Steve Nash has saved a decidedly low profile for the reason that Nets fired him. However the 50-year-old pulled again the curtain a bit on his keep in Brooklyn, and what shocked him about his failed teaching stint.
Handed a possible super-team with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in 2020, Nash was finally let go in November 2022 regardless of a 94-67 document.
Having by no means even been an assistant earlier than that, Nash admitted just lately that the job wasn’t in any respect what he’d anticipated.
“I used to be shocked after I coached, you’re not within the group that a lot,” Nash advised Eurohoops. “You may have 5 minutes with gamers earlier than the sport, at halftime, and after the sport. These are the one occasions while you tackle the group.
“I needed to attach with each participant individually. It’s necessary to construct a tradition and an atmosphere the place individuals consider and see them be their greatest. You might want to really feel that you really want them to develop into the most effective model of themselves.”
Nash was talking in Slovenia at a retirement occasion for Goran Dragic, who performed behind Nash as some extent guard in Phoenix after which below him in Brooklyn in 2022.
Dragic, who’d been schooled within the vaunted Warmth tradition in Miami, has made feedback prior to now about how tough his time with the Nets was as a result of the franchise appeared extra involved with pacifying stars than profitable.
Irving, who’d stated shortly after Nash’s hiring that he didn’t see the Nets as having a head coach, repeatedly blew off his play calls.
Nash, a Corridor of Fame level guard, had been accustomed to main profitable groups as a ground common. However he discovered attempting to guide robust personalities from the bench a completely totally different job.
“A very powerful factor is, to be sincere with the gamers, you may ship that in numerous methods,” stated Nash. “It’s necessary to be clear and sincere with gamers in order that they’re not not sure. Communication is the important thing.
“The straightforward half for me was being comfy with my management function, main by instance. What is definitely tough from a training perspective is that it’s a completely totally different management. Once you’re teaching you must lead in smaller moments.”
Nash was lured to Brooklyn in September 2020 by common supervisor Sean Marks, his longtime buddy from their taking part in days.
Marks had tried to get him to affix the Nets group earlier than, and saved providing higher and higher positions till lastly the chance to develop into a head coach was simply too good for Nash to move up.
“I hadn’t deliberate to educate, there was a novel state of affairs in Brooklyn that knocked on my door,” Nash stated. “It was a fast transition. You take care of a distinct dynamic. Loads of it’s managing personalities, between entrance places of work, gamers and brokers. That’s an enormous element of my job. All of the dynamics, personalities, and energy that the gamers maintain these days.”
After Durant tried to get Nash fired in the summertime of 2022, Nets proprietor Joe Tsai refused.
However the Nets let him go simply seven video games into the following season, have since fired successor Jacque Vaughn and in addition interim coach Kevin Ollie.
Jordi Fernandez will start his first season as Nets coach in October.
