Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks has had to deal with numerous high-stress days and get through a handful of uncomfortable news conferences over the past year.
Tuesday was particularly rough.
Marks had to explain why he mutually parted ways with coach Steve Nash just seven games into the season — while apparently already having engaged in a complicated process to name a controversial potential replacement, reportedly Ime Udoka.
All of this news as Kyrie Irving had thrown the team into yet another tempest, which the Nets publicly had done little about, with Marks having to address numerous questions while Irving was spared from facing scrutiny for a second consecutive day.
In facing tough questions over these past months, Marks often would do it alongside Nash, a longtime friend. Nash was relieved of this duty as well, and the general manager handled it alone.
Here’s an annotated look at what Marks said — and didn’t say — as the franchise faces drama on at least three different fronts:
Editor’s note: Interview edited for brevity
On whether Nets players were consulted in the decision to move on from Nash:
“Zero. There was zero input from any of the players on this. I think this was a decision that we didn’t need that. Steve and I didn’t need that. Obviously I’ve talked to [owner] Joe [Tsai] about this, but the players were not consulted. They were told ahead of time that this was the direction we were going.”
On the timing of the mutual decision between the Nets and Nash:
“When we’re having these conversations, [Nash] is aware of ‘they’re not responding to me right now,’ or ‘that was not the performance I needed to see out there,’ and so forth. We were open with that dialogue always happening. And so you know, over the course of, you know, the last week, 10 days, we’ve just been talking and talking, and I think it came to a head.”
-
It’s exceptionally rare for an NBA coach to be let go on a game day, much less roughly 12 hours after a win (the Nets beat the Indiana Pacers 116-109 on Monday night).
-
Marks explained the business decision had been in the works for days. If the timeline he refers to here is accurate, these conversations would have actually started only a few days into the 2022-23 regular season.
-
If Marks and Nash knew where things were headed, it would have allowed the Nets to already begin the process of vetting Ime Udoka’s situation with the Boston Celtics.
On whether the Nets have determined their next coach:
“No. Absolutely not.”
-
Marks could…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at www.espn.com – NBA…