Fans watching Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving perform in Nets uniforms last week couldn’t help but smile. They may have been just preseason games, but the sheer brilliance of the two superstars, who chose to move to Brooklyn in the 2019 free agency period, ruled out the worst fears regarding how they would look after last season’s injury-ravaged campaign.
Irving was limited to 20 games before shoulder surgery ended his season, while Durant needed a full sabbatical from the Achilles tear he suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals with Golden State. Again, it’s preseason, but neither looked the least bit rusty from their respective layoffs, combining to score 75 points in 96 minutes of action with a sizzling 54/44/75 shooting split. It wasn’t just the offense that showed prolific potential, though; Durant also rejected five shots over the two games, giving hope that he hasn’t lost much mobility that would affect his one-on-one defense.
No disrespect to Irving, but make no mistake, this will be KD’s team. The Nets will go as far as his MVP-level skills have returned. For what it’s worth, Nets coach Steve Nash said on Sunday that he felt KD was “somewhere in the 90s” in percentage terms relating to where he was pre-injury. If instead the preseason was just a mirage and it turns out that Durant has lost more than a step, then I envision Brooklyn as a low playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, flaming out in the first round. If he’s simply less athletic, like a peak Dirk Nowitzki, then you’re looking at a team capable of winning a round, but goes no further.
However, if Nash was honest and Durant is indeed close to the form before the injury that put him in the conversation for the league’s best player, and we’ve seen nothing to suggest he isn’t, then a World Championship isn’t out of the question, with anything less than a Conference Finals appearance an extremely disappointing result.
The varying prospects may be dizzying, but it’s part of what makes this Nets season, which begins Tuesday night with a nationally televised contest against Golden State. It’s perhaps the most highly anticipated in franchise history, but how will it play out? Here are five predictions:
1) Durant and Irving will each play no more than 54 games
The NBA released the first half of an abbreviated 72-game schedule, in which Brooklyn has seven back-to-back sets. There’s almost no chance that the Nets will allow Durant and Irving to play on both those ends given their injury histories. Even if neither suffers a major malady this season, history tells us that there will be other games where the Nets’ Performance Team will declare them to be load management nights.
2) Nets GM Sean Marks will not trade for a “third star”
Marks is always on the lookout for good deals, but it was a lot easier when Brooklyn was a cellar-dweller and could extort other teams for young players and draft picks in order to take their bad contracts. Acquiring great players, on the other hand, comes with inflationary pricing. Forget Houston’s James Harden or Washington’s Bradley Beal – Marks is refusing to mortgage the Nets’ future and those teams aren’t biting on a package that includes Caris LeVert, Taurean Prince, pending unrestricted free agent Spencer Dinwiddie, and Jarrett Allen, whose eligibility to sign an extension before he enters restricted free agency terminated on Monday. Marks isn’t wrong to bet on his depth this regular season as opposed to gutting it to get another surefire All-Star, but I will still be curious to see what he can swing closer to the trade deadline that could give his club a boost going into the playoffs.
3) Joe Harris will regain his three-point crown
Like all good players, Harris uses the offseason to add to his skillset. In prior years, he improved his ability to drive closeouts and finishes around the basket. Since Marks picked him up off the street in 2016, Harris has developed into a lethal three-point shooter, which forced the Nets to pony up last month and reward the free agent with a four-year, $75 million contract. If you watched Harris this preseason, however…he’s now knocking down contested three-pointers, with increased range. As long as he can continue sharing the floor with Durant and Irving, Harris will reap the benefits of the lessened attentions from opposing defenses. After finishing fifth in three-point efficiency last season, he will recapture the regular season crown he won in 2018-19.
4) Caris LeVert will be a Sixth Man of the Year finalist
In his first outing off the bench, LeVert lit up Boston for 18 points in 21 minutes.
Nash has been comparing LeVert to former Spurs super-sub Manu Ginobli in terms of potential impact, but Nash may be underselling it. LeVert has more diversity to his game than former sixth man Dinwiddie, a straight-line driving specialist with underwhelming shooting efficiency and passing skills. Lowering Dinwiddie’s usage through playing him with the starters while also allowing LeVert to cook with the reserves is a win-win. LeVert will challenge the Clippers’ perennial sixth-man candidate, Lou Williams, for the top honor this season.
5) My crystal ball says…
The Nets will finish 44-28, and be the fourth seed in the East behind Milwaukee, Miami, and Philadelphia. They will knock out Boston in the first round and then upset the Bucks to get to the Conference Finals, where the run will end against the Sixers.
For a FAN’s perspective of the Nets, Devils and Jets, follow Steve Lichtenstein on Twitter: @SteveLichtenst1
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