insurance settlement and 13 separate trips from Georgia, where he was staying with relatives, to do the renovation and construction work himself.

His home is finished, but the low-rise apartments across the street are still vacant. Dillon's never been reimbursed the $250 he spent to get his building permit from the City of New Orleans.

He's an NBA fan, but he's not convinced the NBA's good works are making a big splash in his community. He sees the commotion a few blocks over and compares it with his own quiet, and still largely deserted, street and wonders whether the bucket is too big, no matter how many celebrity rain drops fall.

"Everyone needs an outlet and the game is fun," Dillon said. "But the day after you go back to your FEMA trailer, same old usual."