Nets fans, media blast team over head coaching decision
Brooklyn Nets fans made their feelings known when it was reported that the team was close to hiring Ime Udoka as its next head coach. For an organization already dealing with a face of the franchise promoting anti-Semitic content, the latest unforced error is a bridge too far.
Brooklyn (2-5, 12th in Eastern Conference) made the announcement hours after the team and former head coach Steve Nash mutually parted ways.
The reaction to the news was sharp, with most denouncing the Nets for considering hiring Udoka after he was suspended in late September by the Boston Celtics for an inappropriate consensual relationship with a subordinate.
Zach Lowe went on ESPN's "NBA Today" and was vocal about his frustrations.
"They fire Steve Nash and without any explanation hire the coach that the Celtics just suspended for what they deemed an inappropriate consensual relationship, which either means one of two things... they didn't vet Udoka at all, or ... they've been vetting him this entire time... I'm so tired of it."
His words were echoed by fans and reporters.
A franchise defending a player more interested in sharing anti-Semitic views than winning games is already bad enough. A franchise doing that and hiring a coach with character concerns is impossible to rationalize.
The Nets are in a difficult position, one which ESPN's Brian Windhorst suggests is of their own making. Before news of Nash's firing, Windhorst was a guest on ESPN's "First Take" and was asked about the Irving situation and what, if anything, the Nets would do.
"They're not going to do anything. They haven't done anything for years. They let him do whatever he wants. It's been the case forever... They've never punished him for anything. How can they start now?"
No one should feel sorry for the Nets making one bad decision after another.
It's their fans that deserve better.
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