Last season, the Nets, without paying Irving or Durant, won Harden, who was at his peak and eager to pursue the championship, through a multi-party transaction, thus forming a super big three lineup. The lineup of the big three, led by "Durant + Harden + Irving", can also be called the most luxurious lineup in the league after the disintegration of the "Five-Star Warriors".
Because of this, the Nets, which had a big three last season, were once regarded as the biggest favorites in the championship race. But in the end, because Harden and Irving were injured in the playoffs, the Nets scored 3-4 in the second round, lost to the strong Bucks, and only achieved the results of the second round of the playoffs...
However, due to the injuries of the Nets' Big Three last season, they did not fully show their full strength. So even if the Nets only made a playoff second round last season, it did not disappoint outside fans and team management. Most people still believe that as long as the Nets Big Three can stay healthy, they will still be the biggest title-contenders in the league.
21-22 season: The highly anticipated Nets, but can't even squeeze in the top eight in the East?
I thought that after the Nets' big three lost last season, the new season will be more eager to win, more eager for the championship, so as to play an amazing dominance.
Who ever thought that the season had not yet begun, Irving took the lead in "dropping the chain" because he insisted on rejecting the vaccine. Then Harden was affected by the "new rules + old injuries", resulting in poor personal performance; although Durant once used "super performance" to lead the Nets to the first place in the East, after his injury, the Nets still fell to the play-off zone...
But just as the Nets slid to eighth in the East, Durant made a comeback. In the past two games, whether facing the Heat or facing Green Kai, Durant's personal state after the comeback is still hot, contributing 31 points, 4 boards and 4 assists, 47.6% shooting percentage, 37 points, 6 boards and 8 assists, and 57.1% shooting percentage.
Surprisingly, however, even though Durant played well, he failed to lead the Nets to win the game as he wished. Especially after the loss to Green Kai, the Overall Win Rate of the Nets is less than 50%, ranking eighth in the East with only 32 wins and 33 losses.
Whether it is from the net's last two games, or zoomed in to the entire season, the main reason for their poor record can be summed up as nothing more than Harden's serious decline in personal status, Nash's lack of personal coaching ability, and Irving's "part-time playing".
Now, after Harden left the Nets, he has regained his former superstar status in Philadelphia and played a fairly good personal performance. However, the recent Nets have only won 1 win and 6 losses under the leadership of Irving and Durant. At this time, many people will still attribute the Nets' recent poor performance or poor season performance to Irving's "part-time playing" and Nash's lack of coaching ability.
The Nets have such a bad record now, and Irving and Nash do have an unshirkable responsibility. However, Durant, as the Nets' "team boss", although his personal performance so far this season has been stable and he has made a lot of contributions to winning, he also has an unshirkable responsibility for the nets' current bad record of falling out of the top eight in the East.
After all, whether it was Irving, Harden, or head coach Nash, the arrival was recruited or acquiesced by Durant. However, in the new season, when the Nets had many problems and could not play the expected results, Durant did not choose to face it, but chose to escape...
If Durant does not take the initiative to change, the Nets may have no hope of winning the championship in the next few years
1) Durant was too "conniving" with Owen and Nash. When Durant could not play for a long time due to injury last season, Irving often missed the game from time to time because of his "personal beliefs", resulting in Harden leading the team tired. But at that time, even Nash stood up and "blamed" Owen, but Durant did not clearly state his attitude.
In the new season, when Irving continued to "die" and insisted on rejecting vaccines, Durant still did not have any strong words about it. Considering that Wiggins was equally reluctant to be vaccinated at the time, Curry made it clear:
"Vaccination is indeed a personal freedom, but vaccines are safe now. We want him to fit in and if that doesn't work, we'll make changes to the squad. ”
Soon after Curry made his statement, Wiggins compromised. But while Irving was reluctant to get vaccinated, Durant said: "I will not give him any advice, this is his decision, this is his choice." We all respect him, it's a lot more important than basketball, and it makes me feel uncomfortable talking to him about it. ”
In addition, Nash was unable to build a lineup with good offensive and defensive skills, and the ability to adjust at key moments in the game was insufficient, resulting in the Nets repeatedly handing over the victories within reach because of the head coach.
In fact, with Nash's coaching ability today, it is impossible to coach an NBA-level team, let alone coach a team like the Nets that wants to compete for the championship. But since last season, Nash's position as manager has still been stable. In fact, I want to "Get Nash out of class", which is What Durant said...
2. After Harden leaves, it is time for Durant to change his playing style. Prior to Durant's return, Seth Curry averaged 17.9 points, 3.9 boards, 4.0 assists, 49 percent shooting + 46.8 percent three-point range, and Drummond also had 9.8 points, 10.2 boards, and 54.5 percent shooting.
But after Durant's comeback, in front of Nash and Durant's "superstar basketball". Cescuri slipped to 8 points, 2 boards, 2 assists, 40% shooting percentage; Drummond also fell to 7 points and 5 boards per game...
It can be said that at present, whether it is Nash's employment concept or Durant's habit of "standing stick singles", it is not conducive to the play of other players of the Nets. After all, in the absence of enough ball power and shots, it is impossible to expect Seth Curry and Drummond to perform well...
Especially after Harden left, the Nets have no real "point guard" at present. According to the current trend, as long as Seth Curry, Drummond and others do not have sufficient independent scoring ability, then they cannot play the "eye-catching" performance around Durant and under nash's coaching.
In summary, so far in the new season, "Nash's personal coaching ability is seriously insufficient, and Irving insists on his own philosophy regardless of the team's record"; Durant, as the boss of the team, should have stood up and made a tough attitude and actively solved these two problems.
However, he did not face these two problems directly, which led to Harden's "departure" in the middle of the season. If Durant still does not take the initiative to make changes in the future, then the Nets will not only miss the championship this year, but may even have no hope of winning the championship in the next few years...