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     Saarang Kurra Bewarse Username: Saarang Post Number: 1770 Registered: 04-2015 Posted From: 206.29.176.52 Rating: N/A |
Zach Lowe..very will written on Nets Three years ago, the Brooklyn Nets were as dead as any NBA team has ever been. They had just wrapped a 21-win 2015-16 season. They had no young players of consequence. They had few draft assets; the Boston Celtics owned most of them through 2019 thanks to a trade that was and is considered one of the great heists in basketball history. Unless free agency guts the Toronto Raptors, the Nets with Durant recovering from an Achilles tear will probably enter next season in the second tier of Eastern Conference playoff teams -- ironically, right next to the Celtics, who pillaged the Nets in that 2013 Paul Pierce/Kevin Garnett trade only to watch Brooklyn swipe a good chunk of their carefully planned rebuild today. Irving is significantly better than D'Angelo Russell, but he does not by himself elevate a 42-win team into title contention. The hope is that the mega-leap comes with Durant's return in 2020-21. And it is a hope, not a lock. Durant might never be the same player again. We all hope he is, because Durant before crumpling to the court in Game 5 of the NBA Finals was on pace to be (at worst) one of the 10 greatest players ever -- with an outside shot at breaking the all-time scoring record. We just don't know. If Durant is 90 percent of his old self, a four-year max deal that might cap out the Nets going forward will be good value. If he's 70 or 75 percent or whatever figure you'd like to attach to "doesn't look the same," there is a downside to this contract that is unpleasant to think about. But even if he hits that 90 percent, it is hard to know what that missing 10 percent represents -- if it is the difference between an All-NBA player and a guy who can function as the best player on a championship team. Being 7-feet tall with an untouchable feathery jump shot helps. That alone will make Durant a fun pick-and-roll partner for Irving, the way he was with Stephen Curry for three seasons -- only the Nets figure to lean on that action more than the Warriors did. Ever since the rumblings about Durant and Irving joining forces burbled up, there has been noise within league circles that perhaps they will not fit all that well together -- that they will suffer from the "only one ball" problem. Nah. They are both elite shooters who carry immense value away from the ball. The defining quality of Durant's on-court career is his ability to play alongside superstar teammates without sacrificing any of what makes him great or taking away anything that makes those teammates great. He is in some stylistic ways -- namely, time spent controlling the ball and the offense -- the greatest second option of all time. Joining with a ball-dominant point guard dashes any dreams of seeing Durant fully unleashed as the undisputed No. 1 option. There will be no permanent Slim Reaper posting 33-9-9 lines over full seasons. Working with Irving might resemble his partnership with Russell Westbrook on the Oklahoma City Thunder. And that's fine. Durant as he recovers from traumatic injury and ages into his 30s will need a younger All-Star to carry chunks of the offense the way LeBron James needed Irving to win a title with the Cleveland Cavaliers. They will form a lethal, switch-proof, pick-and-roll combination that works both ways: Durant screening for Irving, and vice versa. Remember: Irving has a long history working that action with James. |