The Brooklyn Nets surprised everybody when news broke that they were hiring Steve Nash as their new head coach. The legendary point guard was sought after for a coaching job ever since he called it quit in 2015.
It took five years for the Phoenix Suns legend to finally accept one coaching job and he’s now set to coach one of the most exciting teams for next year. With Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant leading the project, Nash will put his hands on one team with a lot of things to give but also plenty of expectations. That’s why some people consider this was a bad move for the Nets since Nash doesn’t have any prior coaching experience.
One of the most vocal figures about this was ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith, who didn’t hold anything back and called this signing ‘white privilege’ since Nash has zero experience as a coach and the Nets snubbed black coaches that had proven their value in the league.
“This does not happen for a black man. No experience whatsoever? On any level as a coach? And you get the Brooklyn Nets job? I know that Kyrie [Irving] and KD (Kevin Durant) have both signed on this. I know they both support this move. But I’m thinking about a champion that is Ty Lue, passed up. I’m thinking about a guy who built the foundation for the Golden State Warriors in Marc Jackson, passed up. I’m thinking about the years that Sam Cassell has served as an assistant, first in the nation’s capital in D.C. and now with the Los Angeles Clippers, passed up.
It’s for a guy — my guy, one of the best guys you could possibly meet in your life and may do a fantastic job. But a guy that has no experience whatsoever, in these times where we’re making all of this noise about social justice — I got news of y’all. I have said this to people on numerous occasions, right here on this show: Yes, that was the tipping point, George Floyd’s killing, his murder. Violence against black men who are unarmed, all of that stuff is true, but the frustration, the protest and all of these things that you’ve seen in the streets throughout America terminating from the black community and the disenfranchised communities is that proverbial glass ceiling and the fact that it breeds a level of frustration that we can’t even put into words sometimes, you just wanna scream.
Wanna scream to the high heavens, ‘How the hell does this always happen for somebody else other than us? Why do we have to be twice as good to get half as much? Why is it that no matter what we do and how hard we work and how we go through the process and the terrain of everything, somehow, someway, there’s another excuse to ignore that criteria? To ignore those credentials and instead bypass it and make an exception to the rule for someone other than us. So I’m depressed right now because I have to bring that up.”
I love Steve Nash! But……. pic.twitter.com/lo73hhoM0q
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) September 3, 2020
Well, Nash has a big relationship with Kevin Durant; they spent some time together in the Bay when both were part of the Golden State Warriors organization. That surely played a key role in the signing. Durant will be the leader of this team and you know how hard things can be when he doesn’t feel comfortable with the people around him.
He and especially Kyrie have been very outspoken when it comes to racial injustices. So it’s crazy to think that two guys that are all about racial equality gave Nash a free pass thanks to his ‘white privilege.’ It’s crazy to see that everything has become racial at any level, but that’s just the way things are in the US right now.
