The Phoenix Suns are looking for a new head coach after kicking Jeff Hornacek to the curb on Monday, and a familiar name briefly emerged for consideration. Suns owner Robert Sarver reportedly has Steve Nash high on his list of coaching candidates.
Unfortunately for Sarver and the Suns, the feeling is not mutual. Nash is already a consultant for Golden State, and content to focus on that job and raising his three young children for now. (According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Nash even had to be persuaded to take that position, which only requires him to spend a few days per month tutoring the team’s guards.)
However, Yahoo Sports’ Chris Mannix writes that Nash already has his ticket punched for a post-playing-career role in the NBA if he wants it.
“Intelligent and widely respected, Nash’s potential is seemingly limitless. Coaching is an option, although Nash’s balky back could make a front-office position more appealing. Currently Nash is the general manager of the Canadian men’s national basketball team, a job he enjoys, friends say, and it’s a title he has held since 2012. But a write-your-own-ticket offer from Phoenix, where Nash remains hugely popular, could be too appealing to pass up. The Suns have a bright young general manager in Ryan McDonough, whose role was enhanced when Lon Babby, Phoenix’s former president of basketball operations, stepped down last summer, but many believe Sarver will do whatever it takes to lure Nash back.”
Nash played a total of 10 seasons for the Suns, winning back-to-back MVPs in the mid-2000s. He was the driving force behind the seven-seconds-or-less Suns teams that helped usher in the modern pace-and-space era in the NBA. Basketball seems to be in the former point guard’s future, but not being a head coach or even an assistant.
This would be a change of heart for Nash. He likes to dabble in many industries and never wanted to be a head coach. https://t.co/ocUMuMS1ZT
— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) February 1, 2016
Nash’s rebuff led the Suns to hire current assistant Earl Watson for the interim after interviewing him and assistants Corey Gaines and Nate Bjorkgern on Monday.
Suns have promoted assistant coach Earl Watson to interim head coach, a source told Yahoo Sports
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) February 1, 2016
A name to keep an eye on as a permanent replacement is former Suns head coach, and current 76ers assistant, Mike D’Antoni. He was the engineer behind the aforementioned seven-seconds-or-less attack, but has bounced around the NBA since leaving Phoenix after the 2007-08 season.
Whoever takes over will have their work cut out for them. The Suns sit at 14-35 — 13th in the Western Conference — and lost 15 of their last 17 leading up to Hornacek’s dismissal.
