#头条创作挑战赛 #
The Brooklyn Nets will be missing two key role players at the start of the 2022-23 season. Head coach Steve Nash announced Sunday that both Joe Harris and Seth Curry will miss the opening game against the New Orleans Pelicans at home in Brooklyn on Oct. 20.
Harris missed the Nets' final three games of the preseason because his ankle that had just undergone surgery was sore again. Before undergoing two ankle surgeries, the sharpshooter played just 14 games last season. The seven-year veteran has cemented himself as one of the league's top three-point shooters, averaging 5.5 three-point shots per game and shooting 45 percent from the field over the past five seasons.
Seth Curry also had ankle repair surgery in the offseason. After James Harden and Ben Simmons traded last season, Curry, 32, played in 17 games in Brooklyn, averaging 14.9 points per game while shooting 46.8 percent from three-point range.
While neither of the team's top scorers made it to the opener, head coach Nash wasn't worried, saying in an interview with the New York Post: "I'm not worried. They are positive and I am optimistic. It's simple, the players come back from surgery and need to get used to the game. ”
Joe Harris and Seth Curry are the most important players on the Brooklyn roster, both shooting 43.9 percent from three-point range. Given the non-shooter attributes of Ben Simmons and Claxton, Brooklyn is in extreme demand for the projection ability of role players. Royce O'Neal will be in the starting lineup, and with Harris and Curry unavailable, the Nets will lean toward flanking shooting.
Brooklyn got O'Neal from the Jazz this summer for a first-round pick. The 29-year-old has started 210 of the 219 games he has played for the Jazz over the past three seasons. During that time, O'Neal became a valuable 3D winger, shooting a whopping 38.4 percent while defending the opposing team's best players.
With Curry injured, Cam Thomas and Patty Mills will continue to work at the backcourt. Cam Thomas will enter his second year of his career after being selected in Brooklyn with the 27th pick in the 2021 draft, while Mills signed a two-year, $13 million contract with the Nets in the offseason.