Jerry Colangelo reacted to some comments made by Stephen A. Smith regarding the hiring of Steve Nash by the Brooklyn Nets.
Smith said Nash got hired by the Nets due to “white privilege”, pointing out how more experienced Black coaches were bypassed for the Nets job.
For his part, the Director of USA Basketball and chairman of the Basketball Hall of Fame does not agree with that opinion.
“I don’t think that’s fair to anybody involved. I don’t think it’s fair to Steve, obviously. He didn’t create (the disproportionate number of Black coaches in the NBA).
He was offered an opportunity, and he’s a big boy, he understood what saying ‘Yes’ might cause or create certain kinds of speculation. But he was willing to do that,” Jerry Colangelo said, via Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News.
Nash signed a four-year contract with the Nets.
