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BROOKLYN NETS

By Arnie Leshin 
No matter how unlikely it seemed just a short time ago, the Brooklyn Nets could come into this National Basketball Association season with one of the best rosters from top to bottom if Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving remain in the fold.
Currently, that’s where the No. 7 and No. 11 are when the present roster was unveiled. Both are signed, Durant in his final campaign of a four-year contract, Irving opted for a one-year deal and he’s also in the lineup. Except that just after Irving, your No. 11, agreed to the one-year deal, Durant informed the Nets that he wanted to go elsewhere in a trade.
That’s fine, said the Barclay Arena tenants, but there’s no way we’re going to move No. 7 unless it’s favorable to us.
The bottom line, the versatile 6-foot-10 All-NBA star stays on Flatbush Avenue unless his value is met with a strong cast that can fit the bill. And until recently, there’s been nothing offered by a number of teams. Durant had said he’d prefer to go the Phoenix Suns, but the Western Conference runners-up came up with a deal that the Nets frowned on, and now there’s more of a chance that the 7 and 11 super stars will remain on the roster and bring hope for the frustrated Brooklyn fans.
Irving has already said he would spend the entire campaign in the colors of the Nets and not be concerned about what follows. He could also go in a possible trade this season, but that is totally unlikely, and now it appears there is no momentum for the Nets to deal Durant of Irving. In other words, the franchise looks to be in retrench mode.
It was back on June 27 that the 6-2 wheeling and dealing Irving decided to opt into his $36.9 million player option and said he would fulfill his four-year commitment to the Nets and Kevin Durant. And so how did we get into this situation about trade, well here is the situation. the 30-year-old out of Duke opted in, which means he had and he has every intention of playing this season with the Brooklyn Nets. And with this, the 33-year-old KD decides he wants out and now everybody is talking about trading Irving, right?
But when you check this further, Irving never asked for a trade. If the Nets don’t want him, that’s something different, but he never mentioned it. He opted in, so where did the trade conversations come from? Now Durant did request a trade, and now it’s like everybody says let’s trade Ky even though he opted in.
So right now, the two can be found on a pretty good Brooklyn roster. Returning after missing the entire season after ankle surgery is 6-6 marksman Joe Harris, the former national champion Virginia All-America. He will be welcomed because now he brings an experienced sharpshooter.
Also, there’s also the addition of 6-5 forward Royce O’Neale who arrived after a trade with the Utah Jazz and brings Brooklyn its No. 1 perimeter defender. Patty Mills also resigned and the 6-foot Australian provides another outside shooter with plenty of experience. Cam Thomas, who is only 20 and who led LSU in scoring his sophomore year, is 6-3 and can find the range from anywhere on the court.
Seth Curry is 6-2, the brother of the NBA champion Golden State’s Stephan, came to the Nets in last year’s late trade with the Philadelphia 76ers that involved Brooklyn’s James Harden, and played well when he was injury free. The Nets also got Ben Simmons in that trade, but he has yet to play while recovering from back surgery.
With Durant and perhaps the 6-7 Simmons, Brooklyn has strength inside with the 6-11 experienced Lamarcus Aldridge, who is 36 but when healthy, provides a strong boards man and baseline driver, and there’s also 6-10 post Andres Drummond and 6-11 banger Nic Claxton, only 23, strong inside and a genuine shot-blocker. Can’t forget 6-9 forward Blake Griffin, who is 34 but still capable of coming off the bench and providing experience.
More strength underneath comes from second-year 6-9 Dayron Sharpe, who is only 20 but tough as nails under the boards. And with Durant and Irving, this is a very respectable roster. And right now, these two have appeared to be breaking bread together. New York City has removed the Covid-19 no-vaccine hook that had kept Irving from playing at home, at the Knicks across the bridge, and he’s now free to play an entire season for Brooklyn, which was good news for Durant.
Durant and Irving are close friends who friends who came to the Nets together during the 2000-21 season. When Harden was there, it made Brooklyn the favorites to reel in the NBA title. But the three hardly played together as the result of injuries, the no-vaccine ruling that limited Irving, and Durant usually spent a game as the point guard, the feared outside shooter, and the fan favorite.
Harden wasn’t missed. In fact, he only added to his past in other lineups, as in Oklahoma City and Houston, and now despite scoring from outside and getting to the basket and dishing out passes, in the post-season he heard the boos from the Philly fans for playing below-par defense, making mistakes on offense, and getting into foul trouble. And unlike Durant in Brooklyn, wasn’t a fan favorite of the folks down the turnpike.
But on the other hand, if the Nets can keep Durant and Irving happy, and with the roster it now has, it could be Irving, Durant and the rest making a genuine run to claim the league championship. Durant and Irving have won this, Harden never has, and that’s why he’s not missed in the borough of trees and churches, where its lone championship came in 1957 when the then-Brooklyn Dodgers finally won the World Series over the New York Yankees.
That’s it, the Nets twice won the red, white and blue ball American Association Basketball championship, and were in two NBA championships that they lost. The other borough teams have won it all, and that’s the team in the Bronx, the Yankees, the team in Queens, the Mets, the NHL team in Manhattan, the Rangers, as well as the NHL team in Long Island, the Islanders, and the NHL team in New Jersey, the Devils.

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