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Story of a Shattered Dream: How Steve Nash’s Time as Brooklyn Nets Coach Turned into Punishment

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Is NBA coach It’s the highest pinnacle a star can aspire to when his best days on the court are behind him. Nothing compares to the excitement and intensity that a match produces when you’re on the court, but directing from the sidelines is the closest thing to it. There are those who for one reason or another cannot live without competition and others who feel they still have a lot to offer in basketball. And the best way to do that is to lead a team to success. train two term Hall of Fame in its entirety it would be every technician’s dream, but there are times when a gift can quickly become poisoned and Steve Nash paid dearly for the audacity to enter the difficult world of team management.

758 days. That’s how long Nash’s experience at the helm of the Brooklyn Nets lasted. A journey in which the two-time MVP has had experiences that would last two or three coaching careers. And it is that there are five years in which nothing happens within a franchise and seasons in which everything happens and will happen.

The vast majority of players who experienced the 2020 Orlando bubble highlighted how complicated this emergency experiment was, but Few could have guessed how the world would change in the next year and a half.. The NBA did everything it could to maintain a normalcy that would never have been the same before the cancellation. began a thorough health protocol which completely changed the off-field life of the team members, the fans stayed away from the fields for a long time and the internal relations were, to say the least, strange.

Just 15 days after taking over as coach, Nash faced his first Nets crisis: Kyrie Irving had skipped protocol. The January 7, 2021 the point guard claimed personal motivations to miss gathering with the team. “I texted him half an hour ago and he still hasn’t responded. But I’m thinking of him and I hope he’s okay.” the coach revealed to the media before the first of 7 straight games he would lose.

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The league’s policy on absences for personal reasons is based on respecting the privacy of the players, as it could not be otherwise. The problem is that Kyrie took it upon himself to expose his secret publicly, making it clear that their reasons were perhaps not sufficiently reasoned.

After the controversial return of the Australian-born escort the framework had changed, now there were not two but three stars, the last James stiffenswhose desire to win a ring had led him to forced out of the Houston Rockets bound for Brooklyn.

Steve Nash answered the challenge with great skill and despite all the setbacks the team suffered in the form of injuries. Irving has missed 10 more games since January 2021, Harden another 23, while Durant has missed the most with 34. And despite all these circumstances, if it wasn’t a “normal” season, the team with led by the Canadian succeeded the best offense in NBA history with an offensive ratio of 117.3.

The Playoffs were another story, but one that followed the same lines as in the Regular Phase: injuries, injuries and more injuries. Without Harden at full strength and having lost Irving in Game 4 of the Finals, the Nets were inches away from Durant leading the pack to the Conference Finals and, who knows, a ring.

Nonetheless, there ended the Nash-led project’s honeymoon.

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Weeks after the deletion was reported Kyrie Irving’s refusal to get vaccinated against COVID-19, which along with New York State legislation caused this to be left out of the rotation by team decision. Nash navigated the waters deftly, at least until Kevin Durant’s injury in January. At that point, with only Harden and KNN, without Irving or Harris (injured), the Brooklyn Nets were in 2nd place in the East, 2 wins from the top of the Conference.

The infamous part-time reintroduction of the #11 player and KD’s misfortune led Harden to force the trade, tired of a meaningless dynamic for the former MVP. Then the most absolute abyss. They crashed out in the Play-Ins and were swept by the opposition they had beaten less than a year later.

The following months and everything that happened are part of NBA history. His injury Ben Simmonsthe transfer request duringhow Irving pulled strings with his extension or KD’s reported attempt to fire Sean Marks and/or Steve Nash. Very.

The ensuing circumstances and controversies that have surrounded the team from July 2021 until now have ended up wearing down one of the most brilliant minds to ever take to the field. A Nash who should have worried more about all of this extra sports noise rather than how to resolve team inconsistency at the game level. Whether it was due to a lack of experience, a loss of confidence in the locker room after recent events, or because the Canadian didn’t want to continue in the Brooklyn circus, the 48-year-old coach’s trip to New York has come to an end.

Very few in the NBA are or have been masters of their fate. Only a privileged few had at their disposal to choose where and how to continue their path. Steve Nash belongs (now, belonged) to this group.

The Canadian wanted to make the jump to the bench as a coach, a decision she weighed and pondered, but it wasn’t until the lockdown due to the pandemic that it definitely kicked in. With the Orlando bubble inching ever closer, Steve Nash called his old friend, Sean Marks, now general general of Nets. Both had a long history. Together they had shared all kinds of experiences in Phoenix, which led to a friendship that transcended the game. Each out of season They had a good time with each other, to the point of knowing each other as two very close friends.

Nash was looking for an assistant coaching position and ended up finding it as a head coach. A jump whose speed scared even the Canadian, who expressed his doubts to Marx. I was ready; It didn’t matter (it doesn’t matter now) the answer. The opportunity was unique, and wasting it was a risk he might regret for the rest of his life.

Sean Mark he had built the Brooklyn Nets from the ashes in record time, and the addition of Steve Nash was to be the final piece of a puzzle destined to dominate the NBA. Management and property wanted to see the Canadian as their next Steve Kerr his special version of the Golden State Warriors, but neither is Kevin Durant Stephen Curry nor is Kyrie Irving Klay Thompson. And now, Steve Nash has made it clear that he couldn’t be the new Kerr either.

The term civilization It has recently been used in the NBA to the point where it has lost almost all of the meaning it once had. Culture refers to a set of values, defended and represented by all its members, who always follow the same line. The power of this ecosystem lies in the fact that when the stars leave, civilization will overtake them. Brooklyn wanted to burn stadiums by adding the biggest constellation of stars they could get, but they got it wrong in their execution, ignoring the importance of the human factor. ONE human factor that through ignorance, incompetence or motivation Steve Nash was unable to rally and lead to make the Nets the championship team everyone expected.

In his 758 days on the job, the two-time MVP has been the manager of one of the most interesting and exciting sports teams of the last decade. Some Brooklyn Nets who, in that time, haven’t won more than one round of the Playoffs and made two trades whose long-term impact remains to be seen.

Steve Nash’s journey as head of the Barclays Center bench has come to an end. and the project?

The views expressed here do not necessarily represent the NBA or its organizations.

Source: Sporting News

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