Former NBA GM Ryan McDonough doesn’t think Nets' Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving comments on Steve Nash were disrespectful

Former GM Ryan McDonough doesn’t think Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were disrespectful to Steve Nash when they talked about "collaborative coaching" on Durant’s podcast earlier this month.

“It’s easy to grab the clip or the soundbite out of context. Everything I read and heard about it, there was more to it than (Irving saying he and Durant didn’t need a head coach),” McDonough said on in interview with The Putback. “It wasn’t a critical comment toward Steve Nash like, ‘Hey, he’s not ready for this.’ It was more, ‘We have a lot of player leadership on the roster.’”

Still, as a former general manager who understands the current media ecosystem, McDonough acknowledged that his first reaction was, “I wish they didn’t say that.”

“I think if you’re Sean Marks, you make the point (that the comments weren’t intended to disrespect Steve Nash). You say, ‘Look, Kyrie, Kevin, I know what you guys were trying to do. However, here’s the situation you created with a first time, inexperienced coach…. It’s not a huge deal; it will die down. However, it will be helpful going forward if you can say, ‘Look, we back Steve. Steve’s our coach. We’ll fall in line behind him. We think we have great player leadership on this roster but he is our leader and we’re going to get in line and do whatever he tells us to do because we think he’s the guy to lead us to the next level.’”

When Irving said he doesn’t "really see us" having a head coach while discussing Nash, it generated a reaction from pundits and ex-players.

It’s worth listening to the full exchange (roughly 49 minutes to 54 minutes into Durant’s ECTs podcast with Eddy Rivera). Durant says that he and Irving have talked about being coached every day by Nash and leading by example. Irving, who admittedly fell short in a leadership role in Boston and asked for a trade from Cleveland in 2017 and drew criticism as a teammate, talked about his relationship with Nash and why he felt like the MVP is the best coach for Brooklyn.

Here is an incomplete transcript of the exchange:

IRVING: “We had been planning a (coaching) change, maybe for the last few months.

“But first off I want to give a shoutout to Kenny Atkinson because some people came out and was like, ‘Yo Ky and KD got Kenny fired.’ Look, that was completely false. Listen, Kenny was great for the group that he served. And I was very appreciative of what he was giving us throughout the season when we were playing.

“We always heard how great Nash was or saw how great Nash was as a player. But also when you get to know him as a person, you understand why he can co-exist with us because we don’t need someone to come in and put their coaching philosophy on everything that we’re doing and change up the wheel. ‘You guys need to start doing this and we start running on the first day of practice.’

“It’s just like, ‘No. I want somebody, I need somebody that’s going to understand that I am a human being first. I serve my community and where I come from first. And then basketball is something I come and do every single day because I love and also I have the right ingredients and people around me to come in and do my job at a high level and I know that they will hold me accountable to that level.

“It’s no disrespect to Kenny or any other coaches I’ve played with. It’s just Steve coming in at this moment and then following up with putting together a great coaching core was going to make us more successful.”

It’s worth pointing out here that if Irving and Durant wanted Atkinson to continue to coach the team, Atkinson would still be coaching the team. That’s not the same thing as suggesting Irving and Durant got Atkinson fired, but they clearly didn’t feel strongly enough about him to stop owner Joe Tsai and Marks from parting ways with the coach.

Here’s Irving, on the podcast, talking about his relationship with Nash:

IRVING: “Yeah I gave him 26 (points) and nine (assists the first time they played against each other). I like to remind him that. He said I was the first person to call him coach Nash. Steve is great and I have a relationship with him that’s going to build over time.

“Steve don’t know me from anything he heard or anything that he’s heard from someone else. We worked out one time in 2014. But it’s grown and it’s just respectful relationship from afar. I saw him at the Hall of Fame two years ago, gave him a big hug and now he’s the head coach.

“I think it’s also going to change the way we see coaches. I don’t really see us having a head coach, you know what I mean? KD could be a head coach, I could be a head coach.”

Durant then adds, “(Associate head coach) Jaque Vaughn could do it one day. It could be, it’s a collaborative effort I think, on our part.”

The "collaborative" coaching description and Irving saying that he doesn’t really see the Nets having a head coach drew attention last week, and it’s easy to understand why.

Steve Nash is a Hall of Fame player who has the respect of Durant and Irving. But the Nets are entering the 2021 season with title expectations. So everything Nash, Durant, Irving and the organization says and does will be heavily scrutinized. And when Irving and Durant make comments that can be construed as undermining their first-year head coach, those comments are going to be dissected and analyzed.

But Durant and Irving’s comments are similar to some of the comments made by Nash and Marks with regard to player input. So this may be something that all parties are comfortable with.

In the same podcast discussion about Nash, Durant answers a question from co-host Eddie Gonzalez about Nash being able to hold himself and Irving accountable in huddles this way: 

“Most definitely. I think a lot of people may question our leadership overall or just us two. But me and Ky talked about being coached every single day, I think that’s leading by example and I think a lot of our teammates are going to follow that, follow suit once they see me getting coached and me learning and continuing to ask questions about the game. And I think having Steve there and collaborating with our floor general every day, it’s only going to yield good results for scorers like myself and Taurean (Prince) and Caris (LeVert) and Spencer (Dinwiddie). So them having that relationship, I think it’s going to be key for us going forward; even more so than my relationship with Ky or with Steve.”

Regardless of how you perceive Durant and Irving’s comments, the entire podcast is worth listening to if you are a Nets/NBA fan. You learn something about Durant and Irving over the course of the two-episode conversation.

ST. JOHN’S GIVING PLAYERS A PLATFORM

Speaking of player-led platforms, St. John’s University and INFLCR extended their partnership for another two years, which will help Red Storm student-athletes with content to build their personal brands on social media.

The move comes as the NCAA rules over athletes’ names, images and likenesses are shifting.

“It’s all about the student-athletes and how can we help enhance their brands in the greatest city in the world,” said St. John’s head coach Mike Anderson.

INFLCR’s platform helps St. John’s send internal media and national photography content to personalized galleries for each of their athletes and coaches, which they can use on their social media platforms.