DEPTH ON BENCH
Nets add D’Antoni, Udoka as assistants to new coach Nash
Steve Nash’s bench is building out. On Friday, the Nets announced two more assistant coaches would be joining the Nets’ staff.
Nash’s bench will now also include former Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni, as well as head coaching candidate and former Spurs assistant Ime Udoka, according to ESPN. Nash’s bench will also include Jacque Vaughn, who was in the mix for the Nets’ head coaching position but now serves as one of the NBA’s highest-paid assistant coaches.
The Nets hired Nash as a first-time head coach to lead the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving Nets to a championship. The rookie coach is settling in by adding familiar faces close by: Amar’e Stoudemire was his first hire as a player development coach.
The D’Antoni-Nash connection is obvious, dating back to the mid 2000s when D’Antoni coached Nash in Phoenix. Nash won back-toback league Most Valuable Player of the Year awards under D’Antoni’s lead in 2005 and 2006. He and D’Antoni, who most recently coached the Rockets, together created the Seven Seconds or Less Suns offense that revolutionized basketball after its inception.
D’Antoni most recently spent time in
Houston, where he won 68% of his games over the past four seasons, the most successful of which resulted in a trip to the Western Conference Finals. His Rockets, though, were too heavily reliant on the three ball and analytics, and never made it past the second round of the playoffs in any of the other three seasons of his tenure.
Udoka spent seven seasons in San Antonio as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich, who the Nets were connected to early in the aftermath of Kenny Atkinson’s dismissal. He spent last season as an assistant coach on Brett Brown’s staff in Philadelphia and interviewed for the Knicks job that eventually went to Tom Thibodeau.
Udoka was defensive coordinator for a Sixers defense anchored by Joel Embiid, one of the best rim protectors in all of basketball. The Nets have two more-than-capable big men in DeAndre Jordan and Jarrett Allen, but management will likely pursue ways to upgrade the roster this offseason, specifically at the wing and forward spots.
Nash also attempted to hire Dirk Nowitzki as an assistant coach, but Nowitzki reportedly turned the job down because he’s not ready to coach just yet — if he was, he said he would start in Dallas where his career lasted two decades.
Nash said in both his introductory press conference and his town hall discussion earlier this week that defense will be top priority for the Nets this season and that it’s something the coaching staff have been building on over the past few weeks. Nash and D’Antoni, however, are best known for their contributions on the offensive end of the ball. It’s difficult to envision them becoming defensive specialists overnight.
That may not be necessary. What’s necessary is luck. The Nets have one of the NBA’s most talented rosters, and at this point, health is the true No. 1 priority.
If they can stay healthy an entire season, the Nets can be a true contender. And if the Nets are prying folks from Phoenix, its next poaching should come from the Suns training staff known for keeping players healthy over time.