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Jerry Colangelo saw plenty of Steve Nash when the new Brooklyn Nets head coach was in Phoenix working as the Suns point guard. The director of USA Basketball saw Nash elevate the Suns from the moment he walked through the door.
Yet Colangelo doesn’t know if Nash will be a successful NBA head coach.
That doesn’t mean he doubts Nash’s abilities. He simply thinks it’s a significant risk on the Nets’ part, which Colangelo explained to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News:
It’s all just speculation because of the fact is that he hasn’t coached on any level, at any time. And so it’s a big unknown. Does that mean he’s starting behind the 8-ball? Not necessarily. When you talk about his attributes as a player, his intellect, his basketball acumen, his communication skills, you could build a case saying because of all those positives, and the relationship he has with a couple of the stars he has on the team in Kevin [Durant] and Kyrie [Irving], that all adds up to a positive opportunity. No guarantees. There were no guarantees no matter who was going to be hired. Because there are so many variables.
But, Colangelo also expressed to Bondy that Nash is “a man of character, commitment, knowledgeable in the [important] attributes,” so he checks off all the boxes — save the one related to experience:
If [Nash] is successful, one can look back and say, it didn’t matter that he doesn’t have any experience. If he struggles, you look at that box that was unchecked and say, well, the inexperience really cost him. So it’s an unknown, it’s a big unknown. It’s a gamble but probably a good gamble because of all his attributes.