The Brooklyn Nets offseason begins, and the first name to keep an eye on is that of the head coach, Steve Nash. Following unceremonious endings, especially first-round sweeps, an NBA head coach is often made the fall guy. But Kevin Durant will have a significant say in that matter in Brooklyn, and he may not think Nash deserves to be canned just yet.
"C'mon man. Yeah. Like, Steve has been dealt a crazy hand the last two years. He been had to deal with so much stuff as a HC… I'm proud of how he focused, and his passion for us."
-Durant was asked if Steve Nash is still the right guy to lead the #Nets next year. pic.twitter.com/07Y0bkHpAY
— DaveEarly (@DavidEarly) April 26, 2022
After being eliminated, Durant was asked pointblank if Nash is still the best guy for the job.
“C'mon man,” Durant said, hinting he didn't even think the question or the timing of it was fair. “Yeah. Like, Steve has been dealt a crazy hand the last two years. He been had to deal with so much stuff as a head coach, first time coach. Trades, injuries, COVID, just a lot of stuff he had to deal with and I'm proud of how he focused, and his passion for us. We all continue to keep developing over the summer and see what happens.”
For KD, it was more of the same.
Back on Apr. 9, Durant backed his coach. “I think he's done a great job. The last 2 years he's been dealt a wild hand. Injuries, trades, disgruntled players, guys in and out the lineup, stuff that he can't control and I felt like he handled it as best as he could,” said Durant.
Now, just because he endorsed Nash heading into the playoffs doesn't mean we can take that as gospel. There was no incentive for Durant to criticize his coach heading into a monster offseason with legacies on the line. Still, KD is a real one. And one gets the sense he would have found a way to answer the question without heaping on too much charm if he didn't really feel it. And now that he's doubled down after the playoffs, we can begin to take reports like this one even more seriously.
According to Marc Stein, via Substack newsletter:
“One source close to the situation told me over the weekend that he thinks Nash is likely to avoid being rendered management’s fall guy for the Nets’ meek playoff showing, noting how much madness (and, frankly, absurdity) that the former Hall of Fame point guard faced during his second season as a head coach.”
Nash now has two full seasons under his belt and, fair or not, some fans are calling for his firing. Charges lobbied at the Hall of Fame point guard pinpoint his stoic demeanor, something that worked well for him as a player, remaining calm and poised helps you run a team under pressure, but fans like to see more sideline fire from their coach apparently.
Fans have accused him of not using his best lineups. Blake Griffin's emergence when finally inserted in the final two games (after not playing since early Apr.) suggests Nash struggled to optimize the Nets' rotations. Fans have also criticized the Nets for their offense, having too many unforced turnovers stemming from uncreative isolation offense.
But, Durant makes a valid point that it's largely unfair to judge Nash too harshly because of how much has gone wrong. This team was literally a toe away from knocking off the reigning champs, the Bucks. If the Nets made the championship a year ago, we'd have been a lot more forgiving of this season with so many key players unavailable to Nash. The Celtics being near full strength and the Nets being without Joe Harris and Ben Simmons were unfortunate blows that were not in Nash's control.
On the other hand, wondering if there's not a clear cut upgrade who might become available to Joe Tsai and Sean Marks is fair too. You don't have to give Nash another chance just because you're not sure how to grade him. If there's a clear better option available in the offseason, it wouldn't be shocking to see the Nets pursue them.
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