The Brooklyn Nets have faced intense backlash since adding LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin to an already stacked roster.
The rich got richer, and the people are marching in streets (i.e. bitching on Twitter).
But Steve Nash isn’t having it, hitting back at the outrage in a Zoom call with reporters on Monday.
“We traded for James Harden, we gave up some really good young players and draft picks, tons of them, we got two guys in the buyout market that are big names and had great careers and are still able to contribute,” Nash said.
“It’s not like we did anything illegal so I don’t know what we’re supposed to do, not try to add to our roster and just sit pat? The idea of this league is try to put together the best team you can put together.”
Nash added that Brooklyn’s big-name singings hardly guaranteed them the championship that many are saying they’ve already bought.
“My experience with the Lakers, I was an All-Star the year before and I broke my knee my first or second game with the Lakers and my knee has never been the same, so you never know what’s around the corner,” Nash said.
“There were more than a few of us on that Lakers team that were on the wrong side of the hill, so it looked from the outside like it was going to be magical, it just never transpired. So nothing’s set in stone. So you’ve got to try to put together the best team you can and then you’ve got to try to build that team and that team has got to come together.”
Blake Griffin, meanwhile, could only laugh at the widespread outrage.
“It’s kind of funny to me, because for the last couple years all I’ve heard is how bad I am,” he told the New York Post. “You sign with this team and everybody’s like, ‘that’s not fair!’”
“People say whatever they want. I don’t put a whole lot of value in other people’s opinions. I trust the people I trust. If I don’t go to you for advice, then I’m probably not going to take your criticism. So I have that circle of people and I have that group of people that I trust, real basketball people; that’s who I listen to.
“I just think it’s funny. I guess you could say it’s amusing. I can’t speak for LaMarcus; I don’t know what people have been saying about him. That’s how I felt when I came here. I was hearing how bad I was, and now people care for some reason.”