Last year it was the rash of untimely injuries coupled with a pandemic-shortened and disrupted season that contributed to a Nets' second round playoff exit.
Now with a year of coaching under his belt, but without his former coach and top assistant Mike D'Antoni, Steve Nash will have the weight of the world on his shoulders to deliver on the Brooklyn Nets title expectations.
With a hobbled James Harden and Kyrie Irving sidelined in the playoffs, the Nets offense was Kevin Durant centric, without the ball movement and pace of a typical D'Antoni system.
Brooklyn looked stagnant offensively and had it not been for the heroics of Durant to force Milwaukee to the brink of elimination, the Nets may have been ousted even earlier in the series.
Dantoni's signature switching defense was preyed on by a more physically dominating Bucks team and Nash's unwillingness to expand his bench rotation left the offense riding and dying on the broad shoulders of Durant.
D'Antoni is a highly respected coach in the league and is one of the pioneers on the modern day 3-point happy, up-tempo most teams employ. The long time NBA coach is deserving of another chance to lead a team and garnered a considerable amount of interest from several teams.
Now Nash won't have a sounding board or mentor at his side and will need to do everything on his own, with limited coaching experience and little room for error.
The second-year coach needs to maximize the effectiveness of the league's most talented roster because falling short of a title will put his job in jeopardy.
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