THE NBA NOMAD NETS

Oh my, it wasn’t like how high the sky, but 6-foot-5 James Hardin looked up and 7-foot teammate DeAndre Jordan looked down in yet another disturbing moment of the rearranged Brooklyn Nets.

Hard to figure as nice guy, Hall of Fame former point guard Steve Nash tries to figure it out. Now retired, the first-year head coach tries to show patience at his interviews, tries to toss in explanations, is calm, and as usual, remains the nice guy. But with this National Basketball Association with a one-two-three stardom trio of Harden, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving, it’s not an easy task.

Early in this COPID-19 pandemic season, the three looked awesome, becoming the top three scorers in the league. Other times, they looked disassembled, putting in a bunch of points while the rest of the cast forgot that defense also mattered, as in wins of 151-143, 148-141, 144-137, etc. In one recent game, the Nets had a 5-point lead with six seconds remaining against the Washington Wizards. Now follow this, Wizards’ Russell Westbrook raced downcourt and tossed in a 3 from the beyond the foul line, Irving quickly put the ball back in play by, oops, throwing to to Bradley Beal, whose tossed up a corner 3 for the 1-point win.

Now they have lost three in a row after Tuesday night‘s 122-111 setback to the Detroit Piston, and Harden was super hot, but in another way as, on a late time out he tore into the veteran Jordan and let him know that defense counted, that he had to be a factor, while Jordan appeared to be returning his defense, but verbally and not on a basketball play.

Yes, the Nets, through a massive four-team trade that brought Hardin, have had Durant miss several games, Hardin miss several games, Irving miss several games. Can’t the three get together? Well not if tall and talented Durant is told by the league several times that a coronavirus contact defies the protocol and he has to sit out games. Two games back, he was told that, then it was changed and he was allowed to play, but in the third quarter after he picked up his fifth foul, the team was again notified by the league that he was still done for the night.

So that was bye, bye Durant. Before the game versus Detroit, Irving checked in with a finger injury, but was still able to have a good game with nine fingers. This has been a main accordance. Harden, too, has had the same-type issues. Tough to win with your super trio showing more un togetherness then togetherness.

From last year’s team coached by Jacques Vaughn, now an assistant, 6-6 sharpshooter Joe Harris returned, remained as a starting guard, 6-7 veteran Jeff Green was added, but the big loss was the knee injury to 6-5 shooting guard/small forward Spencer Dinwiddle. Last year’s leading scorer, the big shot-maker and team spark, was declared out for the season even before it began.

Then they dealt versatile Canis LaVert to Detroit in the Harden trade, but a formerly undisclosed lung issue has kept him sidelined since. Also in the Harden package, they sent 6-11 Garrett Allen to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and when Brooklyn faced him back-to-back two days after the trade, he tormented his old team with five and seven shot blocks added to him beating them for rebounds. After both games, the up-and-coming 3rd-year player who left University of Texas after his freshmen year, hugged all his former Nets’ teammates as they wished he had never left them.

Then after Harden looked up and down while sounding off to Jordan, in the post-game he said they were way too talented to be losing this way, losing these games, then he strode away shaking his head and stroking his beard. Durant, meanwhile, was told he could not play again until perhaps Friday. Irving? The finger, can’t be effective you know with only nine of them.

Nash had never been a head coach before, but the Nets thought he would be a good choice with his knowledge of the game, and he also added Mike D’Antoni to his coaching staff, except that in all his years of coaching in the NBA, D’Antoni had won his share of games and lost his share, but without a single championship.

So follow the bouncing ball of a franchise that won two American Basketball Association championships behind Julius Erving, twice gained back-to-back NBA finals behind the likes of Jason Kidd, Kenyon Martin, Richard Jefferson, Kerry Kittles, and Vince Carter, losing in four to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2002, and in six to the San Antonio Spurs in 2003. Those were the old days for the all-time nomads who have played in more different sites than anyone else. It’s been called the nomadic experience.

You know, started in the ABA in 1975 in the Garden State at the ice-cold Teaneck Armory in New Jersey as the Jersey Americans, to more warmth at Rutgers University court in Piscataway as the New Jersey Nets, two years later to the then brand new Brendon Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, and then to Long Island in sites in Hempstead, Garden City, and then the Nassau Veterans Coliseum in Uniondale as the New York Nets, which remained their title after they were welcomed into the NBA before die-hard fans at he Nassau Coliseum.

Now in the 44th year of the franchise, their new home is the sparkling Barclays Center In Brooklyn, my home town. A long ride of existence for them, and despite their present problems with a roster expected to bring a star-studded season, this campaign still has enough bounces to get this club far into the NBA playoffs in a borough of churches, trees, Coney Island, the legendary Brooklyn Bridge, memories of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and then some. And in New York’s largest of five boroughs that once  sported the third-most populated area in the country.

With the New York Mets playing in the borough of Queens, Brooklyn has only the Nets, and in Coney Island, the Rookie League Cyclones baseball team owned by the Mets. The Nets at 620 Atlantic Avenue, the Cyclones across the street from Nathans, Steeplechase, the roller coaster Cyclones, and the Atlantic Ocean beaches.

Still, it remains where I was born and raised.