A coaching arms race is brewing in the NBA’s Atlantic Division with news the Brooklyn Nets have hired former Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni to work under his former player Steve Nash, now the head coach of the Nets, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
He will be joined by former Philadelphia 76ers assistant coach Ime Udoka, a head coaching candidate in his own right.
This is on the heels of former Boston champion Sam Cassell joining ex-Celtics coach Doc Rivers with the 76ers along with former head coach Dave Joerger just as former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey joined the franchise as its next team president.
ESPN story on Mike D'Antoni finalizing an assistant coaching deal to reunite with Brooklyn Nets coach Steve Nash. https://t.co/CnLS8AnDlu
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 30, 2020
In short, Boston’s days enjoying the fringe benefits of bad coaching and management of its East rivals may be over for now.
While it’s important to note that the impact may well take a season or longer to really begin to show improvements in those franchises, we could see big moves a soon as the moratorium lifts and better rotations on opening day.
And with players like Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving set to return in full health or nearly so, Boston will need to get better as well to remain an elite contending team in the East.
That should happen via growth in their young players and roster management to make up the difference, but the team’s margin for error grows smaller by the day.
