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It's getting late early for Steve Nash, Nets

 


Standing at a record of 1-2,  not all hope is lost for the Brooklyn Nets, but the clock is ticking.

Steve Nash's job security has long been in question, especially after Kevin Durant went directly to owner Joe Tsai to issue an ultimatum: fire Nash and Sean Marks or trade me.

After the dust settled, neither outcome transpired with Durant returning to the fold with the current regime, yet the Nets are doing more losing than winning in the early season.

The reality is this Nets team is held together by a thread. That common thread is trying to win a championship and three games in is not exactly a barometer of where this team will be come June. 

But if things don't start trending in the right direction and quickly look for Steve Nash to continue to be on the hot seat.

Brooklyn faces as toughest test yet on Wednesday night as it takes on the Milwaukee Bucks.

Nets are league worst in this NBA statistical category

 



Three games into the season the Brooklyn Nets sit at 1-2 with a lot left to be desired by their fan base.



The Nets allowed 130 points in a lopsided opening night home loss to New Orleans only to bounce back with a strong 109-105 win over Toronto last Friday night. Brooklyn's defensive deficiencies reared its ugly head again on Monday in Memphis as the Grizzles poured in 134 enroute to a 10-point win.

First year point guard Ben Simmons has fouled out in both the team's losses, while the offense has looked discombobulated with a rusty Simmons trying to find his niche.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the Nets season has been the lack of defensive connectivity as opponents are scoring at will.

The Nets face perhaps their stiffest challenge yet as they tangle with the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday.

As Brooklyn aims to climb back in the win column, attention to detail and defense will go a long way and determining how far the Nets go this season. 


Ben Simmons' airball video goes viral

photo by Doug Bearak 



 The Nets had a successful Practice-in-the-Park session on Monday with a record of over 8,000 fans looking to catch a glimpse or a free t-shirt from their favorite player.


While the festivities appeared to be enjoyed by all, one fan video went viral as it caught Ben Simmons jacking up a haphazard jump shot that failed to catch iron.



 This drew more than a few snickers from Nets detractors and Simmons haters as Brooklyn's point guard looks to refine his less than stellar shooting stroke.

Head coach Steve Nash already told reporters this preseason that he won't need Simmons to shoot jumpers as his primary roles will be defending, rebounding and facilitating to Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and the rest of the team's prolific scorers.

While Simmons' shooting deficiencies will draw laughs from the masses, the real concern after two preseason games is his lack of explosiveness after off-season back surgery and his mounting turnovers as he tries to get acclimated with his new teammates.


Another downright ugly preseason loss causes unrest in Nets World

Photo by Doug Bearak


Nets fans aren't panicking just yet, but maybe they should be. 

After committing 26 turnovers and looking disjointed for a second straight outing in the preseason, Brooklyn looks to have more than a few kinks to work out ahead of the start of the regular season. 

 The Nets were outplayed in every facet by a Miami club that brought defensive physicality and sharp execution to the tune of a 109-80  drubbing.

Kevin Durant finished with 22 points and 4 rebounds, Ben Simmons 4 points, 4 assists, 10 rebounds and 6 careless turnovers. 

 Kyrie Irving sat out Thursday's contest, so Brooklyn was basically noncompetitive from the opening tip. Steve Nash has shifted away from isolation basketball to a more team centric approach predicated on ball movement and man movement. 

 Theoretically, this is the best adjustment the Nets can make, but through two preseason games a lot more has gone wrong than has gone right with the regular season opener less than two weeks away.

With NBA's planned expansion to Seattle, Las Vegas, will New Jersey get a team back?

 

Photo by Andrew Bernstein

Photo by Andrew Bernstein

Some interesting news has been trickling out of the NBA commoner's office this week as the league may consider expanding into additional cities in the near future.

The Supersonics, who were stationed in Seattle from 1967-2008, could see a revival along with adding a club in the hottest growing market in the country in Las Vegas. 


With both cities being located in the Western market, a realignment of divisions would be in order to create even teams in both conferences.

LeBron James has thrown his hat in the ring and called for dibs on a potential Vegas club, while Adam Silver insists that the expansion still is years away.

The question many fans are wondering that followed the Nets in the Garden State is: what about New Jersey?

The Nets, who were founded in 1967 as the New Jersey Americans and played at the Teaneck Armory, spent one season there before moving to Long Island as the rebranded Nets starting in 1968.



The Nets then returned to Jersey in 1977, where they remained for the next 35 years until the move to Brooklyn in 2012.

The Nets had trouble drawing fans when stationed at the Meadowlands due to a lack of public transportation and area attractions in the swamp. The now -defunct Xanadu project lost funding during the Nets stay at the then-IZOD Center as it sat for years half-developed as an eyesore.

Now, the American Dream mall has been built with countless activities, along with a transit line to send fans to and from Secaucus Junction. All the infrastructure and amenities the Nets were hoping for during their stay in East Rutherford are now up and running.

The IZOD Center is still standing, even though it's not used for concerts or sporting events, just merely, filming for television and movies.

The reality is all the pieces are in place for New Jersey to make a bid for another team in the future. 

The question will remain if the politicians in office, lobbyists and pubic at large will make enough waves and show enough support to get the NBA and Silver's attention. A return of NBA basketball to the Garden State is viable, and a renaissance in the swamp is what many basketball diehards are rooting for and hoping for in the near future.



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