The recent failure of the Brooklyn Nets only shows how super teams don’t guarantee success, and managing big egos on a roster can be a nightmare for any coach.
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The Brooklyn Nets are staring at a tsunami of criticism and trolling coming their way anytime soon. One of the greatest offensive teams to be assembled in American sports history, the Nets failed before starting. Controversies, egos, injuries, and consistency won over their output on the court.
Sean Marks and co made the Nets instant championship contenders by acquiring superstar James Harden in 2021 alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Unfortunately, the Nets Big 3 played a mere 16-games in their one and a half seasons together.
However, it was Irving’s anti-vaccination stance from where things could never go back. According to reports, Harden was frustrated with the handling of the Irving situation, leading to him forcing his way out of Brooklyn in a trade to the Sixers.
The situation in Brooklyn brings to light the struggles of handling a super team, something at which Steve Nash failed, shedding light on why Erik Spoelstra is a top 15 coach of all time.
The failure of the Brooklyn Nets makes us appreciate Erik Spoelstra even more.
Coach Spo was the brains behind running one of the first superteams in the current era, the Miami Heat. During the 2010-11 off-season, LeBron James decided to take his talents to the South Beach, leading to an outpour of hate and criticism against the superstar.
James was the eye of the storm and under heavy scrutiny. In all his four years in Miami, the Heat made the Finals each time, winning two championships during the course. However, it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. The Heat had its share of struggles during the initial part of the Big 3’s first season.
However, Spoelstra knew how to fit his pieces in the right place and develop chemistry amongst the players. The duo of Coach Spo and Team President Pat Riley never let any superstar overpower them. No individual was above the team is what symbolized the Heat culture.
I think this whole Nets experiment is the PERFECT example of why what Coach Spo did in the big 3 era is incredibly impressive and can’t just be written off as “he had LeBron.”
Coaching superstars is hard as hell.
Spo is an all time great coach.
— James Alexander👨🏾💻 (@ScriptsByJames) April 24, 2022
Spoelstra’s no-nonsense and team-first approach is somewhere where Nash failed. In what it seemed, Nash left a lot to KD and Irving to decide for the team. With the constant noise surrounding the team, Nash did do a fair job but lacked assertiveness.
Coaching superstars is no easy job as many would think as having the right resources is one thing and the execution of it is another thing.
