It can’t be an excellent feeling as a company when your finest participant — who occurs to be probably the greatest basketball gamers within the sport’s historical past — asks for a commerce as a result of he doesn’t imagine within the path of the staff.
It must be an excellent worse feeling when that participant calls for each the final supervisor and head coach are fired if his commerce request isn’t fulfilled.
Yet the Nets are in some way in higher form after the commerce request than they’d have been had it by no means occurred. They by no means finally traded Durant due to the dearth of gives that met the asking worth, however famous person’s demand alone compelled the Nets to look within the mirror.
It compelled Nets common supervisor Sean Marks and head coach Steve Nash to replicate on issues that hadn’t gone proper in yet one more season with championship expectations that got here crashing down far too early.
This time in an embarrassing first-round sweep.
“[Rather than hold a grudge against Kevin, it’s better] to say, ‘alright, if that’s the way he feels, what’s going on here? What do we need to change? Is it personnel driven? Is it logistics? Processes? What is it?’” Marks mentioned throughout his joint press convention with Nash to conclude Monday’s Media Day availability. “What can we do to get back to that? I totally understand his frustration. I don’t know if there was anybody more frustrated than the two of us [Marks and Nash]. We’re all-in on this. We all know what’s at stake here, what our ultimate goal is.”
Durant kicked off Media Day together with his reasoning for requesting a commerce: He believed there was a scarcity of accountability in any respect ranges and that the Nets lacked the culture-driving traits he loved whereas successful back-to-back championships with the Golden State Warriors.
As a results of his interval of reflection, Marks mentioned correct communication and establishing an identification are areas that may assist the staff make up championship floor.
“The biggest proof is, to me, how the guys come out here and play, how they perform,” Marks mentioned. “You’ll get to ask them three weeks into the season, a month into the season, three months into the season, you’ll get a sense of ‘this is the identity of the Nets.’ This is who we are; this is how we play. Is there a collective unity for the whole group? That’s what we hope. As Steve has said throughout this summer, teams win. It’s about being a team.”
Nash mentioned the one approach the staff can put Durant’s issues relaxed is to get to work daily and enhance on the straightforward issues. He believes issues exterior of the staff’s management — principally accidents, the COVID-19 vaccine mandate that rendered Kyrie Irving ineligible for many of the season and James Harden’s midseason commerce request — have been liable for the early playoff exit.
“At the end of the year, I think it gets blown a little out of proportion because you lose,” Nash mentioned. “So then everything is heightened. Everyone is emotional. Everyone is frustrated. Now looking back we did a lot of great things last year. We survived a stretch of the season without our three stars.”
Yet Durant nonetheless known as for his job, and Marks’, which blindsided each of them. The demand for Nash’s firing didn’t look good, particularly contemplating Nash had simply gotten swept out of the primary spherical by the Celtics, whose head coach Ime Udoka served on his workers earlier than taking Boston to the NBA Finals as a rookie head coach.
Nash downplayed the concept of Durant attempting to get his coach fired as simply one thing that occurs in sports activities.
“Kevin and I go way back. So families go through things like this — go through adversity, go through disagreements,” he mentioned. “This isn’t new to the NBA. It has occurred dozens of instances, I’m certain each group has confronted that. So, you realize, it’s part of the method. It’s part of working on this enterprise.
“We all have expectations and when we get dinged up like we did last year, everyone’s disappointed. We cleared the air and we spoke and we got on the same page… So I’m glad we got it behind us and he’s been outstanding since we had our chat. He’s coming in and been amazing in our gym and I think he’s putting in a tremendous amount of work this summer as have we. So everyone’s done their part. Now it’s time for everyone to get on the floor tomorrow and come together.”
And right here comes the potential for concern sooner or later. Will Durant revisit his commerce request if issues get rocky? Will he name, as soon as once more, for Marks’ and Nash’s jobs if the Nets get off to a gradual begin?
Durant instructed he gained’t bail on the staff if issues don’t go effectively to start out the season.
“Nets fans should know me after three years, the work I put in,” he mentioned. “We’ve been through a lot as a team and I still go out there and do my job so I don’t feel like I have to prove anything to Nets fans after three years. I’m committed to moving forward with this team so If they’ve got doubts I can’t control it that’s on you. You’ve seen me. You know what I do. You know how much I care about playing and how much I care about my teammates and this organization by what I’ve shown these last three years.”
Marks instructed the Nets gained’t have to fret about Durant sooner or later in the event that they deal with issues accurately within the current second.
“He knows there’s going to be ups and downs, but how do we combat that, whether it’s that anxiety or the ups and downs [of the season] as a collective unit, how we manage those,” Marks mentioned. “There won’t be surprises on the KD front, our front, any of it.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com