NBA preseason has come to an end, and the new season has two days left to officially start. As the team that has attracted the most fans this summer, Nets 's performance in the preseason can be said to be low and high, with 19 points defeating 76ers and 29 points defeating Heat , but following the continuous defeat of Bucks and Timberwolves , it is eye-catching. Simmons 's ability to connect the team is indeed the top level in the league. Irving , which has become more and more stable, and there is also the Durant , which has more and more playing time. In his own words, he wishes that every minute of the new season will be on the court. According to a reporter from the Nets team, Kokoshkov (formerly the coach of Suns ) reshaped the team's offensive system after coming to the Nets, and the players felt good in the new system. Perhaps what the Nets follow the team reporter means is that it seems that the Nets win consecutively, which has little to do with , Nash, . Where is Durant? Can he lead the team to compete for the championship trophy in the new season?
This summer, Durant's situation can be described as "shameful". It was surprisingly submitted to the team's departure application, and the potential next player given is a championship team of the Suns, Heat, Celtics . Durant was named "a superstar used to standing on the shoulders of the giants." But it was easy for the Nets to keep Durant, and the Timberwolves helped a lot. Gobert can get 10 chips, including 4 first-round picks. The Nets have 100 ways to refuse the next player's offer, provided that it is at least one level higher than Gobert's trading offer! If you want to go, Durant still put pressure on the Nets management during the offseason, either letting general manager Max and coach Nash leave, or I leave. The result was also very embarrassing. Nash sat firmly in the position of coach. The coach who Durant himself chose looked at rest for peace of mind, and Max was also praised by Boss Tsai. Didn’t Durant stay with the Nets?
Can Durant lead the team be considered successful? In fact, to be precise, whether it was the Thunder period or the Warriors period, Durant could be regarded as the core of the team, but he was definitely not the leader. Westbrook and Curry are better equipped to this tag than him. After coming to the Nets and forming a team with Irving, Irving's words "Everyone can be the Nets coach" pushed Nash to the forefront, but the Nets really improved because they connected the team after Harden and came to the team. When Harden left the Nets at the beginning of this year, although the Nets also entered the playoffs with their outstanding performance in the last few games, the Nets also became the only team among the 16 teams in the playoffs to be swept! As the end point of the historical level, Durant is no longer connected, which is like a joke. In addition, one thing is worth mentioning. The Nets do beat the Bucks, but if the Nets want to break out of the Eastern Conference, they must at least defeat three opponents in the playoffs. Will the Nets beat the 76ers? K Heat? Will you defeat the Celtics?
The question is here, let’s review Durant’s performance in these 4 games in the preseason. In the first game, Durant made 4 of 8 shots in 19 minutes, scored 13 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, the team suffered a crushing defeat; in the second game, Durant played 26 minutes, 8 of 12 shots, 22 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assists, the team suffered a crushing defeat; in the third game, Durant played 31 minutes, 7 of 17 shots, 19 points, 3 rebounds and 8 assists; in the fourth game, Durant played 31 minutes, 7 of 17 shots, 2 rebounds and 6 assists. Pay attention to two points. First, more and more playing time can play for more than 30 minutes in the preseason, and the regular season guaranteed 37-38 minutes. Nash can do this; second, Durant averaged nearly 5 assists per game in 26 minutes, and only more in the regular season. This also reflects Durant's attitude. He just wants to take on one shoulder and organize the connection while scoring. It seems that he doesn't trust others very much, but this will only weaken Durant's lethality.
Irving can't help. Actually, Irving is really strong, very strong.In the Bucks, Irving scored 23 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in 8 of 19 shots, forcing Antetokounmpo to have to make a bad shot! In the Timberwolves, Irving scored 8 of 17 shots and scored 26 points and 4 assists, against Russell , including Edwards , and dribbling alone, making the opponent play around. But Irving is definitely an instability factor. He claims to be the leader, but since he left Cavaliers , he has been disrupting the atmosphere of his team. He can break out in some important games, but no one can say whether he can still play in the next game. He has ten thousand reasons to suddenly be absent. For Durant, the good news is that Irving is entering the contract year and he will win the next contract with his actions. But now even the Nets management doesn't believe in Irving, and Irving can leave the Nets freely next summer, and he has nothing to worry about. This is the same as the Nets traded Harden at the end of 2020. Irving suddenly disappeared, Durant's playing time soared to 40 minutes per game, and he had to bear all the pressure himself.
The Nets' paper lineup is really not weak, starting Simmons + Irving + O'Neal + Durant + Clarkston, bench: Joha, Curry Jr., Mills , Morris , Thomas, Sharp, Edwards, Warren and others are fighting. But from Durant's perspective, he must be clear that people should do what kind of people should do. He is still the leader of the Nets in the eyes of the outside world. He should shoulder the heavy responsibility of siege. He should stand from the team's perspective when there is a problem. He should unite this team to strive for the championship. But now, Durant is throwing away his most precious things, and at the same time, he is not a qualified leader.
is actually the most suitable point guard like Harden. At the Warriors, the unball system of Splash Brothers allowed Durant to take over the game at certain specific moments. Durant is a super giant who can increase the team's upper limit and is definitely not a tool to ensure the team's lower limit! Simmons looks like he has good organizational skills, but how long is it? How many games can I play? Irving will not go into details. Durant’s road ahead is very difficult. At the same time, no one should forget that his Achilles tendon, with Nash’s current usage, is difficult to last for a long time.
