Possible Brooklyn assistants emerge
Two new candidates have reportedly been considered to join the Nets’ coaching staff after Dirk Nowitzki declined an assistant gig Steve Nash offered him. Former Houston Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni and current Los Angeles Lakers assistant Phil Handy could fill the job, according to ESPN and Sirius XM’s Frank Isola.
In his introductory press conference, Nash said his Nets would prioritize defense, but the figures attached to his coaching staff scream points on the board. With a roster like the one Nash inherited, offense may come easiest for this Nets team.
Defense wins championships, but D’Antoni is not known for that. Star power, however, reigns supreme, and both he and Handy have had their fair share of time dealing with the league’s elite.
D’Antoni just left Houston, where he coached James Harden, Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul during his tenure. Handy just won his third championship as an assistant coach, working on Frank Vogel’s staff with the LeBron James and Anthony Davis-led Lakers.
The Nets haven’t made it official whether they’re going after D’Antoni or Handy. It’s also not publicly known whether either of them are even interested (Handy did just win in Los Angeles) and there are a number of full-time coaching gigs available for each to take — including the Thunder, Pelicans, Rockets and Clippers.
The Nets also still have Jacque Vaughn, who was demoted to an assistant coaching role — making him the NBA’s highest-paid assistant coach — after filling in as interim coach at the end of the season.
But here’s what each candidate has to offer.
[subhead]D’Antoni and Nash, of course, have a relationship[/ subhead]
Nash blossomed into a two-time back-to-back league Most Valuable Player of the Year in Phoenix with D’Antoni at the helm in the 2004
05 and 2005-06 seasons. D’antoni was the creator of the up-tempo, run-andgun Seven Seconds or Less offense that changed NBA basketball beginning in the early 2000s. He holds the 20th-most wins in NBA histor y, owning a 672-527 record as head coach of the Suns, Knicks, Lakers and Rockets.
D’Antoni’s Rockets were notoriously reliant on the three-point shot, which led to 27 consecutive missed threes that blew a 15-point Game 7 lead against the Warriors in the 2018 playoffs. He never won a championship or made it to the NBA Finals as head coach. Nash, as a player, hasn’t either.
Nash took the Nets job with no prior head coaching experience. So the idea of adding a veteran coach who he has a long relationship with makes sense.
“I didn’t know he wanted to coach,” D’Antoni said in early September. “He’s got a great basketball mind. I know he loves basketball. So it doesn’t surprise me. But it’s interesting.
“The game plan was give it to Steve, and Steve, you can figure it out. He was pretty well involved with how he prepares his team.”
[subhead]Phil Handy has development roots with championship pedigree[/subhead]
Handy earned three championship rings in the last five years: as an assistant under Vogel this season with the Lakers; under Nick Nurse last season with the Raptors; and under Tyronn Lue in 2016 with the Cavaliers.
Handy has as many championship rings as Kyrie Irivng and Kevin Durant have combined.
He’s also rumored to be interested in the Thunder’s coaching job, which became vacant after Billy Donovan left for the Bulls.
His stretch in Cleveland, which lasted from 2015-208, is most important. Handy formed a relationship with now-Nets superstar point guard Irving while he was still with the Cavs.
Handy also has experience as a development coach from an earlier job he held with the Lakers from 2011-13. The Nets moved away from development by moving away from Kenny Atkinson, but if they don’t pull off a trade, they’ll still have young players — Nic Claxton, Dzanan Musa, Rodions Kurucs, Chris Chiozza and even Jarrett Allen — in need of Handy’s services. (As an added bonus to his resume, he also developed a basketball training app called “9 4 Feet of Game”).