Is Steve Nash the Right Coach for the Nets?

I have some music reviews I was going to start today, but the Brooklyn Nets had to go ahead and blow my mind with the hiring of Steve Nash as their next head coach this morning.

I was stunned when I saw this. I literally thought it was a typo. I thought maybe it was a prank thing. It isn't. Steve Nash is going to be the Nets coach for the next four years, if he makes it through this contract. What was even more astonishing to me is that Jacque Vaughn, who was the interim coach, and has head coaching experience, is staying on as an assistant. He could have easily gotten a job, considering how well he did with a decimated Nets roster in Orlando, but he has chosen to stick around. I'm sure he has been guaranteed something, or one good season can springboard him to a better job, but still, pretty stunned he is hanging around.

What is more mind blowing is the Nash hiring. We have a guy, with zero head coaching experience at any level, taking over a team that has KD, Kyrie and Caris Levert, who looked like a real star in the making in the bubble. It is almost like Steve Kerr getting the Warriors job a few years back, but he was a well known commodity, and he was totally vetted, and wanted by multiple teams. I do not think the same was being said about Nash as a head coach. I know he has relationships with KD and Kyrie, and he has worked with a bunch of younger guys since retiring, almost becoming a personal trainer/coach, but he is now the guy in charge. He is going to have to draw up plays. He is going to have to juggle lineups and get the best guys on the floor in crucial moments. He is going to have to manage egos. He is going to have to deal with youth, as well as two mega stars. He has the two most wild and off the cuff stars I have ever seen to deal with. He has to, not only get them in the best basketball mood, but in the right emotional state as well. There is a ton on Nash's plate in taking this job, but maybe that is what he wants.

I do think it is a bit unfair for guys that have dedicated the past five or six years to their lives as an assistant, waiting on an opening like this, being more prepared than Nash for a team like this, and they simply got passed up for a splashy name. Also, this is clearly a pick of a head coach that is guided by the players wants than the front office. Nash wouldn't have gotten this job if KD and Kyrie didn't want him there. This was all in their hands. Kenny Atkinson was fired, unfairly I think, because Kyrie didn't like him, and I am sure he got in KD's ear about it. Atkinson was an old school, team ball guy, and that doesn't work when you have KD and Kyrie on the same team. KD and Kyrie are at that LeBron level with their team. They get the final say in most decisions that involve the team. I am sure that LeBron didn't want Frank Vogel as the head coach, but when Ty Lue passed, who I believe LeBron wanted, he was fine, as long as the Lakers were able to get Jason Kidd on the staff. I'm sure KD and Kyrie gave the Nets front office a list, told them to vet certain guys, let them in on the knowledge and they were there when the final decision was made. That is pretty much the whole reason I think Nash got the job, because Kyrie and KD like him, and they wanted him to be in Brooklyn in some capacity, even as head coach. They got their guy, and now it is time to see if he can do the job. It will be made easier because of the star power, but still, what happens if the Nets start slow? What if KD isn't fully back to being the KD we all have gotten to know? What if Nash calls a final shot for someone other than KD or Kyrie? What if the team isn't much better than this year because, outside the two stars and Levert, who will they keep, and are they any good? This team has a lot of tough decisions to make on players who are coming up on their contracts, or seeing if they are the real deal. Are they going to pay Joe Harris? Who will get more minutes at the five? I know KD and Kyrie want Deandre Jordan, but Jarrett Allen is younger and better. How will Nash deal with that? The Nets have big names, 2 of the biggest, and those guys have the guy they want as their "head coach". But, I am not so sure this was the best choice they could have made. I see way more Isiah Thomas when he took over the Pacers than what Kerr has done in Golden State with the Nash hiring.

Maybe I am wrong, maybe he will work, I like Steve Nash the person so that would be cool, but right now, I just don't see it. I think the Nets could have gotten a more seasoned assistant coach, or just stuck with Vaughn, but that is just me. This was a wild morning for the NBA and for the Nets. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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