From the outside, the Brooklyn Nets’ hiring of Steve Nash as head coach seemed to come out of nowhere. Multiple impressive candidates had been linked to the team, yet the Hall of Fame point guard’s name hadn’t popped up once until the team’s announcement.
Nash expressed he’d reached out to Nets general manager Sean Marks over the summer, not directly after the organization parted ways with Kenny Atkinson in March.
But this isn’t an idea that popped into Nash’s head out of nowhere — and Marks knew that all too well.
“This conversation that’s — I don’t know if it’s culminating or it’s an inflection point, but it’s been going on for 20 years,” Nash said. “Just playing together, playing against each other, having a conversation about the games, the sport in general, culture and leadership, all the components that it takes to run an organization. So this is a full circle, so to speak.”
Understanding their history and the way their conversation about business has evolved over the years, it’s no wonder Nash was Marks’ choice for the job despite his lack of coaching experience.
“Steve is a little different,” Marks said. “We’ve got a long history and a past together. Steve and I have picked each other’s brains over the summer for a good part of 10, 12 years on what does life after basketball look like? I think we’ve helped each other a lot in terms of some experiences, what to look out for, what to not do and so forth. So, it came very naturally this summer when we had our first conversation. … There’s nobody that I’ve been around that has wanted to be pressure-tested on the spot quite like Steve. He’s never shied away from a moment. … This guy has never run from anything.”