Stephen A. Smith may be the loudest voice among those saying the Nets’ hiring of Steve Nash as Brooklyn’s next head coach is an example of white privilege, but he’s not the only one who’s expressed that opinion.
Byron Scott was the latest to state his frustration with Black coaches getting passed up for the job.
Though the former New Jersey Nets head coach “wasn’t surprised” or “shocked” by the hire — and spoke kindly of Nash — he does have a question for Brooklyn’s front office:
“My first thought was ‘why didn’t Mark Jackson or some other African-American guys who have coached in this league get an opportunity to at least go and do interview with the Brooklyn Nets?'” Scott told TMZ.
With the Nets announcement of Nash’s hiring, general manager Sean Marks expressed the organization met “with a number of highly accomplished coaching candidates from diverse backgrounds.”
Scott, who stated Kobe Bryant helped him land the Lakers job back in 2014, also explained what type of opportunities Black coaches typically get in the NBA.
We don’t get those jobs. When I’m talking about ‘we,’ I’m talking about Black coaches. We don’t get jobs that are that set and that good — when you got two All-Stars like Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. … We don’t get those jobs where you have built-in superstardom guys on that roster right away.
We get the kind of jobs where you have to make something out of nothing and when you don’t or you’re not able to do it, they’ll say, ‘Well, we gave him the opportunity.’
From his vantage point, Scott thinks the players need to do more to help Black coaches:
Our players don’t do a good enough job of advocating for Black coaches. That’s just something we have to change, as well. It’s just one of those things that’s going to take time. We all know that, but I think it’s something we have to pay attention to.
I wouldn’t say the onus is directly on them. I don’t wanna put that type of pressure on the players. I do want them to stand up for Black coaches though. I think they should be a little bit more involved in the process. … I think they understand that they do have a voice and they have a platform where they will be heard if they do voice their opinion. But I don’t want them to do nothing that doesn’t feel right to them.