The Brooklyn Nets are not stopping during this offseason, and want to make clear they're one of the main candidates to win the championship next season.
Not only have they added Amar'e Stoudemire to Steve Nash's coaching staff, but now they have recruited veteran coach Mike D'Antoni as an assistant coach.
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
D'Antoni coached Nash in Phoenix from 2004-2008 and in Los Angeles with the Lakers from 2012-2014. He spent the past four years with the Houston Rockets before choosing to walk away without a contract extension at the end of the 2019-20 season.
The 69 year-old, who has won the NBA Coach of the Year Award twice, was 217-101 in four seasons as Rockets coach, advancing once to the Western Conference finals and three times to the conference semifinals.
Adrian Wojnarowski from ESPN also reported the Nets are signing Ime Udoka, who spent seven of the past eight seasons on Gregg Popovich's staff with the San Antonio Spurs.
Udoka was the top assistant with Brett Brown and the Philadelphia 76ers this past season and has been a candidate for several head-coaching jobs in recent years.