Can Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash unlock Kyrie Irving?
Can new Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash help Kyrie Irving be the best point guard he can be and grow his leadership skills?
Hiring Steve Nash as the Brooklyn Nets head coach seems like a good idea on paper. Steve Nash is of the ten greatest point guards in NBA history and now is the head coach of one of the greatest point guards still generation in Kyrie Irving.
They are similar in many ways; both are phenomenal shooters and ball handlers at similar heights and both being some of the craftiest players of this century.
Where they differ is their on-court play styles and personalities, Nash was by every definition a floor general, setting up the offense for others before himself, also being the engine of one of the most famous offenses in history the “7 Seconds Or Less” offense of the Phoenix Suns.
Irving is predominantly an isolation scorer putting his man on an island and slicing and dicing his way around a wave of help defenders to finish around the rim with an acrobatic finish that would make Dick Grayson jealous.
So, the pair of point guards are both great in their own rights but there is a distinct duality between Irving and Nash’s philosophy of how to play basketball from the lead guard position. Kyrie was at his best in his career when he was the secondary ball-handler as LeBron James was the leader and playmaker, while Kyrie was the scorer, best shown in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals.
Irving’s co-star in Kevin Durant was at his best with the Golden State Warriors while Draymond Green was the emotional leader and playmaker, and Stephen Curry was the secondary playmaker it left Durant to do what he does best, score.
This whole discussion was based on ESPN’s analytics lord Kirk Goldberry’s quote when a round table of ESPN analysts discussed Nash’s hiring on a podcast.
"“If he (Nash) can unlock kyrie as a point guard, as someone who can make shots for teammates, and oh, by the way, Kevin Durant”"
For the Brooklyn Nets to be a contender the leadership and playmaking will have to come from somewhere. Can Kyrie learn from Nash? Can the imperfect combination of Steve Nash and Kyrie Irving be able to unlock him as a scoring and playmaking point guard, who is able to lead the Brooklyn Nets alongside Durant in 2020-21 for a title run?