AP Photo/Hakim Wright Sr.
Assuming the Brooklyn Nets are unable to reverse a 3-0 series deficit, head coach Steve Nash may not be the scapegoat for the team’s elimination in the first round of the NBA playoffs.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported Monday that he spoke to a source who said Nash “will likely avoid being made management’s fall guy for the Nets’ humiliating playoff shows, noting how much madness ( and frankly, absurdity) stuck in the former Hall of Famer, point guard in his second season as head coach.”
According to Stein, Nash doesn’t appear to have lost the trust of two key figures within the organization – Governor Joe Tsai and star Kevin Durant:
“My personal feeling is that Nets owner Joe Tsai is far too impulsive and unpredictable to read how he will react to a one-sided fall on the first lap. Nash landed the Nets’ job with no prior coaching experience, largely because he had the support of Kevin Durant as well as the gravitas of leading a team being built around the volatile Durant and Kyrie Irving. There is – yet – no evidence circulating that suggests Nash is in any kind of danger… as long as he retains the support of Tsai and (more importantly) Durant.”
Usually when a team experiences the kind of disappointment Brooklyn is all but destined to suffer this year, someone gets fired.
From the moment Durant was healthy enough to pass, it was a championship or bust mentality for the Nets, and James Harden’s acquisition last season cemented those lofty goals. Now the franchise may have little to show for KD’s first two years on the pitch.
In such situations, a change of coach is made because that is the easiest lever.
Frank Vogel didn’t really deserve to be fired for the 11th place Los Angeles Lakers, but what else should the organization do when it’s so closely associated with the current roster?
The nets have the same dilemma to some extent.
Trading for Harden meant doubling down on a star-laden side, and flipping him for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond and draft picks might have made them even worse off.
Nickwright @getnickwright
A staggering number of my colleagues called the Harden-Simmons swap a clear victory for *the Nets*. I know this because it’s my guy @AdamLefkoe almost drove me insane.
Harden didn’t even play well & it’s a complete defeat towards the Sixers.
They’re committed with Durant and Irving Pot, the latter is it to become eligible a free agent.
Breaking up the KD-Kyrie partnership is unlikely to happen. It’s difficult to imagine a scenario where Brooklyn would have Irving signed elsewhere, or do a sign-and-trade where it would receive equal value in return.
Unless the staff on the pitch can be dramatically reshuffled, one plan of attack for 2022-23 is to hope another manager can get something different out of the players.
bomani @bomani_jones
For three seasons, this experiment was an undeniable failure. someone will pay for it. someone *has* to pay for it. Maybe it’s sad for Nash, but it has to be him. there’s no other possibility. https://t.co/AJoZqvH4MX
That would undoubtedly be an unfair result for Nash.
The 48-year-old wasn’t responsible for the Harden trade, the ongoing Simmons saga, or for Irving’s decision not to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which left Brooklyn without one of its best players for much of this season.
The whole idea of driving Durant and Irving to a championship might have been flawed from the start. Durant suffered a serious Achilles injury and is not getting any younger. Irving, on the other hand, has struggled with injuries throughout his career. He missed the final three games of the conference semifinals last year with a sprained ankle.
Stein described the 2021/22 campaign as an “organizational failure,” which accurately describes the totality of blame that needs to be dispelled.
If Nash is retained, one wonders what changes Brooklyn will make — no matter how small — because maintaining the status quo could be a recipe for disaster.