Steve Nash has properly opened up on his stint as an NBA coach with the Brooklyn Nets from 2020 to 2022, revealing how he got thrust into the position and how he struggled to adjust to managing all the personalities on the team.
“I hadn’t planned to coach, there was a unique situation in Brooklyn that knocked on my door. It was a quick transition. You deal with a different dynamic. A lot of it is managing personalities, between front offices, players, and agents. That’s a huge component of my job. All the dynamics, personalities, and power that the players hold nowadays.”
Nash was also disappointed by the impersonal nature of coaching in the NBA, as he wanted to foster individual relationships with everyone but failed to get the time necessary to build the same.
“I was surprised when I coached, you’re not in the team that much. You have five minutes with players before the game, at halftime, and after the game. Those are the only times when you address the team. I wanted to connect with every player individually. It’s important to build a culture and an environment where people believe and see them be their best. You need to feel that you want them to become the best version of themselves”
Nash hasn’t come close to returning to the NBA as a head coach since he was fired from the Nets. He had a 94-67 record on the Nets as coach, leading the trio of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving. Nash had shown promise on the court, leading the Nets to their best chance at a title in the 2021 Playoffs before injuries caused them to fall apart.
He failed at managing the massive personalities on the team, clearly having a major disconnect with Kyrie in particular. It seemed his authority wasn’t truly respected in the locker room as Nash would get pushed out before the start of the 2022-23 season. Irving and Durant would get traded before the end of the season, so the Nets imploded under the Nash era.
The reasons weren’t all on the two-time MVP, as injuries and vaccine mandates played a major role in their issues. But that experience was enough for Nash to know he doesn’t want to return to coaching in the NBA.
“Coaching was a great experience, I didn’t want to be a career coach. I don’t think coaching was about to be my career. I’m coaching my kids, teaching them life. I earned the opportunity to choose, and that’s rewarding, There are always projects, affiliates, and partnerships. I always have something going on, I’m focused on my family”
The Nets are a bonafide tanking franchise now under new head coach Jordi Fernandez. They made massive trade deals this summer to send Mikal Bridges to the Knicks while re-acquiring their future first-round picks from the Rockets to possibly land Cooper Flagg in the 2025 Draft Lottery.
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