Former Miami Heat guard Eddie House recently compared the Brooklyn Nets’ situation between Kevin Durant and Steve Nash to the time when LeBron James reportedly wanted Erik Spoelstra fired from the Heat back in 2010.
Heat team president Pat Riley felt like he was expected to come back and coach the team in place of Spoelstra, even though he had no interest in doing so.
“They wanted to know what was going to happen with Erik,” Riley said regarding what occurred during the Heat’s pitch to James in 2010. “They wondered if I was going to be coaching. I said, ‘Look, Erik is the head coach, that’s it. I support him. I’m not interested in coaching.’
“The thought was in their mind at times that maybe I would come back and coach, I think. But I was truly done, I didn’t want to get back into it, and Erik is a hell of a coach. He was coming off two good playoff years, but he had not been coaching three superstars. And then with the whole LeBron effect, it would have been a tough transition for any head coach with two years of experience.”
House joined “The Odd Couple” podcast to explain the harsh reality of being a head coach with a star player that may want him out.
“It’s different when you’re a coach,” House said. “If you cannot get the superstar guy to buy into what you are doing, it is almost a failed cause.
“On every single team I’ve played on, even the team I played on with Bron, they were this close, they wanted Spo (Spoelstra) out, but Pat was like, ‘Hell, no! That’s my guy, and we gonna win with him.’ It took another leader to say, ‘No, this is how it goes.’ That’s Pat Riley I’m talking about.”
Riley obviously stuck by Spoelstra’s side, and the Heat went on to win two NBA titles with James in Miami. Spoelstra is still Miami’s coach to this day, and he’s one of the more successful coaches in the NBA right now.
The Nets are certainly hoping for a similar outcome with Nash, who was a star during his playing career. Now that Durant has decided to remain in Brooklyn and rescind his trade request, Nash has the opportunity to regain the star’s trust in the 2022-23 season.
Similarly to the way Riley fought for Spoelstra, Nets owner Joe Tsai did not waver on his support for Nash and general manager Sean Marks this offseason.
Our front office and coaching staff have my support. We will make decisions in the best interest of the Brooklyn Nets.
— Joe Tsai (@joetsai1999) August 8, 2022
There is some obvious repairing of relationships that needs to be done in the Nets organization, but the team should contend for an NBA title in the 2022-23 season.
After getting knocked out of the playoffs in the first round last season by the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn will have Durant and Kyrie Irving back and should add Ben Simmons to the lineup after he missed the entire 2021-22 season.
That trio is one of the best in the NBA, and if it buys into what Nash is preaching, the Nets could find themselves among the league’s best teams in the 2022-23 campaign.
