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Showing posts with label Kyrie Irving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kyrie Irving. Show all posts

It's put up or shut-up time for Irving, KD in Brooklyn




 Kyrie Irving will need to show up and show out with the Brooklyn Nets this year if he's hoping to net the long-term contract he feels he deserves. 

Sean Marks and Joe Tsai were reluctant to dole out a mega deal for the talented superstar without assurances that he would be available and willing to play in the vast majority of games this year.

The contract standoff dominated the off-season chatter with Irving unexpectedly opting-in to his deal to stay with the Nets for at least the 2022-23 season.

All signs indicate that Irving is raring and ready to prove he naysayers wrong and let his play do the talking. Unfortunately for the superbly talented shooting guard, injuries, vaccine compliance issues and missing games for personal reasons have tarnished his reputation as one of the league's greats.

At age 30, Irving is approaching the prime years of his career and a crossroads where he'll either need to ball out or bail out with the Nets still setting their sights on an NBA title.

A disgruntled Kevin Durant has officially rescinded his trade request, but things can quickly go South for him and Irving if they don't start the season on a winning track. Durant's incessant tweeting and debating with fans makes for some entertaining drama, but if the Nets are a dysfunctional mess like they were a season ago, even the most staunch Durant and Irving supporters will start to turn on the dynamic duo.

Look for Irving to play inspired ball , but it still remains to be seen whether the commitment he's made to the team this off-season will stand the test of time and be sustained throughout the upcoming season. Durant is content enough now, but holding together a locker room with supersized, yet fragile egos will be a daunting task for Steve Nash and company.


Market for Durant, Irving goes cold, duo likely to run it back with Nets

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With each passing day, it's appearing more and more likely that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving will at least start the season in a Brooklyn Nets uniform. 

 This comes after Durant sent shockwaves throughout the NBA by requesting a trade away from the Nets on June 29. 

 Over two weeks has passed since that date, NBA Summer League will wrap up this weekend with executives heading back to their respective cities. 

 While Sean Marks has had face time with Masai Ujiri, Rob Pelinka, James Jones and other general managers likely linked to a potential Durant or Irving deal, there's reportedly no momentum toward any trade. 

 As things stand today, Durant and Irving appear likely to run it back with Ben Simmons in the fold for the first time along with off-season additions Royce O'Neal and T.J. Warren. 

Despite the turmoil, there's no reason to think Brooklyn can't compete for a top spot on the conference with an improved supporting cast and full-time Irving. 

 Now, the parties will need to reconcile their differences and unify to chase an NBA championship that has eluded the Nets for their entire existence in the league.

Could Nets do unthinkable and trade Kyrie for Harden?

 




Before you head for the comments and call foul on this idea, I promise there is a shred of logic. There's been a lot of noise regarding the Nets ongoing negotiations with Kyrie Irving on a long-term deal. While many leaks, mainly from Kyrie's camp, are intimating that Irving has a wishlist of teams he'd consider destinations via the sign-and-trade route. 

If Marks let's Irving walk to a team with cap space or Irving takes considerably less money to join a contender, Kevin Durant could be soon out the door behind him by way of a trade request.

Perhaps somewhat surprising is that the Philadelphia 76ers are among the squads Irving would consider if he leaves Brooklyn. Not many teams have the cap space to sign Irving outright, so they'd need to have the Nets' help facilitate a sign and trade scenario to make things work.

In the most ironic twist if fate you could ever envision, what if James Harden, became part of a package back to Brooklyn and Irving to the City of Brotherly love?


We all know how much Daryl Morey loves Harden, but even he sees the player is not what he once was in his prime. However, with Durant as the top scoring options, surrounded by 3-point shooting and Simmons potentially being a playmaker, Harden might be a better fit than most think.

It's clear that the two wouldn't coexist as teammates anymore, but if the financials line up and Kevin Durant has his old running mate back alongside Ben Simmons, who's to say it couldn't work?

Durant was clearly bitter about Harden's abrupt exit from the Nets as he didn't buy I'm to Steve Nash's offensively philosophy that was coordinator by former assistant coach, now with the Lakers, Jordan Ott. 

The Nets hired Igor Kokosov, Jason Kidd's offensive guru in Dallas to head up play calling on the offensive side, an offense that was too isolation heavy and Durant reliant last year.

The most likely scenario is that Brooklyn runs it back with Durant, Irving and a potentially healthy Simmons. It's a dark horse scenario that is getting little attention, but stranger things have happened around these Brooklyn Nets.



KD calls sour grapes on Barkley for questioning legitimacy of his titles

 Kevin Durant and Charles Barkley don't pull any punches when exchanging blows through the media.

This time, Durant counted Sir Charles' haymaker when the NBA Hall of Famer insinuated that the old era of NBA players will only respect him even he's the main guy on a championship team.


 


Strangely, Durant brings up the financial spoils that the modern day NBA player enjoys compared to those who played in the 1990's.


 Barkley is merely talking about titles in his tirade and not necessarily the bloated contracts awarded to the game's superstars.

Durant is not solely to blame for the player empowerment era where super teams are the norm. 

Having been in Golden State with Steph Curry for three finals appearances and two rings, Durant now has added pressure to win a title as the man, on the heels of Curry winning without him.

Richard Jefferson: KD's next title 'most important one', thinks 'he will get it done' with Nets



Richard Jefferson knows a thing or two about playing in NBA Finals. He played in two with the New Jersey Nets and two with the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning the 2016 Larry O'Brien Trophy. 

  The all-time Net great compared LeBron James winning the title in his hometown in 2016, Steph Curry winning his fourth ring and first finals MVP this June, with how Kevin Durant will feel when he climbs that NBA mountaintop in Brooklyn. Brooklyn took a major step back last year with a part-time, unvaccinated Kyrie Irving causing a major distraction, while a disgruntled James Harden demanded a trade out of town.

Durant missed large chunks of the year with a sprained left MCL, while Ben Simmons, the centerpiece of the Harden trade never took the court with the Nets and underwent off-season back surgery.

It's looking like Brooklyn's championship window is shrinking, but in Jefferson's estimation, Durant will still get the job done that he and Irving wanted to accomplish when they teamed up in Brooklyn in the summer of 2019. 

A championship with the Nets would all but cement Durant as not only an all-time great player, but put him rightfully on the Mount Rushmore of NBA legends.

Kyrie vows to work on strengthening his body this summer

 


In a live stream via twitch, Kyrie Irving was his own worst critic for disappearing in the final three games of the playoffs against the Boston Celtics.


 Irving, who of practices Ramadan, fasted from sunrise to sunset. This had very little impact on him in Game 1 of the 2022 NBA playoffs and during the prior year's playoff run in Brooklyn.


 

However, Irving appeared in only 29 regular season games after the team refused to let him be a part-time unvaccinated player, before relenting and allowing him to play in road games played outside of New York and Canada.

The Nets' point guard was mesmerizing in his short sample size during the regular season, but come playoff time against a physical and swarming Celtics' defense, Irving appeared physically worn down as a lack of regular game action and conditioning took its toll on him.

Irving's Twitch stream of his Nets' highlights is the clearest indication yet that he's reaffirming his commitment not only to Brooklyn, but to the game of basketball.

Unfortunately, fans have heard this before from Irving, so his words mean very little without action behind them.

Sean Mark and the Nets have yet to engage in serious contract negotiations to extend Irving and some reports indicate they're unwilling to sign him long-term given his wavering commitment to the club.

This will be an intriguing summer for Irving to show once and for all he's all-in to make a title push.




 

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