Steve Nash has kept a low profile since the Nets fired him. But the 50-year-old has shed some light on his time in Brooklyn and what shocked him about his failure as a coach.
Boasting a potential superteam with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in 2020, Nash was ultimately released in November 2022 despite a 94-67 record.
Having never been an assistant before, Nash recently admitted that the job was not at all what he expected.
“I was surprised when I was coaching because I wasn’t very present in the team,” Nash told Eurohoops. “You have five minutes with the players before the game, at halftime and after the game. Those are the only times you address the team.
“I wanted to connect with each player individually. It’s important to create a culture and an environment where people believe in them and see them perform at their best. You have to feel like you want them to become the best version of themselves.”
Nash was speaking in Slovenia at a retirement event for Goran Dragic, who played behind Nash as a point guard in Phoenix and then under him in Brooklyn in 2022.
Dragic, who was trained in the Heat’s famed culture in Miami, has previously commented on how difficult his time with the Nets was, as the franchise seemed more concerned with appeasing stars than winning.
Irving, who said shortly after Nash was hired that he didn’t see the Nets having a head coach, repeatedly ignored his game decisions.
Nash, a Hall of Fame point guard, was accustomed to leading winning teams as a point guard. But he discovered that leading strong personalities from the bench was an entirely different task.
“The most important thing is to be honest with the players. You can do that in different ways,” Nash said. “It’s important to be clear and honest with the players so they’re not uncertain. Communication is key.”
“For me, the easiest thing was to feel comfortable in my role as a leader and lead by example. What’s really difficult from a coaching perspective is that it’s a totally different kind of leadership. When you’re coaching, you have to lead in small moments.”
Nash was lured to Brooklyn in September 2020 by general manager Sean Marks, his longtime friend from their playing days.
Marks had previously tried to convince him to join the Nets organization and continued to offer him increasingly interesting positions until the opportunity to become a head coach was finally too good for Nash to pass up.
“I didn’t plan on being a coach, there was a unique situation in Brooklyn that was knocking on my door,” Nash said. “It was a quick transition. You have to deal with a different dynamic. A lot of it is managing the personalities, between the front office, the players and the agents. That’s a big part of my job. All the dynamics and the personalities and the power that players have today.”
After Durant tried to fire Nash in the summer of 2022, Nets owner Joe Tsai refused.
But the Nets let him go just seven games into the following season, and have since fired his successor Jacque Vaughn and interim coach Kevin Ollie.
Jordi Fernandez will begin his first season as Nets coach in October.
