The merging of three or more stars in one squad began with “Boston” -2007. And they succeeded. Win a championship, break the Celtics’ championship drought, be a powerful force in the Eastern Conference and the NBA as a whole for years to come. Next up is LeBron’s Miami. Not immediately, but the “Hit” conference surpassed even the achievements of its neighbors. Two championships and the status of one of the strongest teams in history. Golden State went even further and brought in Kevin Durent, the fourth star on the roster.

And then it all started with the same “Golden State”. Cousins’ signature and this speech where the playoff winner is already known before the regular season begins. Injuries. Kawaii won. Next – star associations in Philadelphia, Minnesota. Now the Lakers super trio (if you let me tell you). And so Durent (he can’t live without supersuits. Or can he?), Irving, and finally Harden take turns in Brooklyn.

The trios lasted 16 matches in total. Harden spat at the instability of his star teammates and asked for a well-known Daryl Morey. In return, however, the team from New York received fewer stars, but a more promising Ben Simmons as it seemed at the time. Supertrio is ready.

On paper, Brooklyn is still among the favourites. It should be. Durent’s solo potential allows him to tackle teams of champion Milwaukee’s caliber almost alone. But still, such decisive matches have to be achieved somehow. The future of the Nets is bleak, with Kyrie’s unreliability (he would have been a good basketball player if he hadn’t had his head issues) and Ben Simmons (who hadn’t been prepared to play basketball) at all.

Unsurprisingly, Dürent himself begins to clash. He publicly expresses his dissatisfaction (and lack of credibility) with Coach Nash and demands the dismissal of the team’s general manager. And it’s true: This “Brooklyn” just falls into the play-in area. And there is neither the resource nor the potential to improve the situation: all assets except Durent are illiquid. So it will not be possible to make a better list than what currently exists in the Nets foreign exchange market. Free agents? They’re all there. So why would veteran players who showed up before the close of the roster building period for the final episode of the season go to a team that could fly out of the pre-selection for the same money if they would definitely get offers from the contenders? . I emphasize: for the same money. Why are you wasting your nerves?

Kyrie Irving. A good second option in the competitor. Ask LeBron. You can count on him to attack. He can be counted on for the decisive shot.

Defense is a different story. However, recent events have shown that Kairi cannot be trusted in the long run. Either he says the Earth is flat, then he rebels against the vaccine and sets up the team for all the games in New York (where infection and death rates from coronavirus are nearly the highest in the United States), then major philanthropic activities in developing countries (Islamic) after acceptance). Now – it went to his head to post an anti-Semitic movie on the public web. Where is basketball?

Team owner Joseph Tsai’s reaction? She wanted to fire him. But it all ended with a 5-game suspension and a personal talk. And now the question is: where is the guarantee that Kyrie won’t be hit in the head again, but anyway, during, say, the decisive game of the final series of the NBA playoffs? Who can give such a guarantee?

Ben Simmons. He should have been the face of the association for many years. Replace LeBron. Become the next LeBron for basketball. Now we’re talking about expectations. Fact: He’s missing the season due to mental issues (but we know how much Philadelphia cares about its players. For example: Joel Embid) was traded to Brooklyn. Not playing again. Now – going to the parquet. But what is he doing there?

Yep, Simmons still hasn’t learned how to hit the ring. However, with a limited number of snipers, this flaw cannot be hidden in a modern league with strong rivals. He sees the parquet well, he runs under the ring deftly. But that limits the team offensively and makes Brooklyn predictable because their center isn’t shooting from range either.

Separately, I would like to share my impressions of the Philadelphia game. 22 points from Ben in the previous game. It hasn’t been a bad first quarter against Fili. The camera highlighted his view during the teams presentation. He closed his eyes. He tried to distract himself from the surrounding atmosphere (possibly from his own Networks). First quarter. Simmons rules the game: assists, rebounds, finishing under the basket. The camera catches his eye again, like, “Yeah, I’m going to play, I can do it, I’m fine.”

Fact: Philadelphia is confidently beating Brooklyn. The 76ers lacked Harden, Embid and Maxi; his reserve pivots had the entire front line of New Yorkers crammed into his belt. And Ben Simmons remains cut off from his team, giving the impression of a little kid who will “make it right now”, but actually at the first problem (when Phil changes the tide of the match and enters the void), my knees start to shake and I want to run away to Kendell Jenner under a warm and cozy blanket.

Trainer. Yes, Nash is inexperienced. But do you really believe in Jacques Vaughn? Under the leadership of Gregg Popovich, he became the NBA champion. So what did Vaughn achieve? Leave a beard. Other? Without two stars and the main quarterback, he loses to Doc Rivers. Again lost to Doc Rivers.

And the hostage of this situation and management job is none other than Kevin Dürent. Ceiling the last prime years of one of today’s top basketball players – playing on a two-star team with no interest in playing basketball, playing with spineless teammates, indulging an unqualified coach and clashing with a champion coach and general manager? A very good perspective. But at the same time, it’s clear that Brooklyn will only be fighting for the play-in zone (there are six stronger teams in the Eastern Conference) and have a good chance of not making it to the first round. elimination games. If he wins the qualifying tournament.

Brooklyn will be interesting to watch this season. This command highlights the instability of super teams. Inadequacies in modern conditions. But it gives the NBA a new way to build contenders: a star surrounded by a quality support team. And Toronto, Milwaukee and the Golden State (that’s right, this GSV-2022) prove it to us.

Vyacheslav Shevchenko