SAN CLARA, Calif. (KRON) - The Golden State Warriors open the season Tuesday against the Brooklyn Nets and two familiar faces in first-year head coach Steve Nash and Kevin Durant.
In addition to working as a player consultant for the Warriors just a few seasons ago, Nash is one of the most famous Santa Clara University alumni.
Years before he was a two time NBA MVP and 8-time all-star, Nash was a relatively unknown Canadian point guard recruited to play at Santa Clara.
"I met him my first weekend on campus. You know he just possessed the personality that people gravitated to. We had 7 of us that came in, he was our leader from day one," said Drew Zurek, Nash's teammate at Santa Clara.
Zurek, a 6'9 center, was in the same recruiting class as Nash. He and Nash lived together and became close friends, while the Broncos enjoyed major success. They won the West Coast Conference multiple times, and you may remember their big upset of Arizona in the '93 NCAA tournament.
"I got lucky enough to have a great coach in Dick Davey and incredible teammates that are my friends still to this day, we still have an incredibly close group. It meant a lot to me. It was very informative as a player and now as a coach," said Nash.
Former Broncos Coach Dick Davey told KRON 4's Kylen Mills that Nash is the most intelligent player he's ever coached, and he believes Nash has the potential to be an extremely successful coach.
Zurek says he wasn't shocked when he heard that the Nets hired him.
"He's gonna become a great coach. He just, he's not an individual first, he's always been a team first. Especially in today's NBA, that's gonna be critical and important," said Zurek.
Zurek says he and Nash have stayed in touch, along with several other Broncos like Randy Winn, who played professional baseball for the Giants, or LLoyd Pierce who's the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks.
Zurek says they try to coordinate a "guys trip" every year, and if covid allows, they know where their gathering this year is going to be.
"We've talked about doing a boys trip when the Hawks play the Nets. It's creating the perfect opportunity to do it, and we have some friendly chatter going who would you cheer for who would you want to win? IT's fun though," said Zurek.
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from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3nKTm0g
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