Raptors insider: Steve Nash was “heartbroken” by Net’s move because he understood Nick Nurse’s handling of the bench

The most widespread reaction to Steve Nash’s firing as Nets head coach this week was something along the lines of “good for him, glad he got parole.”

That’s understandable, and to get away from the cesspool/tire fire that the franchise is at the moment, the third-year coach had to be exonerated.

But there is another side, a personal side, that was interesting.

According to someone with direct knowledge of Nash’s immediate reaction, the Hall of Famer was partially “heartbroken” about the move.

That makes sense too.

No one — especially someone as competitive as Nash — wants to be tainted by failure, and while he needed to know that getting through it was an impossible situation in Brooklyn, he also needed to be stung when he was let go. It is a great measure of pride to have one of 30 similar jobs on earth, and to fail – under any circumstance – is a blow.

And let go at the failure of others’ level of support, as exemplified by this quote from Steve Kerr this week:

“I think he has all the qualities to be a brilliant coach. Brilliant,” Kerr said. “But it was a good memory for me and I think of all coaches that we are all at the whim of players, front offices and owners. You really need a solid situation to be successful as a coach in this league.”

Maybe Nash wasn’t the best coach in the game in the NBA, but in a way, that’s neither here nor there. Perhaps he would have thrived if he had had a consistent group of willing players, perhaps he would have grown into an excellent tactician to reflect the fact that he is already an excellent and fair leader.

We may never know, but we know.

Though Nash is better off staying away from Brooklyn, he may not feel fully “on probation” for some time. The pain that week of not getting the job done was real.

Make minutes count

Lots of guys played many minutes in the Raptors’ win in San Antonio on Wednesday, and games like this should calm the why doesn’t coach Nick Nurse play more on the bench crowd.

Not for long.

The way Nurse goes about it is simple: If he has to call out a Khem Birch or a Malachi Flynn or a Dalano Banton or a Thad Young for five minutes a night, he expects five minutes of hard play, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing as the boys will be in the next game.

It’s the epitome of the “Be ready when called” mentality; The fact is, the call doesn’t come in every game.

It should be so. Every game is a new game, a new challenge with new matchups, and the same rotation doesn’t make sense, especially at the back of the roster in, say, 10th-12th place.

All things being equal – and that’s unlikely given the inevitable injuries – the “bank” will be Chris Boucher, Precious Achiuwa, Christian Koloko and Otto Porter Jr. The 10th man? Some nights it was Birch, maybe Banton, maybe Young, maybe Flynn. But it will depend on that night’s needs, not last night’s outcome.

Times change’

Joel Embiid sat out the second of two games against the Raptors last week to “recover from a right knee injury,” and besides wondering when he might have picked up the injury he’s recovering from had to, another question came to my mind.

Believe me, some eyebrows were raised among NBA legends when I asked them what would have happened in their day if they had decided to take the sixth game of the season off.

“I would have played 20 years if I sat every game if I felt sore,” said one guy to be unnamed.

“Nowadays seven people decide on the phone whether someone plays or not,” was another comment.

And one or three more things

Send for the cards and letters

Always looking for submissions for the Sunday mailbag. All you need is an email to [email protected] and you’re done.

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