Today, the NBA officially released the latest issue of the team's combat strength list, the Nets are stable in the 17th place, the top 16 east and west occupy 8 seats each. That's a bad ranking for the Nets, because 17 means they're not yet a playoff team.
After Harden's trade with Simmons, the Nets looked a little better, Curry Jr. increased the projection firepower of the outside line, and Drummond also made the team's inside line look thicker, but these two were not players who could change the game. The Nets can't expect Curry Jr. and Johnson to save the season, they need Durant to come back quickly, they need Irving to be vaccinated, they can play all games, and they need Simmons to hurry up and play as soon as possible to run into the team.
Only if Durant, Irving and Simmons play together, the Nets deserve the third place in the odds of winning the championship. Until then, the Nets' most realistic goal may be to move up to the top six in the East and avoid playing the playoffs.
The reality is that Durant's return date due to a knee injury is undecided, and whether he can continue his previous MVP-level performance after returning is a question! And the problem teenager Irving is still the biggest variable in the Nets' championship race, even if the team is plagued by injuries and suffers 11 consecutive defeats, Irving's determination to refuse vaccinations has not wavered, and he claims not to feel the slightest guilt. The New York government does not seem to have any intention of changing the epidemic prevention policy, and the new mayor is worried that changing the epidemic prevention policy will be misinterpreted.
As for new signing Simmons, according to the famous Ramona Shelburne revealed in the "NBA Today" program today, Simmons is close to a comeback and it will take a few weeks to improve his training status. However, the Nets only have 23 games left, and the team is currently only in 8th place in the East, can they wait that long? In addition, simmons' chemistry with the team after his comeback is also unknown to no one, after all, his game has very obvious flaws, and in the playoffs, he may be targeted again by opponents.
So the Nets still have a lot of work to do if they want to achieve their goal of winning the championship this season, and none of this work seems to have any results in a short period of time. The only good news is that Dragic, who was previously signed by many teams, finally chose to join the Nets and reunite with his former teammate Nash. Dragic's arrival can to some extent make up for the organizational gap after Harden's departure and Simmons' absence, and sort out the team's offense.
Exactly when the Nets Big Three will fit together, and whether they can return to the top six in the East at the end of the regular season, we will wait and see!