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Kyrie Irving, Patty Mills player option deadline looming




By no later than June 29, both Kyrie Irving and Patty Mills will need to decide if they'll opt-in to their contracts. Otherwise, the potential exists to negotiate a long-term deal with the Nets, become unrestricted free agents or in the least likely of scenarios, agree to a sign and trade route.

Mills is due $6.2 million and Irving 36.9 by opting in to their respective deals. No, a divorce been the organization and these two players isn't imminent, but there's not exactly been surefire discussions that either player will assuredly be back next year.

Sean Marks has his work cut out for him. Mills was the anti-Kyrie last season. The Nets guard was available for all games, a team-centric leader, but with an undersized frame that gives little defensive resistance to go along with him showing signs of fatigue during the regular season after logging heavy minutes in Irving's absence.  Retaining Mills to an already small and defensively challenged backcourt composed of Seth Curry and possibly Irving does present some concerns.

Reports surfaced over the past few weeks that Marks and the Nets are reluctant to hitch their wagons to Irving long-term without knowing he's going to make a full-time commitment to the club. Vaccine compliance aside, Irving has missed significant playing time during his Nets' tenure for a multitude of reasons including: unexcused absences to be with family, citing mental health issues for missing games, on-court injuries that sidelined him, along with his refusal to comply with local vaccine mandates in New York City and Canada last year.

Irving, whether he intended to or not, became a distraction for the club. Even upon returning after the Nets reversed course and allowed him to play part-time,  come playoff time, the lack of conditioning and game reps saw him fade in the final three games of the first round sweep by the Celtics.

It's unlikely Irving will opt-in to his deal as he'll be looking for a three-or four-year extension to coincide with Durant being under contract in Brooklyn.

Irving has shown he's willing to pay the ultimate price by missing games, forfeiting $380,000 game checks with each contest missed and impacting the championship trajectory of his team's season. Even if Marks makes Irving's deal an incentive-laden agreement, it will do little to dissuade Irving from doing what he's always done: marching to the beat of his own drum.

Durant pushes back on critics questioning his leadership ability

 


Kevin Durant is the kind of player that lets his play do the talking, He's not the "ra-ra" type to give fiery pregame speeches nor is he known to get in his teammates' faces for making a mistake.

So, of course on the heels of a heroic playoff performance from his former teammate, Steph Curry, the Durant haters were out challenging his leadership capabilities.


The Brooklyn Nets superstar isn't afraid to mix it up with detractors on Twitter by setting the record straight.

One of the more interesting tidbits from Durant came when he mentioned that the team's coaches and assistant coaches were the primary source of leadership in his estimation.

That shouldn't necessarily be a slight to Steve Nash, but questions are mounting about his ability to reel in an non-committal Kyrie Irving and run an offense that maximizes his roster's talent and a defense that masks the team's deficiencies.

Only time will tell if Durant or Nash will spearhead a Brooklyn title push, but the more success  Golden State and Curry have, the more critics will attack Durant and the Nets.


Curry's playoff numbers against C's are eye popping compared to Durant's



 The Brooklyn Nets remain the only NBA team to be swept out of the 2022 NBA playoffs.



Think about that.  A team led by Kevin Durant and with Kyrie Irving as his running mate failed to not only get out of the first round, but to win a single playoff game.

It's pretty astonishing, but if you watched the turmoil of the Nets' regular season, in the end, it wasn't all that shocking.

Durant struggled mightily with turnovers as he was blitzed by constant double teams directed by Ime Udoka and the Celtics. Steve Nash and his staff failed to make any adjustments and the results spoke for themselves.

Flash forward a few series wins later for Boston and an enjoyable vacation in Greece for Durant, Steph Curry is slicing and dicing up the Celtics defense that stymied this era's greatest scorer.

Admittedly, Curry is not facing constant double teams like Durant and he's feasting on drop coverage that gives him just enough airspace to launch his lethal 3-pointers. The Nets roster construction and supporting cast is vastly different from the Warriors and thus Udoka has defended them in a completely different way.

However, the league's greatest players need to be problem solvers on the court. While Durant received very little help from his teammates, his individual numbers and the team's success pales in comparison to what Curry and Golden State are doing to Boston right now in the NBA Finals.

How Steph's historic night at age 34 might inspire Durant

When the 2022-23 NBA regular season gets underway, Kevin Durant will have just turned 34 years of age. Still in his prime, but with a likelihood that some slippage in durability and explosiveness will start to rear its head in the coming seasons.
Look no further than Steph Curry's monumental performance to even the series with the Celtics by dropping 43 points in a do-or-die scenario. Even more impressive is the fact that Curry joined some elite company alongside Michael Jordan and LeBron James as the only three players to score 40-plus points in the NBA Finals at 34 or older. That performance by Curry should light a fire under Durant and in some way inspire the superstar to maintain confidence he can stay on top of his game as he approaches his mid-30's. The reality is, the Brooklyn Nets title window is here and now. 

Unless unforseen transactions bring top level talent to help Durant, Kyrie Irving and newly acquired point guard Ben Simmons, the Nets need to clinch an NBA Finals berth in the next two years for this era of Nets'basketball not to be considered a failure.

 All told, Curry and Durant have a mutual respect, but just like the Michael Jordan and Larry Bird McDonald's commercials that ran in the early 90's, they also believe "anything you can do, I can do better."

Durant Revealed as Statistically Best NBA Player of All-Time

THE GAME DAY
Kevin Durant is often lauded as one of the greatest players in NBA history, but a new study by The Game Day concludes he is actually the greatest of All-Time (GOAT), statistically speaking. The study uses several metrics to reach this conclusion including total number of rebounds and assists to turnovers and personal fouls and averaged them out over the total number of years played.


Durant, followed by Nikola Jokic and Larry Bird ranked highest on the GOAT meter. Honorable mention included LeBron James ranked No. 6 and Michael Jordan No. 10. The full study can be found here.

It's unlikely this will once and for all put an end to the NBA GOAT debate, but its data-centric approach will at least be a talking point for fans.

KD scoffs at his ranking among NBA's all-time one-on-one scorers

 


Kevin Durant is no stranger to mixing it up with reporters, fans and trolls on Twitter. The Brooklyn Nets superstar has had plenty of time on his hands since his club was swept out of the first round of the playoffs by Boston.

Durant has been the recipient of plenty of bashing, but even when high praise was sent his way, the NBA legend took it as a backhanded compliment.






 Perhaps Durant is looking at this simply for what it is, praising his one-on-one ability and diminishing his role as a team leader and player. Or perhaps he thinks he's the best player scorer of all-time.

Only Durant knows the answer to these questions and the all-time great comparisons are for the fans and media to debate and players to roll their eyes at.


 

Durant has been subjected to a lot of trash talking regarding his role on the Warriors back to back NBA Finals winning clubs and whether he or Steph Cherry was the true leader and number one threat to opponents.

That debate will rage on, but it's pretty clear through three games that the Warriors could use Durant as they are in danger of going down 3-1 in the finals against Boston.

Draymond: 'When KD was here, our offense still started with Steph'

 




Draymond Green is a ride or die teammate, just ask Steph Curry. After a Twitter debate that raged on between Green and Kevin Durant regarding whether Curry or The Slim Reaper faced more double teams, the Warriors big man wanted to set the record straight in the NBA Finals Game 2 postgame presser.

Shockingly, Green sticks with his initial assertion that Curry is the draw that stirs Golden State's drink, while Durant, who is this era's most lethal scorer, did not get the type of attention that the Warriors point guard received from opposing defenses.

It's hard to argue with Green, as his Warriors evened the series against the Celtics in San Francisco, not without a few chippy moments from the fiery power forward.


Until Durant and the Brooklyn Nets take the court next season, the debate will make waves on NBA Twitter, but for a Golden State squad looking to capture a title, it's a bit odd for one of the team's leaders to be fixated on the role of a former teammate who is no longer playing in the 2022 NBA playoffs.

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.




 

Nets' Big Three's have enjoyed very little playoff success dating back to 90s




 The Nets have a history of teaming up three All-Star caliber players without much playoff success.


 

Whether the New Jersey Nets assembled Derrick Coleman, Kenny Anderson and Drazen Petrovic in the 90's, Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson in the mid-2000's, the Brooklyn Nets assembled Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Deron Williams in 2013-14 or the Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden led teams in 2021-22, astonishingly none of those talented squads advanced past the second round of the playoffs.

 It's pretty mind numbing to think rosters with many future Hall of Famers could fall incredibly short of playoff success, but if Nets' history teaches us anything, it's that the sum of the team's parts are greater than the whole.

Now, Brooklyn is adding Ben Simmons to a two-headed monster of Irving and Durant, clearly not dissuaded by what the franchise's  history is trying to tell them.

The Nets most successful run in the NBA came with Kidd's Cinderella squad grinding out wins with tough defense and opportunistic fast break offense. That style, philosophy and roster construction led to back to back NBA Finals Appearances and the most successful seasons the franchise has enjoyed since joining the NBA.

Look no further than the Celtics and Warriors, the top two defenses in the current NBA, to illustrate that defensive basketball is still at the heart of championship teams.

Sean Marks and company are already so far down the road with Irving, Durant and Simmons, it's going to be hard to pivot from what is being built here, but if history teaches them anything, they'll need something beyond overwhelming star power to build a team top to bottom capable of getting back to the NBA Finals.



Brooklyn needs to reestablish Nets' Culture Beyond Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving soap opera

In 55 seasons of Nets basketball there has never been as talented a duo as Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving choosing to sign with the team. Most of the franchise's legendary players came either via trade: Julius Erving, Jason Kidd, Drazen Petrovic, Vince Carter, just to name a few or via the draft: Brook Lopez, Buck Williams, Derrick Coleman, Kenny Anderson, Richard Jefferson and Kenyon Martin among others. Never has a marquee free agent elected to sign with the Nets.
So when the dynamic duo of Irving and Durant selected to play in Brooklyn, it sent shockwaves throughout the NBA and certainly in Nets' World. Two players, still in the primes of their respective careers, aiming to bring the franchise its first ever title was a pipedream. Somewhere along with way, between prolonged absences from a supposed leader, star players playing both GM and coach, along with young assets that built an enviable culture sent packing to bring more seasoned players into the fold, everything went sideways.

Pre-order TODAY: A History of the Nets-From Teaneck to Brooklyn

  The Nets culture is in trouble with questions left unanswered. Who is really calling the shots? Is it Sean Marks? Is it a collaborative effort with Durant and Irving? Is Steve Nash leading the huddle? Or in the player empowerment era are the players calling their own number? How much autonomy is Joe Tsai giving Marks to do his job effectively?

 The word culture is overused across all sports, but it's paramount to understand how Brooklyn went from a highly thought of and praised organization by other teams and their fans, into a laughingstock that basically put Irving and Durant in the driver's seat directing the trajectory of the club. The reality is Marks will need to regain full roster control and importantly leverage with Irving in potentially negotiating a long-term extension.

 Irving has shown a willingness to pay the ultimate price by missing games and in turn game checks and that has done nothing to disuade him from following his personal beliefs above the team's need for him to be available. While the Nets don't have a storied history littered with championships and a winning tradition, the fact of the matter remains the team played 52 seasons before Irving and Durant signed here and will play another 52 after both are either long retired or at other destinations. 

No two players, no matter how talented or earth shattering their decision to join the team can be, should be allowed to dictate the course of the franchise. Now is the time for Captain Marks to take control of this sinking ship and navigate it through rough seas and set a new course for the championship hungry squad to follow.

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