Nets head coach Steve Nash mentioned “there is no baggage or remnants” from a chaotic offseason that included star ahead Kevin Durant calling for his job.
Months after Durant issued an ultimatum to Nets proprietor Joe Tsai — demanding Tsai hearth each Nash and common supervisor Sean Marks or commerce him to a different group — Nash downplayed the severity of the difficulty when requested by his hometown Canadian media.
“I think from the outside, it can be such a hot issue, and one can dramatize it. From the inside, this stuff happens all the time throughout the league,” he mentioned forward of tipoff in opposition to the Raptors on Friday. “We kind of have short memories and then we get into the next drama. For me, it’s always: This is part of the NBA. It happens all the time.”
Nash mentioned he by no means felt like his job was actually in peril. It by no means was as a result of instantly after reviews of Durant’s ultimatum surfaced, Tsai tweeted help for each his entrance workplace and training workers.
“It was just: We needed to sit down at some point. That was it,” Nash mentioned. “That’s kind of what happened.”
Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, who has a relationship with Nash that spans a number of many years, mentioned he felt for his buddy whereas he was quickly within the sizzling seat.
“When there’s a guy you know, for sure [there’s more empathy],” Nurse mentioned. “You always pay a little more attention when it’s somebody you consider a friend. It’s hard. This job is hard, right? This profession is hard, and that stuff just makes it harder, but I think he’s, I think he’s handled it with great composure and class and all that kind of stuff, and he’s still fighting.”
Nash mentioned the offseason drama hasn’t spilled into the locker room, though the Nets challenge to get off to a tough begin. They are folding in a brand new offense, welcoming Ben Simmons again from a 470-day layoff, and meshing collectively new gamers who haven’t performed a lot collectively.
“I would say our environment has been outstanding. We’re a team that needs time. We’ve got a real addition to the team that is coming off a year and a half of non-NBA basketball and back surgery,” he mentioned of Simmons. “We’ve received a bunch of fellows making an attempt to study to play collectively, however inside our facility, we really feel actually good about what we’re constructing and the blokes have been distinctive.
“So, there’s no baggage or remnants every day at work if that makes sense, but I’m sure from the outside, people always wonder how, but that’s what it’s like in the NBA. We go through periods and patches like that. We’re all competitive. There’s outside noise and pressure. You lose in the playoffs and we all struggle with that. That’s part of it. Maybe it’s hard to understand for someone who is not in the building every day. but we’ve had a really great preseason and laid the foundation. And we just need now to get that amount of time under our belt to where it comes to life, and hopefully not take too long so we can get some joy on the way as well.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com