Kyrie Irving returns from suspension. Ben Simmons has collected his three consecutive games that reflect his past prominence. And Kevin Durant continues to be Kevin Durant, his transcendent scoring machine averaging 30-plus points per game and a head finally freed from his coach who tried to kick him out over the summer.
But don’t be put off by any of them.this brooklyn nets team, unmanned battle Philadelphia 76ers A team without Joel Embiid, James Harden and Tyrese Maxie lost 115-106 on Tuesday night. Come see the drama and stay for the disappointment.
WARNING: Do not inhale.
The illusion may be stronger, but the farce remains the same: This talent-laden group is a time bomb, not a title contender. They’re sparkles without a real chance to sparkle.
Sure, like all things in sports, they can set off an upset. Durant, Irving and Simmons’ three-game winning streak solidifies against all odds and history as the regular season triumph parade unfolds. It will make way for all the hype-worthy playoff runs that have unfolded in Brooklyn since Kyrie and KD teamed up.
But history, common sense, and many NBA League sources say more common is more of the same.
Star Power is essential to Championships, but Chemistry is the secret sauce that goes with it.that’s one of the reasons golden state warriors. .
this recent los angeles lakers The team will tell you the flip side of the coin – talent without unity can turn into blame without hope.
But LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and Anthony Davis are TED talks about friendship and chemistry compared to this Nets team.
Let’s start with Irving, whose basketball presence in Brooklyn has so far fallen short of expectations. Irving is extremely talented. But aside from playing with LeBron in his prime (big asterisk), Irving has been negative for nearly every team he’s been on for years. literally.
And after the Nets lost to the Sixers on Tuesday night, Brooklyn fell 3-7 with Irving joining the lineup. The team is 5-3 without a star point guard.
It might sound like a statistical anomaly drawn from a ridiculously small sample size, but let’s dig a little deeper. Look at the facts, the lack of influence he had during his time away from LeBron.
Kyrie Irving is cleveland cavaliershis team is doing better in win percentage with him on the floor as opposed to without him in just one season.
1.
It was my first season in Boston five years ago.
Kyrie’s team cold hard comps in the regular season are impressive in comparison with and without him.
Here’s the scorecard looking back over the last five seasons: He improved the team his 1st time. There was another one that was dead heat by win percentage. And there were three times when he was successful as an albatross.
Bad times are more common these days. In his three of the last four seasons, Killy’s presence on the floor has put his team under . That’s his size in a sample of his 83 games over three seasons (basically a full regular season) and Kyrie turns a good team into a loser.
So no, Kyrie’s drama at its best and ugliest, embodied by the latest self-mutilation saga, is not the price to pay for his greatness. is the insight of
And only Kirie.
Simmons, arguably more than any other player in NBA history, can inspire confidence in an important moment. A missed dunk in the playoffs and then head coach Doc Rivers throwing him under the bus might have broken him.
Yes, he has played well the last few games. Whatever the combination of physical and mental injuries, no player deserves to have his career ruined for getting him this far. But as others like Markelle Fultz can attest, his life isn’t fair.
If a large part of your plan for success in the NBA depends on Ben Simmons, then that plan becomes a big problem when the pressure builds up in the big game and his memory and weakness have to feel 1,000 times bigger. increase.
Jack Vaughan has been asked to host this frustration feast, and he has three flaws. He has never had more than 23 wins in his one season. And the fact that he was apparently Durant’s approved second choice after the Nets pulled out of hiring suspended Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka.
It’s not an attack on Vaughan. Nobel Peace Prize winners may have trouble keeping this group together. But it’s hard to see a second-choice coach clearly endorsed by a single superstar who’s found the secret to a disturbing cocktail of frustration, stress, and disappointment.
Durant stepped into all of this pressure, and his talent is extreme even by historical standards. But in the NBA, we tend to stare at the stars, get blinded by what we see there, and struggle to focus on the details that matter.
Durant, like this entire Nets team, has never won an NBA championship. It’s hard to see through his greatness, but star Durant shined so brightly that he overlooked his lack of a résumé from LeBron-like winner Stephen Curry & Co.
It’s hard to understand what would have happened if last year’s Golden State Warriors run didn’t convince people of this, but Curry was always the best and most important player on those Warriors teams. , becoming the second best player on the two championship teams KD played for.
Do you know what disproves that? Just as Curry won without Durant, winning without Curry proved his worth as a champion, NBA Finals MVP, and all-time great capable of carrying a team to the finish line.
Durant has never done it. With Kyrie Irving as his teammate and Ben Simmons as a key piece, he never does in this Nets squad that gets called up in moments of pressure.
