2008/09 season. Mike D’Antoni is gone, but Steve Nash’s Suns still have the best offense in the league. On the bench, alongside Terry Porter then Alvin Gentry, Phoenix has a new assistant from Detroit, Igor Kokoskov. More than a decade later, Steve Nash finds him in Brooklyn.
Passed unnoticed due to the imbroglios around Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, his arrival this summer is likely to do a lot of good for the Nets attack. In late September, the former star point guard for the Suns warned that the Nets would have to ” to reinvent oneself offensively, with fewer isolations.
“ Last year we felt a certain stagnation in attack, but we tried to find ways to stay involved and keep the ball moving. It was a challenge », remembers Patty Millswhile Goran Dragic had openly criticized the way the team worked this summer: ” It was quite difficult because the focus was not on the team, but more on individual player performance. »
To what extent the arrival of Igor Kokoskov, described by Steve Nash as a ” amazing attack encyclopedia could have a favorable impact? The coach is already noticing positive effects after a summer on the floor together. ” He’s been fantastic in helping me get clarity, organization, and bouncing off his ideas to start building something. “, lists the former double MVP.
Steve Nash had been aiming for him since his arrival
The latter had been seeking the services of his former assistant in Phoenix since his arrival on the Nets bench in 2020. But at that time, after a failed experience as a “head coach” Phoenix then a return as an assistant to Luke Walton at the Kings, the coach of Slovenia, European champion in 2017, had joined Fenerbahce. The following year, the Serb had joined the Mavs of Jason Kidd and Luka Doncic.
“ He was amazing. It’s great to work with an old friend, he really helped me in so many ways “, continues Steve Nash before recalling that Brooklyn has experienced training “ so disparate over the past two years that it has been very complicated. This year, I hope that we can avoid problems related to adversity, whether it is present or not, that we will be organized and ready to maintain the way we want to play. I also believe the team can handle more adversity this year. »
And so no longer rely solely on the superstars of the team, and therefore fall into the trap of isolation, when the tide turns against them.
” Look at some of our possessions last year, it was a lot of one-on-ones. You (the journalists) you talked about it often, we were well aware that when the ball is not moving, it is simply not the best way to play. We give the defense nights off when we’re just going one-on-one “Judge Kyrie Irving. It’s up to Steve Nash and his “encyclopedia” to fix it.
