Is Nash headed to Toronto?
TSN Sports’ Josh Lewenberg discussed the Toronto Raptors’ search for a new head coach on Wednesday.
In the midst of the intense playoff race, there’s been a lot of talk on the other end of the spectrum about the head coaching search for eliminated teams. Milwaukee, Phoenix, Houston, Philadelphia, and Detroit have all parted ways with their head coaches and hired new ones.
This leaves Toronto as the only team in the league with a head coaching vacancy. After missing the playoffs this season, the Raptors fired Nick Nurse, who led the team to its first championship. Nunns, who was heavily pursued by several teams, joined Philadelphia, where he will continue to coach without a break.
There are several candidates in the running for Toronto’s first head coaching job in a long time. ESPN’s J.J. Redick has been touted as a possible surprise hire. Reddick reportedly interviewed with Toronto for the head coaching job.
According to Rewenberg, who is well versed in the Toronto scene, the Dinosaurs’ next head coach is not far off. “Toronto is the only team with a head coaching vacancy, but it won’t stay that way for long. There are final interviews this weekend and a decision should be made soon.”
Sergio Scariolo, the Spanish national team and Italian Virtus Bologna coach, and Sacramento coach Jordi Fernandez are among the finalists, Lennon added. Along with those two, there’s another name that’s being talked about as a possible candidate for Toronto’s next head coach. That would be Canada’s top basketball star, Steve Nash.
The Athletic previously reported, “Toronto is casting a wide net for a head coach. They’ve held talks with Canadian basketball legend Steve Nash about the head coaching job,” The Athletic reported. Sportsnet’s Michael Grange then reported that Nash had made a strong impression in his interview with Toronto.
Despite not winning a championship, Nash was one of the biggest stars of his career, winning back-to-back MVPs. Many fans still remember Nash’s run-and-gun style of basketball as he duoed with Amare Stoudemire to lead Phoenix’s run-and-gun offense.
But the image of Nash has changed dramatically since his arrival in Brooklyn, where he took the reins of the Nets without much leadership experience. His inexperience showed, and his time in Brooklyn was a complete failure.
Brooklyn gave Nash a strong roster with a big three of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden. But Nash’s Brooklyn never made it to the Conference Finals, and the greatest big three of all time came to an end. A windbag, Nash was eventually fired from Brooklyn earlier this season.
Nash was heavily criticized for his lack of tactics, incomprehensible roster choices, and controversial mistreatment of key players. The one thing he did have going for him was a complete lack of chemistry with his star player. Irving repeatedly ignored Nash’s in-game instructions, and Durant reportedly demanded Nash’s firing as a condition of his stay after requesting a trade.
Nash’s candidacy for Toronto’s head coaching job has been met with mixed reviews.
Some are optimistic that Nash will have more freedom to instill the style of basketball he wants to play, as there is much less pressure than in Brooklyn. Plus, Toronto is the NBA’s only team with Canadian ties.
However, there is also a lot of negativity because of the impact of his failure in Brooklyn. Nash has only been out of the Brooklyn job for about seven months. That’s hardly enough time to clean up the mess, learn from it, and improve.먹튀검증
Will Nash get a chance to redeem himself in Toronto? It will be interesting to see what Toronto decides to do.
