Jason Burgos
The Brooklyn Nets 2022-2023 campaign kicks off tonight with many questions and few answers for an organization with NBA Finals aspirations this season.
Last season was one to forget for the Brooklyn Nets. Their 2021-2022 odyssey started off with a trio featuring superstars Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving. And ended with Harden in Philadelphia and Nets fans wishing Irving was shipped off too. Sure, they still made the playoffs but the drama from Irving’s vaccination status, and Simmons not suiting up after his acquisition was a dark cloud that followed the team to their first-round ouster by the Boston Celtics.
That soap opera continued in the offseason as Irving and the team hit a contract negotiations stalemate and Kevin Durant requested his escape from New York. In July it seemed like this would be a completely different squad from last season. Yet, for the most part, all the pieces are back after cooler heads prevailed and agreed to try this relationship out for one more season.
Related: NBA games today – Get watch times for tonight’s slate of NBA action
Despite the questions on how united this team is and how much they respect head coach Steve Nash, the talent on the roster is undeniable and they will still likely be a force in the Eastern Conference. However, if they truly want to be a serious contender to bring a title back to Brooklyn, these questions will need to be answered.
Is Kyrie Irving primed for a massive year?
It is odd to think that a player that averaged 27 points a game must have a bounceback year, but that is the situation Irving has put himself in. No, he won’t need to prove he is still an elite talent in the league. The numbers show that. However, he needs to completely rebuild his reputation, because it says a lot when a player of his talent level is on the trade block, and 99% of the league takes a hard pass.
Irving has always had a mercurial personality, but now he is a player you really can’t rely on or trust. That is a big problem if he hopes to get a new long-term deal next summer, and all indications are that he does.
If you’ve followed sports for an extended amount of time, you know athletes seem to love having big seasons right before they hit the free-agent market. This case seems no different, so don’t be at all surprised if Irving is a model teammate and All-Star as he dupes the Nets or another team into handing him another massive long-term deal in 2023.
How do the Nets fill the big man void left by Griffin and Aldridge?
While they were well passed their prime and role players on this Nets team, LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin were key contributors last season. Especially Griffin. Brooklyn is replacing them this year with more minutes for Nic Claxton, Day’Ron Sharpe, and offseason acquisition TJ Warren. Even though the league is more geared toward small ball this is set up to be a major weakness for Brooklyn.
With the Eastern Conference having some good centers like Jarrett Allen, Nikola Vucevic, Clint Capela, and of course Joel Embiid, the Nets may end up going with smaller lineups often and try to hold the line until they make a trade for a veteran center to address that problem before their playoff run.
What is Ben Simmons’ role on Brooklyn Nets?
Ben Simmons is a complete X-factor for this team. He missed all of last season and has to prove his back and mind are still up to snuff for the rigors of an NBA regular season. With the team already having two capable ball handlers, Simmons’ role could be very different than it was with the 76ers. During the preseason the team played him as a power forward and that is what the plan looks to be heading into the season as well.
That might not be the situation by the end of the year, but wherever Simmons plays the Aussie is likely to be an All-Star dirty work player. He will be their defensive stopper and a swiss army knife to serve in whatever way Durant and Irving require. Which will better serve his psyche right now and help rebuild his confidence with far less pressure on him than in Philly.
Is the Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons experiment built to fail?
NBA fans have seen several super teams put together over the last decade that worked out brilliantly for those organizations. The Warriors, Heat, and Celtics put together trios of superstars that helped to bring them at least one championship. However, there are many groupings of great players in NBA history that have failed miserably as well. The Lakers currently have another in the bad mix trio of Lebron James, Anthony Davis, and Russell Westbrook.
There are no guarantees this Brooklyn triumvirate will work. It could be argued that all three have fragile personalities and have shown a penchant to be self-centric. The superstar trios that succeeded in the past made sacrifices. Ben Simmons is likely to be the man doing just the majority of that, and he may be just fine with it. However, if his shot-making demons follow him to Brooklyn, will he be able to mentally manage the New York media heat?
Then there is the shaky ground Irving and Durant’s relationship may be on after this tumultuous offseason and history of already running one superstar out of town. This is as talented a trio as any before, but they may also be the most combustible.
How does Steve Nash regain the respect of his stars?
Steve Nash is one of the greatest point guards of all time and was a leader on several title-contending Phoenix Suns teams. There is no doubt about the respect he has around the league for what he did in his career. And when he was Durant and Irving’s hand-picked coach two seasons ago, they seemed to be shared the sentiment in the Nets locker room. Not so much anymore.
Throughout the summer, stories claimed Irving had no respect for the coaching abilities of the Hall-of-Famer, and Durant reportedly wanted Nash and general manager Sean Marks out, if the organization wanted him to return. Obviously, they have since made nice but that is a bridge over a big gap. If the team at all struggles again, you can expect the rift to open right back up.
Nash has a major challenge in front of him to regain his superstar’s confidence and keep control of his locker room or be the first person that takes the fall for the team’s failures.
