The Nets are a mess; 7-20 in the last 27 games tells you that. So, Joe, how are you gonna fix things?
Joe Tsai can’t be pleased with what he’s seeing these days. Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are flourishing elsewhere after spending time with the Nets. The Knicks have captured the city’s heart by winning 16 of 19 since the new year began. His Nets? They are inept.
Tsai has no one to blame but himself for why the Nets are in this position of irrelevance. As the Nets owner, he made the questionable decision to trade Durant, Irving, and James Harden when he didn’t have to. This is his team, so it’s all on him. He created a superteam and then bailed after Irving and Durant expressed their displeasure with the franchise. His job was to ensure both players were satisfied since he signed them to lead the Nets to a championship and take over New York City.
He can talk all he wants about how he tried his best, but Irving seems to be happy with the Dallas Mavericks, and Kevin Durant feels reborn with the Phoenix Suns, so obviously, something wasn’t right when they were here. Meanwhile, nothing has gone right for the Nets since the super team was broken up. They backed in the postseason and proceeded to get swept by the Philadelphia 76ers last season. After a 13-10 start this season, they’ve lost 20 of their 27 games and look like a team that seems Lottery-bound this spring.
2023-24 is a far cry from when Tsai and Nets general manager Sean Marks celebrated for pulling off the coup of signing Durant and Irving in the summer of 2019. They congratulated themselves for being a progressive organization that convinced those stars to join them. Then, they acquired Harden as a final piece of what could and should have been a championship team in 2021. But all the Nets got was 16 games together by that forgettable trio.
If Durant’s shoe had not crossed the two-point line in that Game 7 series against the Milwaukee Bucks, it would have been a 3, and they would likely have won the series and advanced to the Eastern Conference Semifinals. A championship could have followed. Instead, that was their best moment, and it hasn’t been the same.
Now, the Nets have a bunch of random guys that can’t play basketball. They can’t defend, shoot or score. They don’t know how to win. They can’t play together. Mikal Bridges has been a disappointment by not elevating the Nets this season after being the centerpiece in the Durant trade. While Marks was rightly commended for finding talent, the current situation is also on him for fielding a roster unable to play together.
Durant and Irving were in Brooklyn recently on their return, and the Barclays Center audience didn’t boo them; they both received standing ovations. That shows you that the Nets don’t have a New York fanbase. Why? New York sports fans wouldn’t welcome guys back after leaving in disgrace like those two did. Worse yet, Durant scored 33 points against the Nets last week, and Irving scored 36 points against the Nets on Tuesday night.
The Nets are lost. There isn’t a strategy or plan. Jacque Vaughn seems overmatched as head coach, and the young players offer nothing.
It’s all on Joe Tsai. So, Joe, what are you going to do about it?
