Ex-Knicks Star Reignites Beef With Nets’ Coach In Latest Interview

Nate Robinson

Getty Nate Robinson hoists his Slam Dunk Championship at 2010 All-Star Weekend

An underrated aspect of the Brooklyn Nets’ success thus far is the coaching staff assembled by Brooklyn’s General Manager Sean Marks. At the head of the pack is two-time MVP and Hall of Famer Steve Nash.

Though this is his first year drawing up game plans, his resume as a player and plethora of basketball knowledge has made him the perfect candidate for the seven seconds or less system that the Nets are looking to build.

The only person better equipped to hold the position Nash is in right now would be his former Suns’ coach and most recent addition to his coaching staff, Mike D’Antoni.

But not everyone thinks so highly of the veteran coach.

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Nate Robinson Rips Mike D’Antoni

Former Knicks star Nate Robinson recalls the sour period in his career where he played for D’Antoni on the New York Knicks. He sounded off during the most recent episode of Untold Stories.

“It was tough. People don’t know s*** I used to go through,” the former Slam Dunk Champion said via Radio.com.

“Like I would try to have meetings with him, try to figure out why I wasn’t playing, and he just didn’t want to speak to me. He ignored me sometimes…Didn’t even explain it to me.”

 

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Robinson Was Ready When His Number Was Called

During the interview Robinson details inviting his mother to one of his games even though he still was not logging many minutes.

“I called my Mom… ‘I need a familiar face, pick-me-up, I haven’t been playing. Good to have you at the game just to be there. Just to know you are there,’ He continued.

Robinson just wanted his mom to be there for moral support, but something happened that night that nobody could see coming.

“The game goes on, first quarter, and coach calls my name, and I didn’t move. I just stood there, we’re in the huddle, he’s like ‘Nate!’ I was like, ‘S—t, he ain’t talking to me.’ My teammates are like ‘he calling you fool,’” Robinson recalled.

“You know how in ‘Waterboy’ they’re [singing] ‘water sucks’ and he’s picturing the coach’s face?” Robinson said. “I was picturing everybody’s face on the team was D’Antoni. I was like, ‘I’m out here. It’s time,’” he said.

Robinson would go on to have one of the best games of his career that night.

“I was like, ‘Oh yeah, it’s on. It’s crackin’,” he said. “We end up going to overtime, come look at the stats, we win the game: 41 points, six or seven rebounds, six or seven assists, a couple steals. Had a helluva game.”

Nate Robinson has been out of the league since 2015. While he isn’t the star that he once was, he still hopes to one day play in the NBA again.

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