Between the arrival of James Harden in January 2021 and the resounding victory in Philadelphia this Thursday evening, a lot has happened in Brooklyn. A real thriller series, with several very important episodes, was played out at the Nets.
The 2018 MVP had joined Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving with the idea of dominating the NBA. But injuries killed their playoff ambitions. Then, the refusal to be vaccinated weighed down Kyrie Irving, dismissed and then only used in away matches. Finally, James Harden requested and obtained his departure in February…
“The past two years have taught us all to be patient and calm”explains Sean Marks, the GM, to Heavy. “We are still learning. We can never breathe, never tell ourselves that it’s going to be fine because we don’t know anything about it. “
The workforce was again upset last February, with the arrival of Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond. At the same time, Kevin Durant was injured and Kyrie Irving only played one game out of two.
Regrets with James Harden, expectations with Ben Simmons
Since 2019 and the signings of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, the Nets still have huge potential on paper. But it has never really been exploited over time and on the courts.
“In basketball and team sport, chemistry and camaraderie are essential. We have to find a way to do this, from the coaching staff to the players, everyone has to do it. I see that they are more and more convinced of this and that they try as much as possible that everyone is on the same wavelength. You can’t fake all of that. Do we have time this season? We have to believe it. There’s enough talent here but there are still things we don’t master. Will we be complete? With everyone healthy?
Sean Marks is aware that the whole franchise lives in urgency, even if the regrets of the experience with James Harden are enormous and that with Ben Simmons has not yet started.
” 100 % “, responds the leader on the pain of seeing this “Big Three” explode without having shown its true face. “Everyone, and the three players in the lead, are frustrated. We couldn’t see what it could give. We are on a big ‘What if?’ and we hate it. Afterwards, in this world of the NBA, you have to make difficult decisions and you don’t have time to wait. As difficult as this exchange was (the one between Harden and Simmons), we are happy with what we have. But again, it’s a question of potential because Ben still hasn’t played. “
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Kevin Durant | 39 | 36.6 | 51.9 | 37.2 | 89.8 | 0.5 | 6.6 | 7.2 | 5.8 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 2.0 | 29.1 |
| Kyrie Irving | 17 | 36.5 | 47.7 | 40.3 | 90.8 | 0.5 | 4.1 | 4.6 | 5.4 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 2.6 | 26.2 |
| James Harden | 44 | 37.0 | 41.4 | 33.2 | 86.9 | 1.0 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 10.2 | 4.8 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 22.5 |
| Seth Curry | 10 | 31.6 | 45.9 | 44.6 | 81.8 | 0.2 | 3.2 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 2.6 | 15.0 |
| Lamarcus Aldridge | 45 | 22.8 | 55.4 | 31.1 | 87.3 | 1.6 | 4.0 | 5.6 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.6 | 13.5 |
| Patty Mills | 65 | 30.2 | 41.9 | 41.6 | 81.1 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 12.6 |
| Joe Harris | 14 | 30.2 | 45.2 | 46.6 | 83.3 | 0.4 | 3.6 | 4.0 | 1.0 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 11.3 |
| Andre Drummond | 9 | 21.2 | 56.7 | 0.0 | 50.0 | 2.9 | 6.6 | 9.4 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 2.6 | 10.3 |
| cam thomas | 55 | 19.1 | 43.5 | 27.4 | 83.1 | 0.2 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 9.5 |
| Nicholas Claxton | 31 | 20.0 | 63.8 | 0.0 | 57.4 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 5.2 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 8.3 |
| Bruce Brown, Jr. | 57 | 22.4 | 49.4 | 37.1 | 75.3 | 1.4 | 3.2 | 4.6 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 7.5 |
| Goran Dragic | 6 | 20.6 | 36.6 | 33.3 | 61.5 | 0.8 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 7.2 |
| Blake Griffin | 51 | 17.8 | 42.0 | 24.3 | 72.2 | 1.1 | 3.1 | 4.2 | 1.9 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 6.6 |
| Day’ron Sharpe | 32 | 12.2 | 57.7 | 28.6 | 58.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 5.0 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 6.2 |
| Kessler Edwards | 33 | 22.7 | 39.8 | 34.7 | 83.3 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.9 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 6.1 |
| James Johnson | 50 | 19.4 | 46.9 | 26.7 | 52.9 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 3.5 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 2.5 | 6.0 |
| Deandre’ Bembry | 48 | 19.8 | 56.8 | 41.7 | 60.0 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 5.8 |
| David Duke | 21 | 16.2 | 36.1 | 24.3 | 81.0 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 3.2 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 5.0 |
| Jevon Carter | 46 | 12.0 | 33.3 | 33.1 | 70.0 | 0.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.0 | 3.6 |
| Paul Millsap | 24 | 11.2 | 37.6 | 22.2 | 70.6 | 1.2 | 2.5 | 3.7 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 3.4 |
| Langston Galloway | 4 | 14.6 | 38.5 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.2 | 3.0 |
| James Ennis | 2 | 6.8 | 28.6 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 2.5 |
| Shaquille Harrison | 2 | 11.3 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 |
| Wenyen Gabriel | 1 | 1.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
