re: The Nets hire Steve Nash

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Supposedly KD and Nash have a relationship from Golden State and that is the reason for the hire. KD says Nash has the best basketball mind he has ever been around.

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Nash was one of the hardest working players in the league too. He and Dirk had keys to the Mavs practice court. During the season they regularly would show up and go work against each other. Saw them arriving to do this one night at 10:30 just as a Stars game was ending. Nash worked for hours getting rebounds, and taking off balance shots. When he made those kind of shots, it wasn't just luck.

Nash wouldn't drink during the season and really watched what he ate too. He was really committed to the game and his team. The Nets players better be ready to work.

He's played for some coaches with very different personalities. Don Nelson was a pretty direct, but the older he got, he was more fun to be around, and loved by his player. In his younger days, he would dress media people down if they asked a stupid question. I'm sure he was tough with his players when he thought he needed to be.

Once Avery Johnson came to the team as a player, he ran Dallas' practices. Avery had to work really hard to make the league, and had to be really smart to stay in it. He came through Gregg Popovich's Spurs system. As a player, he worked like a dog, and expected everyone else to do the same. He had a temper, so I'm sure he might have torn into the guys pretty often.

Don't know much about how Mike D'Antoni handled his players. He wasn't respected around the league for anything but his team's scoring when he got the Phoenix job. Even though the league doesn't allow guys to play much defense anymore, I still question whether he'll ever win an NBA championship. He seemed like a soft-spoken, in control, intelligent guy.

I don't know if Nash would think he should try to be like any of those guys, but you know he picked up some knowledge from all three.