Although it ranks first in the East, because the Nets have lost 6 times with the Bucks, Bulls, Heat and the top two Warriors and Suns in the West this season, the Nets are not optimistic about the outside world, and Su Qun, a famous domestic media person, pointed out in an article last week that if the Nets continue to be so unstable, the East will belong to the Bucks.
Talking about the reasons for the Nets' instability has a lot to do with Harden's performance. Before Harden was injured last year, he actually continued the "Rocket Deng" style of play to lead the team. But harden this season has basically been a cat and a dog. Not only is his body no thinner than last year, but his protruding legs are obviously not as strong as they used to be. Coupled with the league's revision of the penalty scale this season, the general increase in the defensive intensity of all teams, Harden's offensive efficiency this year has dropped sharply. Of course, for the Nets, the biggest trouble is Irving.
After the Nets got Harden last year with a "change for whole" approach, they played the top offensive efficiency in history. It is precisely because the offensive firepower of the Big Three is too fierce, this summer's offseason, the Nets' operation is very targeted, that is, to fill the defensive resources as much as possible; in addition to Mills, the Nets' newly acquired Bembry, Jevon. Carter, James. Johnson is all defensive. The reason why they re-signed Ade is not so much that the Nets need Ade's mid-range shot, but rather that they value Ade's tonnage to prepare in advance for the Tough Inside Teams such as the Bucks, 76ers and Lakers that may be dealt with in the playoffs.
The big three are fierce, with Joe Har, Mills and the middle shooting master Ade, coupled with a group of defensive players, this year the Nets have invited Van der Pul, who is good at building defense, as the chief assistant coach; all the operations of the Nets offseason are prepared according to the standards of the big three teams. However, all plans were greatly affected by Owen's refusal to get vaccinated.
The absence of one of the big three means less room for fault. And Irving still needs to occupy the salary space without playing, which determines that the Nets have no room for reinforcement, which requires the other two giants to be productive and efficient at the same time, and the role players must also have excellent performance. Durant attacked and defended this year, turned on the "death mode" early, the outside world can no longer ask him to do more; Ader + Mills as a role player, the firepower output has exceeded expectations; but Harden's crotch, and Griffin because of the loss of the outside feel of being abandoned, coupled with Joha's injury, resulting in the Nets in many games this season The offensive space has exposed a lot of problems, and their offensive efficiency has fallen out of the league's 10th.
After a sharp decline in offensive efficiency, the Nets began to try more to rely on defense to close the game. But Mills is too small and Ade is too slow, and both are vulnerable to being targeted defensively by each other's blocks. As for Bembry, James. Johnson, Clarkston, Bruce. Brown, these people have no problem defending, but their offensive means are limited to stealing chickens and eating cakes.
When the Nets play pistons, a vice-captain team that lacks major generals, it still has to rely on Durant to win a big package, slashing 51 points to close the back of the game, more or less to the outside world a more desperate Durant the Nets more troublesome background, the famous American commentator A. Smith publicly said a few days ago: "Irving determines the direction of the NBA this season, this is what we can say, the Suns, Warriors, Bucks, Heat and this year's strong rise of the Bulls are championship teams, but when we look at these teams, What are the factors that will make us rethink the pattern of this season's title race? That's Irving returning to the Nets, teaming up with Durant and Harden. A. Smith also stressed that Irving must return next month at the latest, and the time may not be enough if it is late.
That is, a few days after A. Smith said this, Irving's side also moved. Shams broke a number of news about Irving today; for example, in the past two months, a number of teams have asked the Nets for Irving, but the Nets have not participated in the discussion of Irving's trade. But what is more interesting is that Shams has exploded, Irving has returned to optimism, and he has recently exchanged more with Durant. And the Nets and team reporter Billy Reinhardt also broke out that Durant has communicated with Boss Cai on Irving's problem.
However, there is no direct relationship between the optimism of Irving's return and whether Irving can return. There are only three possibilities for Irving to return to the Nets:
1. Vaccination.
2. New York City changes its epidemic prevention policy.
3. Irving returns to play only away.
Although the new mayor of New York, Adams, is a fan (and most likely a Knicks fan), Adams is also a strong supporter of vaccines, and New York City will implement a stricter epidemic prevention policy from December 27, so the second one may be almost negligible. The first possible option is in Owen's hands, but judging by Owen's previous statements, the likelihood of him being vaccinated is also very low. The third option is probably the easiest to operate, but if Irving only plays away, it means that he will keep coming in and out of the rotation, which is obviously a very harmful approach to the team chemistry and the atmosphere of the team...
It is also in these three return paths, the initiative is in the hands of Irving, he will most likely not choose; New York City can not change the epidemic prevention policy for Irving alone, the Nets' only choice with the initiative is the most harmful to the team, so now the return of Irving is still in a state of eight words. If after a while, the Nets really allow Irving to only play on the road, the starting point is basically to send Irving away...
Nash himself is a coach with limited level, and to put it nicely, he leaves the outcome of the game to the players; in practice, he is not much different from the sideline audience in many games, because everyone knows that Nash will only Durant and harden. However, when Durant had to play the weak team, he had to come up with the scoring mode that should have been presented in the high-end game of the strong collision, but Durant had exposed his physical problems in the Thunder, and experienced a devastating injury, in fact, there have been many times this season, Durant's offensive end stood in the bottom corner or even stood on the outside of the court to support the knee, he was really tired.
Without Irving's strong attack, Harden began to sleepwalk more and more, and it was doomed that the Nets could no longer rely on the unfavorable attack to close the game like last year, leaving only the 1.5 giants to lead the team (Harden is now only half a giant) The Nets, whether to win the championship or fail, it all depends on Irving's choice! If Irving can't come back, it will certainly be no play to play the Bucks in the East with the Nets now.