Back in the mid-00s, Mike D’Antoni’s Phoenix Suns revolutionized basketball with its high-flying, Seven Seconds or Less offense. The whole operation was possible in large part to the brilliance of point guard Steve Nash, who won a pair of MVP awards with the Suns for his troubles.
A whole lot of time has passed since then, and a number of teams have adopted principles used by those Suns. Nash will presumably try to do this, too, as he’s now the head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Like many first-time head coaches, building out his staff is crucial, and on Friday morning, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN brought word that Nash will turn to his former head coach as an assistant, as D’Antoni, along with longtime assistant Ime Udoka, will head to Brooklyn.
Mike D’Antoni and Ime Udoka are finalizing deals to become assistant coaches under Steve Nash with the Brooklyn Nets, sources tell ESPN. Together, D’Antoni and Nash were the architects of the Seven Seconds or Less Offense with the Phoenix Suns in the mid-2000’s.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 30, 2020
The pair will join Jacque Vaughn as members of the Nets’ assistant coach staff. D’Antoni will join the Nets following his departure from the Houston Rockets, where he was the head coach from 2016 until a few months back, while Udoka was with the San Antonio Spurs for years before joining the Philadelphia 76ers in 2019. D’Antoni isn’t the only member of the 7SOL Suns who will help Nash make the transition to coaching, either, as Amar’e Stoudamire recently hopped on board Nash’s staff as a player development coach.