Maybe in hindsight, the Nets should have given their open head coaching gig prior to the 2020-21 season to Ime Udoka instead of having him work under Steve Nash.
Udoka and his Celtics staff clearly outwitted the Nets’ brain trust in the first two games of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals that will move to Barclays Center on Saturday. The coaching disparity, with Boston’s defense putting the clamps on Nets superstar Kevin Durant, has been so apparent that it has Nets Nation in an uproar.
Of course, Udoka wasn’t considered a viable option for Durant’s debut season in a Brooklyn uniform alongside chum Kyrie Irving back then—the best Udoka’s connection to Nets General Manager Sean Marks from their days in San Antonio could get him was the third assistant’s chair, behind Jacque Vaughn and Nash whisperer Mike D’Antoni in the pecking order.
When considering Nash, Marks knew he needed someone with a little gravitas, like a Hall of Fame player known for his communication skills, to pique his stars’ sensibilities. But not someone TOO strong such that Marks would feel left out of the collaborative process of the day-to-day management. Someone like Clippers coach Ty Lue, with an NBA championship on his resume, might have different entrenched ideas and staff requirements.
With Nash, whose sole coaching experience since his retirement in 2014 was behind the scenes and not on the sidelines, Marks could be part of the hand-holding while doling out certain jobs to his favored candidates like Udoka, who left the Sixers when Brett Brown (another Spurs alum) was let go.
Udoka was reportedly in charge of the Nets’ defense last season, though it seemed that Nash leaned more on D’Antoni’s switch-everything philosophy than on the multiple twists Udoka has designed so successfully for his Celtics in this series.
Nash, unfortunately, hasn’t come up with solutions to those twists to date and he’s running out of rope. If the Nets, who have been among the favorites to win the championship since the beginning of the season, do indeed fall flat in the first round, all bets are off on Nash’s fate this offseason.
Now, it’s bad form to start digging a grave when the body is alive, and the Nets, despite their appalling late-game execution in their two defeats, still have the opportunity to make this a competitive series, so let’s look at this in a different way.
Prior to this season, I made a few predictions, most of which didn’t pan out. My bad. My last one was that Nash and the Nets will mutually part ways after the season—not in the Kenny Atkinson “You can leave now or wait to be fired after the season” type of mutual decision, but a real agreement between all parties that this isn’t working after two seasons into a reported four-year contract.
This is purely speculation, but I think that’s still a possibility.
Remember, Nash is a family man with multiple interests. Whatever he may think of Brooklyn, he would thrive anywhere, from California to his native Canada. He doesn’t need the money that bad after earning over $100 million in his playing career.
As an intense competitor, Nash, at his introductory press conference, said he saw the Nets as the perfect opportunity, with their loaded roster and a friendly face in Marks having his back, to scratch an itch, something that he had building on his back-burner after his playing days were over. In other words, he probably wouldn’t have taken the Sacramento Kings job if offered. The Nets, though, were his prove-it deal.
As expected, his first season was a bit of a rollercoaster. His game management, especially his penchant for allowing opposing teams’ runs to metastasize without using timeouts, was often problematic. In addition, injuries ensured that the Nets were rarely whole, including after the blockbuster trade with Houston for James Harden, so the team relied more on its overwhelming offensive talent than on any identity Nash cultivated.
Still, I think most would agree that bad luck—injuries to Irving and Harden, Durant’s oversized toenail, etc.—was primarily responsible for prematurely ending Brooklyn’s season in the second round, not Nash. Hey, that’s life in the NBA. Through it all, I got the sense that Nash was ready to shake off any disappointment and looked forward to this season when he could start fresh.
Obviously, everything went sideways from Day 1 of training camp. No need to rehash it all in detail—Irving’s selfish decision to not get the COVID-19 vaccine, Harden’s frustrations that led to his passive-aggressive pursuit of an exit to Philadelphia, and the deluge of injuries—but the point is that you could see it on Nash’s face during his press conferences as the season wore on that this was no longer fun for him.
This was not the team he expected to coach, short on size (some of that is on Nash with his small-ball obsession) AND shooting. They simply weren’t good, needing to beat four teams in the lottery (and needing KD and Kyrie to average over 40 minutes per game in those contests to squeak by) just to finish in seventh place at 44-38 and secure a home game in the play-in round.
Now that they’re in the playoffs, there hasn’t been a switch to turn on. The defense plays well in short spurts but doesn’t give consistent effort and too often appears like they don’t know what scheme they’re supposed to be playing. Most importantly, it seems like Nash has lost control of his stars, who stubbornly dribble into crowds and take high-degree-of-difficulty shots instead of moving the ball like Nash’s old Suns teams. It worked for the most part in the regular season, but the playoffs—and Udoka’s variety packages on D--have been a different ballgame.
I have to believe that if this series doesn’t end well, you’ll start hearing the deflections emanating from leakers. “Nash had no plan.” “Nash can’t cut it.” Etc. Rarely do superstar athletes shoulder the full blame for any underachievement. Look at the Lakers—anyone think 2020 champion Frank Vogel forgot how to coach or was their demise more about how putting Russell Westbrook and a bunch of old guys into that mix was poison? In the end, we know who got the pink slip.
Given the long relationship between Marks and Nash, I think it’s more likely that their service agreement will conclude in a more civil manner. But I’m still predicting it will end.
"This was not the team he expected to coach, short on size (some of that is on Nash with his small-ball obsession) AND shooting. They simply weren’t good, needing to beat four teams in the lottery (and needing KD and Kyrie to average over 40 minutes per game in those contests to squeak by) just to finish in seventh place at 44-38 and secure a home game in the play-in round."
Perhaps the proof was in the pudding and our stomachs are no longer capable of tolerating this dish. Perhaps we cannot see the full potential of this group with Ben Simmons doing his best Anthony Davis impression. I'm gonna lean toward the latter.
We lost Game 1 by one and lead by 17 in Game 2. I am concerned about Nash's ability to coach this team thru a tumultuous 7-game series against this Celtics' team. I've convinced myself thru mostly hope and happy thoughts that KD will regain his efficiency and lead us to a WIN in Game 3.
My prediction is Nets in SIX. One Ben Simmons returns, we will not lose another game to the Celtics. Game 3 will determine whether or not Sean Marks will coerce Nash to quit - it's the last test before getting the answer key to the rest of the test