Although the Nets gathered a combination of the big three led by Harden, Durant and Irving last season, the team coach Steve Nash is a rookie who has no previous coaching experience, but fortunately, with the former Sun mentor D'Antoni on the side, Nash can temporarily survive some crisis moments. But it wasn't until D'Antoni left the Nets in the offseason that Nash really began to shoulder the burden of his own dominance.
In the opener and the defending champion Bucks, it is true that Irving was absent because of no vaccination, but the role of Harden and Durant two superstars, plus substitutes as well as Ade, Mills, Mills, Millsap and other assists, it is reasonable to say that the two sides should play extremely fiercely, and the Nets swallowed the opening black with a 23-point fiasco.
Although in the second game against the 76ers, relying on Ader and Mills, two former Spurs veterans, the Nets were able to win their first victory. However, in a game against the Hornets that ended earlier, the Nets lost by as much as 16 points.
After 3 games, the Nets, which aim to impact the championship, have only a dismal record of 1 win and 2 losses. Without the guidance of mentor D'Antoni, Nash really showed his innocence in the platoon. Bruce Brown, who was the team's starting small striker last season, was completely refrigerated by him this season.
If it were not for the game against the Hornets going into garbage time early, Brown estimated that he would not have gotten 27 minutes of playing time, although he did not feel good in his hands for a long time, only 8 points on 3 of 9 shots, but he grabbed 7 rebounds, and had 1 steal and 2 blocks, continuing to show his strength in defense. But such a superb 3D, but in the first two games sat on the team's cold bench.
The opener against the Bucks only got 4 minutes of playing time, and the second game against the 76ers did not catch a minute. In two games, Brown averaged just 4 points and 4 rebounds per game, shooting as low as 33.3 percent, far less than last season's 8.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 55.6 percent shooting percentage.
Last season, because the Nets sat on the Big Three, the offensive end was basically divided by these three people, but Brown, who is good at empty and willing to defend hard, is perfectly qualified for the heavy responsibility of the team's starting third position, and has developed a tacit chemical reaction with Harden.
The Nets also offered him a 4.74 million qualifying contract extension in the offseason, keeping him in the lineup. He thought he could continue to win the starting task this season, but Nash suddenly beat him into the cold palace, which was really unexpected.
And the original starting position for Brown, Nash gave a Clarkston without projection ability, 3 games down he did not show his superiority, averaging only 6.7 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, and Griffin co-partnered with the starting inside line, making these two big men who are not good at projection, completely unable to open the space at the offensive end, and finally can only rely on Durant and Harden to solve the problem with personal singles, and it just so happens that Harden is not in the state at the moment, so with Durant alone, the Nets are difficult to win.
The Nets will then face the Wizards and Heat, and if Nash still doesn't plan to change sides and continue to refrigerate Brown, he may really become the first coach to be dismissed this season if he continues to swallow defeats.