The Brooklyn Nets have had so many problems over the last few years that they could fill a phone book.
Most recently, the issues have all revolved around Kyrie Irving and his suspension from the team.
But before that, the team was tangled up in controversy about the firing of former head coach Steve Nash.
Nash was called inefficient and incapable of leading the team.
Kyrie Irving reportedly ignored off Steve Nash’s play calls 10 times in one game, per @NYPost_Lewis pic.twitter.com/RY458V6tBj
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) November 9, 2022
Apparently, the leadership problems ran deep.
The New York Post reported that there was a time when Irving ignored Nash’s play calls a whopping ten times in just one game.
That goes to show just how dysfunctional and unhappy the team was.
Now that Nash is gone, some are thinking the team can turn things around.
But maybe Nash wasn’t the only problem in this situation.
Irving & Nash Clash
Perhaps Irving had every right to ignore the calls of his head coach and do his own thing – the man has an excellent basketball IQ and isn’t one of the best players in the league simply by luck.
At the same time, Irving’s choice to turn a blind eye to his coach might say more about him.
It’s no secret that Irving isn’t easy to work with – there are plenty of people within the Nets right now who would confirm that, including the team’s owner Joe Tsai.
There is a chance that this choice was just another instance of Irving being Irving.
That means that a problem like this could arise again if Irving returns to the team in the near future.
New head coach Jacque Vaughn should prepare to battle it out with Irving because it’s become abundantly clear that he is going to always dance to the beat of his own drum.