USA TODAY International Edition
Nets have work to do to sweep away dysfunction
The Brooklyn Nets are the most dysfunctional team in the NBA.
The Nets’ season ended the same way it began – with problems that impact the franchise’s future.
It began when guard Kyrie Irving refused to get the COVID- 19 vaccine, making him ineligible to play in games in New York because of the city’s vaccine mandate, and it ended in a disastrous loss to the Boston Celtics in the first round with Irving and Kevin Durant struggling and Ben Simmons unable to play.
The Celtics swept the Nets with a 116- 112 victory on Game 4 on Monday, and while it ended the Nets’ season in the only sweep of the first round, it doesn’t mean the misery is over for Brooklyn.
The Nets, who opened the season with championship expectations and by the finish were further away from a title than they were a year ago, have several important issues to resolve before the start of the 2022- 23 season.
The accountability extends beyond players and coaches and includes the front office and ownership who initially said they wouldn’t use Irving as a part- time player, only to retreat from that position and allowed him to play in road games until late in the season when New York City dropped its vaccine mandate for performers and professional athletes.
Irving’s inconsistent availability took its toll on the team, and by February, James Harden had enough and wanted out of Brooklyn, which resulted in the trade that sent Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers and Simmons to the Nets.
Simmons has yet to play for the Nets, and as Simmons and the Nets moved toward his season debut for Game 4, Simmons told the team he wasn’t ready, setting off a flurry of hot takes condemning Simmons as the second- most despised high- profile person in the world, just behind Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Today’s sports discourse is not built around nuance, and some of the hot takes have been way over the top. There’s room to criticize Simmons for how he has handled the situation this season while still remembering he is a human being.
There’s another angle to the Simmons situation that isn’t getting enough attention. Did anyone expect
Simmons to save the Nets? A guy who hasn’t played all season and has dealt with physical and mental health is supposed to drop into a playoff series against one of the league’s hottest teams and dig the Nets out of a 3- 0 hole?
It’s almost managerial misconduct to put him into that situation. It would’ve been unnecessary pressure. There’s a reason the Denver Nuggets’ Jamal Murray isn’t playing against the Golden State Warriors and the New Orleans Pelicans’ Zion Williamson isn’t playing against the Phoenix Suns. Playoff basketball is a different game, and if you haven’t played all season, the speed and intensity will eat you up.
Simmons needs to come back next season as physically and mentally healthy as possible so he can contribute. It’s on the Nets, Simmons and Simmons’ representation to help him use all the tools possible to ensure that happens.
It will be an interesting offseason for Irving, who can become a free agent. His decision to decline the vaccine played havoc on Brooklyn’s season, and he had the gall after Game 3 to lament Brooklyn’s lack of cohesion this season. His decision was responsible for that.
Irving made clear in 2019 that a major reason he signed with Brooklyn was so he could return home ( he grew up in nearby New Jersey) and be near family and friends, and he also wanted to play alongside friend Kevin Durant.
He is unpredictable, so it won’t be surprising if he stays with Brooklyn, and it won’t be surprising if he leaves. But if he leaves, that championship window the Nets had when they signed Durant and Irving in 2019 just closed a little more.
The first round exposed the Nets in several ways, and nothing is more important than getting Durant more help – from his teammates and coaching staff. Against a physical defense that knocked him all over the court with multiple defenders of different sizes, strength and speed and oftentimes double teams, Durant struggled offensively.
He committed at least five turnovers in the first three games against Boston and shot just 38.6% from the field in the series.
Though the Nets don’t have salary cap flexibility in the offseason, that doesn’t mean Durant won’t get help. Sharpshooting guard Joe Harris missed almost the entire season with an ankle injury, and his absence, especially as a scorer and floor spacer, hurt.
Irving played in just 29 games. If he returns, he will be available for home and away games from the start to the end of the season, and there’s no disputing Irving’s talent.
Also, if the 25- year- old Simmons comes back ready, the Nets get a player who was a three- time All- Star by the time he was 24.
The Nets can still be a title contender.
And the optimist will point out the Nets lost four games to Boston by a combined 18 points. Close and yet so far away.
But the Nets also need help from the coaching staff, and it’s worth considering whether Steve Nash will be back. As Durant struggled, Nash didn’t have many answers to help him out. It’s understandable that with Durant and Irving, two of the game’s best one- on- one players, that isolation basketball can be effective. But in a seven- game series against a single opponent focused on stopping Durant, iso basketball needs help, and Nash didn’t provide it.
Nash’s first two seasons weren’t easy.
He took the job starting in 2020- 21, in front of empty arenas for the most the part, COVID- 19 protocols and players with the virus. And this season provided plenty of trouble out of his control.
It can be argued he deserves a full season with a complete and engaged roster and away from COVID- 19 protocols and vaccine issues.
But we also know this is a cutthroat business. If Nash is back, he must improve, too.
The Nets face an important offseason with much work ahead to distance themselves from the problems of this season.