Ten days ago, when the Nets were still unshaken by the Kyrie Irving case, Steve Nash was still the coach, and he could count on the support of Steve Clifford, his former assistant. Returning to the Hornets, the latter recalled that the problems of the Nets were mainly due to the repeated absences of major players.
” Sometimes we go after coaches for things they are not responsible for. The No. 1 problem last year in Brooklyn was missed games. That’s all “, judged the coach of the Hornets. ” Look at the record when Kevin was playing last year. I think we were 4th in attack, 12th in defence. Kyrie didn’t play for various reasons. If Kevin doesn’t get injured, we finish second or third with home court advantage, we don’t play Boston in the first round and it’s a totally different season. We can always be interested in all these other things. The main factor, by far, is missed games, that’s all. »
Steve Clifford assures that no one could have done better than Steve Nash in Brooklyn.
“There are always things you can improve as a coach, but the problem there was not training. Nor receptivity to our methods. I absolutely disagree with all of this. Sometimes it’s just health” he repeats. Very affected by the divorce between the Nets and Steve Nash, he reveals that he spoke with him, and that he offered to come and observe the Hornets.
“I spoke to him with the other night for a while and invited him to come here. You know, for him to spend a few days with us, to watch what we do, and to give me his impressions of what we do. You know, no one could have handled what he went through better than him, and during our discussion, he kept telling me about our injuries. That’s how he is.”
