HOW FAR CAN BROOKLYN REALLY GO?

NBA / Basketball

Written by Eddie Huband

After all that…It looks like the Brooklyn Nets will be running it back this year after Kevin Durrant announced his recommitment to the team. But while on paper the roster is as tantalizing as ever, there are quite a lot of variables to consider when thinking about what this team’s ceiling really is.

Source (Background Photo): Getty Images

The Nets currently have the third-best odds to win the title according to Fan Duel, Which if you asked me is far-fetched. Look, when you have Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, two of the best offensive players ever to grace a basketball court, your ceiling is going to be high.

But it seems like the high expectations are coming more from a place of perception rather than fact and reality.

So let’s break it all down, and of course, we’ll start with Durant. Where else?

For starters, I have serious questions about his working relationship with head coach Steve Nash, GM Sean Marx and even Irving. This is a guy who publicly disowned his coach and general manager in what was basically a “screw you” to the entire organization.

I have no doubts that come training camp everyone will be all Kumbaya saying the right things, but whether that will last a whole season or not remains to be seen.

He’ll also be 34 when the season starts and has had a major injury history, begging the question of how much more he has in the tank of being genuinely great.

Then, there’s Kyrie Irving who also seemingly wanted out this summer before realizing that, well, no one really wanted to take him. For all the praise Kyrie Irving receives for being “the most talented player ever to play the game” if you break down what he’s actually done of significance in the last six years… it’s really not that much.

Irving’s last meaningful playoff performance came in the 2017 playoffs, two franchises ago.

He’s routinely messed at least 20 games a season dating back to his rookie campaign, and constantly undermines both franchise and teammates with cryptic off-court shenanigans.

For a team already with a media circus swirling around them for a variety of reasons, Irving being on his best behaviour and staying out of headlines will be a necessity. If nothing else for just the sanity of poor Steve Nash (who looks like he’s aged about 17 years since becoming the head coach two seasons ago).

Irving is also a 30-year-old point guard who is under 6 feet and slight in frame. Those types of players typically don’t age well. See Allen Iverson.

Maybe Irving will wake up realizing that in a contract year he’s got to at least look like he cares during the regular season if he wants another payday.

But given how the last few years have played out, I wouldn’t bet my money on a full season without at least something weird going on.

Ben Simmons is the wildcard in this whole situation. In theory, his game complements Durant and Irving perfectly as he’d be able to focus on using his defensive gifts, and wouldn’t have too much pressure on him for the score of the basketball.

However, no one on the planet knows where this guy’s head is at.

Put it this way, I certainly wouldn’t want to be in a position where I’d have to count on Ben Simmons to be my third-best player in a quest for a championship. He may prove us wrong, but until he steps on a court again I have a hard time putting any faith at all that he’s mentally ready to compete at a high level.

Throw in Seth Curry who’s coming off surgery, Joe Harris who hasn’t played in over a year, and a frontcourt whose only decent player is Nic Claxton, and it’s easy to see all the things that could get in the way of the Nets having a good season.

Having said all of this they still have a ton of talent which ultimately is what the NBA is all about. In the East Milwaukee and Boston are clearly in a league of their own in my opinion, but the Nets could certainly sneak into the top three seed just behind those two if things break right.

Or they could bottom out, miss the playoffs, and see Durant and Irving both gone by next summer.

Either scenario is well within the realm of possibility.