The Nets lost 118-124 at home to the Nuggets, were overtaken by the Cavaliers, and fell to fourth place in the East, with only half a win advantage left over the current sixth-placed 76ers.
From the championship top spot before the start of the season to the struggle to achieve just 6 wins and 10 losses in the past 16 games, the Nets' performance is clearly disappointing. So far, however, head coach Steve Nash still seems to be quite stable.
Nash's ability as a coach has proven to match his reputation as a player, but why does the Nets always cling to the lack of talent and refuse to give him up?
Is Nash a good coach?
First of all, the Nets' record struggle is not Nash's fault alone.
Since the start of the season, the Nets have had a variety of bad luck: first Irving refused to be vaccinated and could not play, Harden was trapped by the rules to adjust the start of the slow heat, Harris sprained ankle only played 14 games and has not yet returned to the uncertain date, Griffin's three-point feeling is all lost, and recently Durant has strained the medial collateral ligament of his left knee may have to rest until after All-Star Weekend... All of this is not a problem that the coach can solve.
Today's game, the Big Three can not play for different reasons, but the Nets who played in the remnants of the game still played back and forth with the opponent for most of the game, even leading by 11 points at the end of the half, although the final loss, but not unacceptable.
However, the excellent performance of the "role players" in this game just shows that Nash is not without available soldiers, but it sets off his "rigidity" in employment arrangements and on-site scheduling at some time before.
Take, for example, the Nets' 104-118 home loss to the Grizzlies on Jan. 4, which was worse than the final 14-point deficit. The Nets trailed from the first minute until the end of the game, with a point difference of 28 points on the court. Durant said in a post-match interview that the team had problems at both ends of the attack and defense, and what he failed to say was that Nash's on-the-spot command was also very problematic.
In that game, Nash still insisted on the 8-man rotation in the first three quarters despite the whole passive situation. It wasn't until 9:24 minutes before the finale, when the Nets trailed by 27 points into "garbage time," that he replaced several rookies. As a result, several young people dared to fight after playing, which made the final score less ugly.
Nets reporter Billy Reinhardt complained on social media at the time that Nash was too slow to react on the spot: "I really don't understand how Steve Nash can watch his team trail 25 points in the third quarter and still insist on the same 8-man rotation." In this case, you have to make changes to try to find some sparks. ”
Under Reinhardt's tweet, some fans responded: "Before the season collapses completely, [Nets general manager] Max has to figure out if Nash is his true destiny." Whether the game is won or lost, his performance is always bad. He's awful suspension, bad substitutions, bad adjustments, and a bad ability to motivate the team. ”
The fan's evaluation is obviously exaggerated, Nash is certainly not so useless, as one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, his understanding of tactics and his leadership are beyond doubt. But great players don't have to be great coaches. Nash has a certain coaching ability, and he can become a good coach, and it can't be confused with it.
In fact, the Nets' decision to hire Nash, who has no experience as a head coach in 2020, was controversial at the time. With two superstars, Durant and Irving (later traded to Harden), the Nets' only goal is the championship, and Nash, as a "rookie", can lead the team to achieve this goal, which is very doubtful.
When Nash decided to take on the Nets manager's job, he also brought his mentor Mike D'Antoni to his coaching staff, which largely compensated for his lack of experience. However, D'Antoni, who is over seventy years old, is not satisfied with just being an assistant coach, and chose to leave after assisting Nash for a season. As a result, Nash's lack of ability as a head coach quickly became apparent.
While the Nets won a lot of games with durant's MVP-caliber performance before his injury, they couldn't win against the really strong teams in the top four in the East and West. And Durant, who had previously experienced a serious injury to the Achilles tendon rupture, was overly dependent, and the playing time was high, and even Nash himself admitted that "this is not the way to go", and as a result, as soon as the voice fell, Durant was injured.
Simply put, the Nets' overall record before Durant's injury was barely acceptable, but given the level of talent they have (even considering Irving's condition), Nash's lack of ability as a manager will obviously become a short board on the team's road to the championship. So why did the Nets delay in making a decision to change the coach?
Why wouldn't the Nets give up Nash?
The reason why the Nets are reluctant to give up Nash is mainly due to two major problems.
The first is the attitude of the core players. Recently, jack Fisher, a sports journalist in the open-air stands, reported that Harden was considering jumping out of his contract to leave the Nets this offseason, which mentioned that some sources broke the news that Harden was dissatisfied with Nash's rotation. However, Nash himself was later interviewed and responded to this, saying that he and Harden had a good relationship and doubted the authenticity of the report.
Whether Harden is dissatisfied with Nash, it is difficult to distinguish whether it is true or false, and the extent of dissatisfaction is even more unverifiable. More crucially, the other superstar of this team, and their real boss, Durant, has a good personal relationship with Nash.
Nash served as a player development consultant for the Warriors before taking over the Nets coaching whip, and established a good personal relationship with Durant at that time. During that time, Nash, a member of the NBA's "180 Club", personally directed Durant's shooting, and the two trained together in the offseason and participated in the show together, and the relationship was very close.
Nash later publicly supported Durant even when he chose to leave the Warriors, saying at the time: "Kevin is a thoughtful man who constantly pushes himself to find anything that will satisfy and excite him." I think this part of his heart was underestimated, and after three years he chose to leave for the same reasons as when he first came here. ”
Durant's personality is very different from Jordan and Kobe Bryant, and the way he leads the team as a home star is relatively gentle, this time his good brother Irving has caused a great drag on the team because of the vaccine storm, but from beginning to end, he has not said a word seriously. Similarly, although Nash may have some shortcomings in his coaching role as the team's manager, we will not see Durant complaining about anything.
And, even if Nash is replaced, will the Nets be able to find a more suitable candidate?
Maybe it's not difficult to find a head coach with stronger overall ability than Nash, but the Nets' goal is a championship. Taking over a team with multiple superstars in the middle of the season, quickly completing the transformation, and overcoming injuries, vaccine policies and other unfavorable factors, winning the championship that season, such a difficult task, the ability of the coach is extremely demanding, looking at the entire history of the NBA, I am afraid that only a few people such as Phil Jackson can give people similar confidence.
To give you an example: If the Nets could bring back D'Antoni to take nash's head coaching position, would he be able to lead the team to the championship? At least from his past coaching resume, there is no such conclusion.
Combined with the above, the Nets may not have moved the idea of changing the coach, but all kinds of helplessness make them choose to maintain the status quo for the time being.
Are there any other ways the Nets can do this?
If the Nets decide to continue playing this season under Nash, are there other ways they can increase the team's chances of success?
Perhaps, they can refer to last season's successful experience and re-recruit an experienced veteran coach as an assistant coach to make up for Nash's lack of personal ability.
Another reason the Nets continue to hold on to their trust in Nash is that they were infinitely close to success last season. In the regular season last season, in the case of injuries in turn with the Big Three, the Nets still played the first offensive efficiency in history, and finally trailed the 76ers by only one win, ranking second in the East.
In the playoffs, the Nets easily passed the first round 4-1. Facing the bucks in the second round, harden was injured after only 45 seconds of playing in the first game, but the Nets still won the first two games cleanly. It wasn't until later that Irving also sprained his ankle and withdrew from the series early, and Harden forced a comeback that he was obviously out of shape, and they fought with each other for seven games, and finally regretted being out after overtime.
While D'Antoni's departure this season has clearly had an impact on the Nets, no one knows what will happen before the playoffs begin. Instead of firing Nash and embracing new uncertainty, they would consider reinforcing their coaching staff on the basis of the original.
Remember the 2018-19 season, the Rockets' meritorious defensive assistant coach Jeff Butzdrick retired for a while, resulting in the team's defensive collapse, 1 win and 5 losses to start. After the coach went and returned, the team's performance immediately rebounded, and Harden should be familiar with this story.
D'Antoni would have been Nash's best assistant, but apparently he wouldn't be eating this bite of turning back grass again. Other historical masters, such as Zen master, Karl, Adelman, etc., because of age and fame, it is impossible to re-emerge for a teaching assistant position. However, the following experienced former NBA head coaches are worth considering with the Nets:
Former Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts was fired last summer for failing to lead the team to a breakthrough, and although he is not a championship-level coach, his coaching experience of more than a thousand games can make up for Nash's biggest shortcomings. And he also has his own experience on how to use the super scorer.
Scott Brooks is another potential candidate, he has coached the Thunder for 7 seasons, is Durant and Harden's co-teacher, won the best coach, and led the team to the Finals, if he is willing to serve as a nets assistant coach, it will certainly help Nash a lot.
Another example is the veteran coach Steve Clifford, who has 13 years of assistant coaching and 8 years of head coaching experience, and was still coaching the Magic last season, and is also a rare and excellent think tank candidate.
Of course, the above are just some potential possibilities, what the parties' wishes are, and what the Nets executives are considering, no one is clear now. However, this may be the most realistic choice for the Nets in the current situation.