ESPN’s various NBA commentators spent the entire morning on Wednesday discussing the series of bombshell reports emanating from the Brooklyn Nets organization, following a series of days during which Kyrie Irving became embroiled in an off-court controversy, Steve Nash was fired, and the Nets reportedly reached advanced plans to hire Boston’s Ime Udoka as a replacement.
The Udoka situation is complicated, and there’s still much the public does not know about the events that led to his season-long suspension by the Celtics for a violation of team policies.
That the Nets would immediately hire Udoka away is raising eyebrows across the league, but according to Stephen A. Smith, Udoka eventually deserves another chance in the league and is perhaps the only person who can succeed in coaching a team led by Irving and Kevin Durant.
Sad to see Steve Nash go from @BrooklynNets — but he was put in an impossible situation. Now…..they need to go get Ime Udoka asap. Like right now!!!!! Since the @celtics don’t want him coaching their team. Udoka or Mark Jackson. Then the nonsense will end!
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) November 1, 2022
Yet if Udoka’s off-court issues aren’t an obstacle to him landing a job elsewhere, should he as a rising coaching star accept the Nets’ offer? ESPN’s Brian Windhorst argued on The Hoop Collective podcast that no coach with options should even consider walking into the Nets’ dysfunctional situation.
“By the way, in a vacuum, Ime Udoka shouldn’t take this job. Any coach who has a solid resume and would have options shouldn’t take this job. They don’t defend a lick! And if/when Kyrie gets through this controversy, there’ll be something else, or there’ll be a sprained ankle. They just can’t defend.”
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