Revisionist history or not, a narrative has taken hold of both NBA punditry and Nets fandom: the Nets should have dumped Steve Nash after he led the Nets to a 48-24 record in his rookie year and hired Ime Udoka, then the Nets defensive coordinator, as Brooklyn’s head coach.
It’s a reflection of both Udoka’s success in the post-season, his Celtics being up 1-0 over the favored Warriors and Nash’s disappointing regular season (44-28) and a first round sweep by Boston.
Ian O’Connor of the Post is the latest columnist to suggest the Nets would be better off with Udoka rather than Nash:
Once more with feeling, either Nets general manager Sean Marks and owner Joe Tsai didn’t know that Udoka was special, or did know that he was special, but lacked the do-whatever-it-takes nerve to replace head coach Steve Nash with his assistant before said assistant jumped to the division rival Celtics, who now stand three victories away from an NBA title.