The brooklyn nets and Dallas Mavericks shook up the market this Sunday February 5 with the transfer of Kyrie Irving to the team of Texas. And after considering it base lace with Luka Doncic and the rest of the team led by Jason Kidd, are also worthy put the spotlight on the New Yorkers… Still Eastern Conference contenders?
In sports and in the short termit is more than clear that Brooklyn is losing out on trade. They lost an average star 27 points with high percentages as Kyrie, replacing him with a good one actor as Dorian Finney-Smith and one famous scorer in the franchise (but far from a figure) as Spencer Dinwiddie. All within the framework of a team that currently has Kevin Durant and Ben Simmons were injured.
Dinwiddie’s winner 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Q3qWWm3Mj2
—NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 11, 2020
The recent history of the Nets not KD or Irving in the country is just disturbing. In 728 possessions without any of them, Brooklyn has a differential -15.4 for every 100 possessions, scoring only 103.8 points for every 100 games. To put that number in context, the worst offense in the league (Charlotte) has a rating 109.6so it’s obvious that these parts of the Nets have been troubling any way you look at them.
Can that change with the arrival of reinforcements like Dinwiddie and Finney-Smith? The first of these has the talent to carry the team’s offense as a first choice, but only at specific times and not during a series of entire matches. Even if Simmons returns soon (he would before KD), a team with Dinwiddie, Simmons, Seth Curry and Royce O’Neale pushing the offense will have serious problems of maintaining competitiveness against much of the league. And while Durant will likely return after the All-Star, margins have narrowed important to those directed by Jacques Vaughan.
Without KD being healthy and doing his thing, Brooklyn no longer has the firepower to match the eastern elite. Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Boston and even Cleveland now seem a step above them (even complete).
A Ben Simmons in action Regular season with Philadelphia would be a solution to those limited Nets scoring variations. But this player who could scores 20 points with some regularity seems to be a thing of the past and today Brooklyn has an Australian who, while he continues to impact the game as a passer and defender, is more than just a zero to the left when attacking the rim. His 10.6 yards per 100 possessions are the the lowest grade of all list of nameseven well below names like Day’Ron Sharpe, Yuta Watanabe or Edmond Sumner.
Simmons is averaging just 7.4 points this season.
an illusion point for Brooklyn: The team’s production with Durant on the court and Irving out was outstanding in 2022-2023. In 1214 possessions they record a phenomenon net score from +9 in these situations. But again, all confidence is placed in the availability of one of his players 34 years oldwith significant history of injurythat at the moment it is not known exactly when he will return to activity.
Irving’s trade request put the Nets up against the wall. If they didn’t trade him now, they would lose Kyrie. Free in the next Free Agency. The move is reasonable, but none the less painful for their champion choices. In less than 12 months, that The superteam of Durant, Irving and Harden has collapsed in a way rarely seen in NBA history, with all three stars requiring a trade during that stretch.
The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the NBA or its organizations.
