The 2012-13 season was supposed to be a return to glory for the Los Angeles Lakers. During the summer of 2012, they had traded for Hall of Famers Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in the hopes that both men would give Kobe Bryant the support he needed to win yet another NBA championship while he was still an elite player.
Things didn't exactly go as planned. Nash, one of the best, if not the best, point guards of his era, suffered a fracture in his left leg in just his second game with the team and missed almost seven weeks as a result. The Lakers started the season 1-4, causing then-coach Mike Brown to be fired, and when the team reached out to Phil Jackson about returning as coach, it looked like things would soon be OK.
But instead, Los Angeles hired Mike D'Antoni, the coach of the mid-2000s Phoenix Suns during the "Seven Seconds or Less" era. In a recent interview with ESPN, he admitted that he took the job because of Nash's presence on the team.
"One of the reasons why I took the Laker job -- the biggest reason, other than I wanted to coach -- was that Steve was going to be there," D'Antoni said. "So I'm thinking that if Steve and I can get this and put this together, we could be really good. And I remember asking them before I signed, 'I know Steve's hurt, when's he coming back?'
"And they go, 'Well, he'll be back by Friday. And if we can get you to sign and you get in here, he'll be almost ready to go right when you get here.' That kind of pushed me over the hill.
#steve #nash
Things didn't exactly go as planned. Nash, one of the best, if not the best, point guards of his era, suffered a fracture in his left leg in just his second game with the team and missed almost seven weeks as a result. The Lakers started the season 1-4, causing then-coach Mike Brown to be fired, and when the team reached out to Phil Jackson about returning as coach, it looked like things would soon be OK.
But instead, Los Angeles hired Mike D'Antoni, the coach of the mid-2000s Phoenix Suns during the "Seven Seconds or Less" era. In a recent interview with ESPN, he admitted that he took the job because of Nash's presence on the team.
"One of the reasons why I took the Laker job -- the biggest reason, other than I wanted to coach -- was that Steve was going to be there," D'Antoni said. "So I'm thinking that if Steve and I can get this and put this together, we could be really good. And I remember asking them before I signed, 'I know Steve's hurt, when's he coming back?'
"And they go, 'Well, he'll be back by Friday. And if we can get you to sign and you get in here, he'll be almost ready to go right when you get here.' That kind of pushed me over the hill.
#steve #nash
4 days ago
