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Nets Notes: Nash, D’Antoni, Udoka

November 1st, 2020 at 5:53pm CST by JD Shaw

Newly-hired Nets coach Steve Nash discussed a number of topics related to the upcoming season with Steve Serby of the New York Post, including the pressure he could face as a first-year head coach, the team’s championship aspirations and more.

Nash doesn’t hold any prior coaching experience, though he’s set to bring in coaches such as Jacque Vaughn (lead assistant), Mike D’Antoni (longtime NBA head coach) and Ime Udoka (veteran NBA assistant) for his first season. The team also hired Nash’s former teammate, Amar’e Stoudemire, as a player development assistant last month.

“Not championship or bust, but we’re playing for a championship, that’s our goal,” Nash said when asked if he’s approaching this season with a championship or bust mentality. “I think it’s silly, the championship or bust, you never know. You have to have health, you have to have luck to win a championship. It’s not as simple as one plus one equals two, but we are playing for a championship. We are saying that out loud. That’s how we’re going to frame all the decisions we make and the effort and intensity that we train and play with.”

The 46-year-old also touched on subjects such as Kyrie Irving, his own playing days, the 2000 Olympics, and more. When asked what it would mean to win a championship as a rookie coach after never winning one as a player, Nash gave a humble response.

“It would mean everything to me, but honestly, it’s not about me,” he said. “I would be thrilled for our group, for the players, for the coaches. … Honestly, I would get as much joy, more joy, out of seeing our players, coaching staff, all departments win than the feeling I would get about me being a winner. To me, I love being a part of a group, part of a team, and seeing other people happy and succeed is as rewarding as anything and more rewarding than the individual glory. It would be unbelievable just to be a part of that, but to see everyone else’s satisfaction would mean the world to me.”

There’s more out of Brooklyn today:

By hiring Mike D’Antoni as an assistant coach, the team is putting a clear emphasis on its offense for next season, Greg Logan of Newsday writes. D’Antoni, the architect of the well-documented “seven seconds or less” offense from his Suns teams in the mid 2000’s, will help coach a team that already includes the likes of Irving and Kevin Durant — two of the best offensive players of the past decade and beyond.
Ime Udoka could prove to be a key hire for the franchise, Alex Schiffer of The Athletic opines. The defensive-minded Udoka holds several years of coaching experience and was an assistant under Gregg Popovich from 2012-19.
Sports Illustrated examines whether the Nets are the NBA’s most interesting team. The franchise includes a unique nucleus of Durant, Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert, DeAndre Jordan, Jarrett Allen and others, combined with a coaching staff that holds past ties to each other or to general manager Sean Marks.

Nets Officially Announce Coaching Staff

October 30th, 2020 at 12:40pm CST by Luke Adams

The Nets have officially announced the coaching staff for new head coach Steve Nash, confirming in a press release that Mike D’Antoni and Ime Udoka will be assistants, while Amar’e Stoudmire is coming aboard as a player development coach. Those hires were all previously reported.

In addition to the newcomers, Nash will retain former interim head coach Jacque Vaughn, as expected. Assistant coaches Adam Harrington, Jordan Ott, and Tiago Splitter will also remain with the team, as will player development coordinator Ryan Forehan-Kelly.

“We’ve assembled an experienced staff of high-character individuals with varied backgrounds, both on and off the court, that will help create a solid foundation for me and our players,” Nash said in a statement. “When I set out to build this staff, I wanted to put together a committed group that would connect with our players and help put them in the best position to succeed as a team. With coaching and playing experience at the highest level and a deep background in player development, I’m confident that we’ve put the right people in place to lead us forward.”

Nash, a first-time head coach, has plenty of veteran experience on his new staff, including a pair of former head coaches in D’Antoni and Vaughn. He’ll likely lean on D’Antoni to help run the offense, while Udoka focuses primarily on Brooklyn’s defense, as Chris Milholen of NetsDaily writes.

Nets To Hire Mike D’Antoni, Ime Udoka As Assistants

October 30th, 2020 at 8:45am CST by Luke Adams

A pair of notable coaches are joining Steve Nash‘s staff in Brooklyn as assistants, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Mike D’Antoni and Ime Udoka are finalizing deals with the Nets.

D’Antoni, who parted ways with the Rockets following the team’s elimination from the postseason in September, ranks 20th among head coaches on the NBA’s all-time list of wins. In addition to coaching the Rockets, he has been on the sidelines for the Lakers, Knicks, Nuggets, and – most notably – the Suns, where he lead two-time MVP Nash to back-to-back appearances in the Western Finals.

By joining the Nets, D’Antoni will reunite with Nash and provide the sort of veteran experience that the first-time head coach could use on his staff.

As for Udoka, he has never been an NBA head coach, but he has proven his bona fides as an assistant, serving on Gregg Popovich‘s staff in San Antonio for seven years before joining the Sixers for the 2019/20 season.

There was a time when it looked like Udoka would receive a shot at a head coaching job this year — he was linked to the Nets, Bulls, Pacers, Knicks, and 76ers jobs, but was passed over in each instance. Now he’ll get the opportunity to work under Nash in Brooklyn, as the Nets – led by a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving – look to make a deep playoff run in 2021.

Nash’s staff will also include former Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn, who was retained as an assistant after missing out on the permanent coaching job. When word broke that the Nets were retaining Vaughn, Wojnarowski reported that he would be the highest-paid assistant in the NBA — it’s not clear if that’s still the case, but it’s probably safe to assume Brooklyn spared no expense bringing in D’Antoni and Udoka.

Schiffer, Hollinger Evaluate Hypothetical Nets Trades

October 29th, 2020 at 4:11pm CST by Luke Adams

Alex Schiffer and John Hollinger of The Athletic team up to evaluate a few hypothetical trades involving the Nets, including separate proposals in which Brooklyn acquires John Collins, Buddy Hield, and Jrue Holiday, among others.

Steve Nash Embraces Nets’ Championship Expectations

October 27th, 2020 at 3:43pm CST by Luke Adams

With Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving due back from injuries and the Nets mulling additional roster upgrades this offseason, new head coach Steve Nash told season ticket holders during a virtual town hall on Tuesday that he’s embracing the club’s rising expectations for the 2020/21 season.

“We’re playing for a championship,” Nash said, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “I don’t want to say that anything less than a championship is not a success because you never know what happens in life, you never know the way the ball bounces. Fortune is a big part of winning an NBA championship.

“But we are playing for a championship and we’re going to build accordingly. We’re going to frame everything we do in the lens of, ‘Is this a championship characteristic or is this worth championship quality?'”

Although the Nets posted a 35-37 record and were quickly swept out of the first round of the postseason in 2019/20, oddsmakers and sports bettors are bullish about the team’s outlook with Durant and Irving in the lineup. BetOnline.ag currently lists Brooklyn in a tie with Boston as the second-most likely team to come out of the East in 2021, just behind Milwaukee.

Still, it remains to be seen how Durant will look coming off his torn Achilles, and there are some questions about how the roster will mesh when everyone’s healthy, as well as Nash’s ability to steer the ship as a rookie head coach. Those questions were only exacerbated when Irving – addressing Nash’s hiring on a recent episode of Durant’s podcast – suggested that he doesn’t “really see us having a head coach.”

However, discussing his coaching plan during today’s town hall, Nash went out of his way to echo Irving’s language about collaboration, according to Bontemps.

“I definitely don’t want to come in with too many hard and fast concepts and designs,” Nash said. “I’d much rather come in with principles — with ideas that allow our players to collaborate with us and allow their personalities and the dynamic between them and the chemistry to have a role in how it evolves.

“People talk about the Phoenix teams I played on, and this sort of revolutionary tone of how it impacted the game, but the truth be told, Mike D’Antoni‘s brilliance in much of that was he allowed it to evolve instead of getting in the way.”

Isaiah Joe A Potential Draft Target For Nets?

October 27th, 2020 at 2:29pm CST by Luke Adams

Brian Lewis of The New York Post identifies former Arkansas sharpshooter Isaiah Joe as a draft sleeper who may be of interest to the Nets. Joe is the No. 48 prospect on ESPN’s big board, while Brooklyn holds the Nos. 19 and 55 picks.

Letting Harris Go Would Be Mistake

October 26th, 2020 at 6:25pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The Nets can’t afford to let wing Joe Harris in free agency, Mike Mazzeo of Forbes.com opines. The Nets own Harris’ Bird rights, so they can make him a substantial offer even if it pushes them deeper into luxury tax territory. If they let him walk, they’d only have the taxpayers’ mid-level exception to replace him. Brooklyn is expected to have competition for Harris’ services with estimates that it would need to offer Harris a $15MM starting salary to retain him.

Amar’e Stoudemire To Join Nets As Assistant Coach

October 23rd, 2020 at 2:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Nets head coach Steve Nash is adding a very familiar face to his bench. Nash’s longtime Suns running mate Amar’e Stoudemire will serve as an assistant coach on his former point guard’s staff, Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium tweets.

Stoudemire, a hyper-athletic power forward, and Nash overlapped for six seasons in Phoenix, where they led the trailblazing offensive attack of the famous “Seven Seconds Or Less” Suns, the subject of a fascinating Jack McCallum behind-the-scenes book.

Charania adds in a separate tweet that Stoudemire will specialize in player development while in Brooklyn. Assuming All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving can remain healthy, the Nets look to be a formidable force in the East during the 2020/21 season.

Stoudemire joins former Nets interim head coach Jacque Vaughn on the bench. Assistant Adam Harrington appears likely to remain with the club for this new regime. Former Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni, who coached Stoudemire on the Suns from 2003-08 (and both Stoudemire and Nash from 2004-08), has been floated as a potential addition to Nash’s staff as well.

A six-time All-Star with the Suns and Knicks, Stoudemire most recently played for Israeli basketball club Maccabi Tel Aviv. He led the team to a 2020 title while winning the Israeli League Finals MVP award in the process in July.

Stoudemire last suited up in the NBA with the Heat for the 2015/16 season. He signed a contract with the Knicks after his stint in Miami was over to officially retire with New York. Since last playing in the NBA, Stoudemire also logged time in the CBA and in two separate stints for another Israeli basketball team, Hapoel Jerusalem.

New York Notes: Durant, Harris, Oladipo, Knicks

October 23rd, 2020 at 10:01am CST by Arthur Hill

Medical experts are optimistic about Kevin Durant‘s chances to bounce back from his torn Achilles tendon, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. The Nets‘ star forward hasn’t played since suffering the injury in Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals, but he showed some signs of progress in workouts before before the hiatus.

Durant will be in the second season of a four-year, $164MM contract with Brooklyn, and the franchise is hoping that he and Kyrie Irving will turn it into an instant contender. Durant was only 30 when the injury occurred and turned 32 last month, so that gives him an advantage over players such as Patrick Ewing, Isiah Thomas and Kobe Bryant, who had similar injuries later in their careers.

“That’s better for him, so I don’t see anything holding him back,” said Dr. Laith Jazrawi, chief of the division of sports medicine at NYU Langone Sports Health. “The only thing is he hasn’t played for a year-and-a-half, so it’ll take time to get back into the rhythm. Some people are going to say ‘Oh, it’s because he had his Achilles (injury).’ That’s not true. It’s that when anyone doesn’t play for a year-and-a-half, it’s just going to take time to get back into the flow. But he should do fine.”

Durant said his love for the game has increased as he tries to work his way back. He recently appeared on the Stewie’s World podcast with Breanna Stewart of the WNBA, who was able to overcome a torn Achilles and return to stardom.

“I just appreciate being in the gym. I appreciate the workouts and the one-on-one sessions and just being in there with the other guys, just the whole routine,” Durant said. “I just have a newfound evolved level of joy for it.”

There’s more from New York City this morning:

To help gauge the value of Joe Harris‘ next contract, Alex Schiffer of the Athletic looks at recent deals signed by sharpshooters throughout the league. He notes that Harris will be in a similar situation as J.J. Redick, Danny Green, Otto Porter, Davis Bertans and Joe Ingles.
Trading for Pacers guard Victor Oladipo is the bold move the Knicks need to jump-start their rebuilding process, contends Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post. At 28, Oladipo is much younger than Chris Paul, another rumored target, giving New York a player to build its future around.
ESPN writers examine the best and worst cases for the Knicks and the other seven teams that haven’t played a game since March. The piece states that New York needs to find a point guard and hope its young players continue to develop.

Spencer Dinwiddie Leaves Roc Nation, Considering Self-Representation

October 22nd, 2020 at 3:47pm CST by Luke Adams

Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie has parted ways with Roc Nation Sports and is seriously considering the possibility of representing himself, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Dinwiddie became a Roc Nation client about a year ago after his representative, Raymond Brothers, joined the agency. He hasn’t signed a new contract since December 2018, when he inked a three-year extension that locks him up through at least the 2020/21 season — he has a $12.3MM player option for ’21/22, so he can reach the open market next year at age 28.

Dinwiddie, who has been with the Nets since 2016, enjoyed perhaps his best season in 2019/20, establishing new career highs in PPG (20.6), APG (6.8), and RPG (3.5), among other categories. Those numbers figure to slip a little with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving back in Brooklyn’s lineup, but Dinwiddie has established himself as a reliable scorer and play-maker and should do well on his next deal.

If Dinwiddie elects to negotiate his next contract on his own, it will be interesting to see what it ends up looking like. The point guard has exhibited a willingness to get creative with his financial portfolio, having made an effort last year to turn his NBA contract into a digital investment vehicle. When he eventually launched his investment bond in January, the league prevented him from tying it directly to his contract.