A TIME FOR CHANGE
Nets welcome new coaches, switch up offensive schemes
With new players and new assistant coaches comes a new Nets offense. Steve Nash said the influx of new personnel will allow the team to make some changes to the offense in training camp. “We’re gonna change some of our schemes. I think we’re resetting in a lot of ways,” Nash said after the second day of training camp. “We also, I think, have made some improvements.”
The improvements to the roster include introducing Ben Simmons to the rotation after he missed the entire season, trading for 3-and-D wing Royce O’Neale, welcoming back sharpshooter Joe Harris and the addition of veteran big man Markieff Morris.
But Nash also made additions to his coaching staff. Trevor Hendry moved from his video coordinator post of six years up to Nash’s staff. Adam Capcorn took a job on Nash’s bench after gaining a reputation as a development guru coaching the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s G-League affiliate. And Igor Kokoskov joined the staff after decades of coaching overseas and a quick stint as head coach of the Suns.
“Just an incredible offensive encyclopedia,” Nash said of Kokoskov. “He was my assistant coach back in the day in Phoenix for many years and just has great experience. He’s been in the league 25 years.”
Nash said on Tuesday he’s “excited by the team’s potential offensively” because they have “lots of playmakers and shooters.” How he and his coaching staff utilize the weapons will determine how high the ceiling is for this team.
HARRIS AGREES: NETS SKIPPED STEPS
Joe Harris agreed with Kevin Durant’s assertion that the team skipped the steps needed to become a championship team last season.
Durant lit into his team’s approach to the season on Monday when explaining his reasoning for requesting a trade during the summer. He said the Nets lost respect from their opponents because they didn’t have enough fight in games when he was out of the rotation.
Harris said the Nets put the idea of winning a championship over the actual steps it takes to succeed in the NBA.
“I think it was just a little bit more of looking down the road and feeling the loss from the prior year in the playoffs (to the Bucks) and wanting to get back to that point in the playoffs and maybe looking past some of the games that we had in the early season, instead of just being as attentive and focus on the present,” he said.
“So I think it’s something that we’re just trying to be really cognizant of where everybody’s focused on — we’re having a good second day of training camp, and then tomorrow, we’ll have another good day, and we’ll just keep having these building blocks that we’ll build off of, but we’re not trying to look too far ahead. And this can be the same thing: preseason games, you’re not gonna take these preseason games for granted, regardless of how much time guys are playing, wherever we’re at. You know, I think the whole focus is just all right, how do we get better today and then just kind of building off of that.”
WARREN NOT YET CLEARED
The Nets have two players who have recovered from injuries but are not yet cleared to play.
Forward T.J. Warren will not be ready for the preseason or regular-season opener, Nash said.
Warren is coming off two consecutive seasons missed due to consecutive stress fractures in his left foot. Nash said the team prepared for him not to be ready to play to start the season. They will re-evaluate his status in November.
“He’s doing great. He’s building up. We knew (he would miss the beginning of the season) going in,” Nash said. “We also don’t want to take big risks with T.J.,” he said. “He’s been out for two years, so it’s a process that we want to be very confident in and make a firm decision as an organization not to rush him.”
Sharpshooter Seth Curry has also healed from a nagging ankle injury that plagued his 2021-22 season, but he also has yet to be cleared to play. Nash was more optimistic about the odds Curry is available sometime soon.