Kyrie Irving And Kevin Durant Have Allegedly Made Their Coaching Demands
The NBA world was taken by surprise when out of nowhere the Brooklyn Nets decided to move on from their head coach Kenny Atkinson. You know, the guy who had gone from 20 wins in his first year to 42 in his third year which just so happened to me the most games BKN had won since their second season as the Brooklyn Nets. All signs pointed to him being able to get the most out of his young talent and being a huge reason why they were able to land KD and Kyrie in the first place. Let's not forget
Fast forward a few months and guess what...they were full of shit. Oh well, that happens. Granted it didn't help that the Nets basically stunk whenever Kyrie played before being shut down for the year and for some reason that young and exciting group of talent didn't really repeat what we saw last year as the Nets are 4 games under .500 with just 30 wins. So when the bomb was dropped early Saturday morning that Atkinson was out, it was pretty clear their two franchise players were behind it or at the very least signed off on it. They can deny it all they want, but if Kyrie or Durant wanted Atkinson to stay what are the chances he's fired? How about less than zero.
Well now there are leaks as to who they want to replace Atkinson. If you believe Brian Windhorst, they have one clear demand
One of the things that has been expressed sort of the grapevine … is that Durant and Irving would like a blue chip coach. I don’t know what this says about the way they thought about [Kenny] Atkinson, but they want a big name coach.
OK, not the most outrageous request, but just because you're a big name coach doesn't mean you're any good at it or honestly any better than Atkinson. Who knows how true this actually is, but if a big name is who they want, who could that be? Well there are names like Jeff Van Gundy, Thibs, Mark Jackson, Ty Lue, and David Fizdale are all available. Are those big enough names though? Van Gundy hasn't coached in forever, same with Mark Jackson, I'm pretty sure TLue and Kyrie have beef, and while David Fizdale is a fine coach, is he all that much of an upgrade?
Then I started thinking outside the box. What "big names" could potentially be out there that would force the Nets to make such a drastic decision to fire a coach who was going to make the playoffs? Two names came to mind
Mike D'Antoni
Ever since the Rockets owner wouldn't commit long term this past summer you could argue D'Antoni's days in Houston have been numbered. That's especially true if they didn't win the title or even make the Finals this year, and now who knows what his future looks like if games never come back. Do the Rockets give him another season? Will he even want to coach on another one year deal when maybe his other option is to be locked up for multiple years in BKN with a healthy KD and Kyrie? He's certainly a "big name" that would fit their criteria. In terms of fit, even without those two stars the Nets are 9th in 3PM and 5th in 3PA so they certainly jack it enough from deep to perk D'Antoni's interest.
Gregg Popovich
This is the definition of speculation, but what if Pop is like Doc Rivers in that he has no interest in going through a rebuild (which the Spurs now are) at this stage of his career and is ready to move on? Maybe he passes the reins over to Becky Hammond or Tim Duncan to spearhead the next era in Spurs basketball. What if the Nets made this move because they know that, they know the Team USA connection Pop has with both of those stars and he decides to make the switch? You definitely fire your coach if you know you have Pop lined up. It's like how Doc didn't want to go through the rebuild during the Celts years so he found his way to a win now environment in Lob City. Maybe the Nets are that win now environment for Pop. It's a lonnnnnnng shot, but he does also check off the "big name" box that seems to be important.
It's safe to say the 2020-21 Nets are going to be a gigantic question mark while having NBA title expectations. Who knows what Durant will look like coming off his achilles, who know if Kyrie will actually make it through a whole season and who knows if whatever coach they end up with can handle everything. It's going to be fascinating to watch in the event the NBA ever comes back, because that window in BKN could be closing quick with both Irving and Durant having player options in 2022-23.