The new season is already a third in the making, and for the Nets, their new season has only just begun. Irving's return has given the Nets a new lease of life, and the Nets' problems this season have been solved with Irving's return - weak against strong teams and weak offensive continuity. Although Irving can only play away games at the moment, Irving recently triggered the league's safety agreement, according to the relevant regulations, can apply for a vaccine exemption of up to 3 months, perhaps after Irving survived this suspension, he can successfully play all the games of the Nets.
Irving's return is of more significance to the Nets than just the strategic significance of the game, but also to unlock management's authority for lineup adjustments. Through the offseason, the Nets look strong and seem to have the league's no. 1 lineup depth. But in fact, after 30 games of testing, there are very few players who can actually enter the regular rotation of the Nets. Millsap, who signed offseason, and Carter, who were traded, are both players who are used to fill the strength of paper, and the deterrent effect is greater than the actual effect. Coupled with Irving's absence, the Performance of the More Functional Players in the Nets' roster — Brown, Joe Harris and Griffin — has plummeted, down a lot from last season. Before Irving returned, these players were the Nets' main rotation players, and trading them was tantamount to tearing down the east wall to make up for the west wall, and now Irving has filled the Nets' most prominent hole, and the Nets have ushered in the best time to adjust the lineup.
According to the Nets reporter, if Irving can play all the rest of the season for the Nets, it will push the Nets to trade Joe Harris, and Brown and rookie Thomas are very likely to be involved in related transactions. Previously, when the Pistons decided to trade Grant, the Nets' offer appeared on the Pistons' trading list, specifically Harris + Thomas. If grant isn't what they want, the Nets may set their sights on The Trail Blazers' Covington.
It's clear that the Nets want to reinforce the defense without weakening the offense. Grant and Covington are both defensive champions with certain limitations on the offensive end, and they and the Nets are a match made in heaven. Last season, the Nets' Big Three were able to save Brown from the edge of the league to a small-ball inside, and these two standard forward players played next to the Nets. Grant's two seasons with the Pistons have proven that he is not fit to be the cornerstone player of a rebuilding team, with the team's sub-attacker and defensive gate more in line with his positioning. Harris was able to solve the Pistons' problem of too little threat from the outside, and Thomas met their requirements for rookie players, and the offer was not unattractive.
This season's Harris, after a struggling performance at the beginning of the season, has spent 10 games quickly adjusting back to the league's second-place three-point shooting rate of 46.6%, second only to three-point king Curry in terms of production and efficiency. However, his instability still plagues the Nets, and if he shows the performance of last season again in this year's playoffs, the Nets will be a failure. When the Big Three are on the floor at the same time, Harris doesn't make much sense on the outside, and once he can't shoot three-pointers and the defensive end is left to the table, then he is basically negative on the court.
And Brown, this season's Irving absence has left him in his original form, there is no ultimate operating space, Brown's offensive performance plummeted, and his existence is only for the defensive end. Recently, rookie Edwards has emerged, showing strong defensive flexibility and superior rebounding ability and three-point shooting, and if he can continue to maintain such performances, then it is really only a matter of time before Brown is eliminated.
The Nets, which don't trade, complement Aldridge and Mills, aren't worse than last season. However, Nash's ability to make adjustments on the spot was too poor, and even though Joe Harris shot the worst three-point shooting percentage of his career in the playoffs, he still did not have the courage to press him on the bench, and still chose to believe in him in the decisive stage. The Nets traded to avoid making Nash multiple-choice questions, and Joha Lisbon's key moments in the season were still unsightly, and the playoffs didn't seem to bring him a qualitative change.