Nets vs Spurs Game thread - Irving Out

[Papi_swav]

2 bad losses to teams we should of beat smh KD can't come back quick enough. Kyrie better show up in Phoenix

[ArksNetsSince99]

Its crazy but are shooters are getting a pass for goin 3/22 they make 9 total we win this game.

Show me where I'm giving them a pass. I'll wait.

lol im agreeing with you on how people are throwing hate Ben he was the last of our concern

It’s so easy to blame Ben while the person who should be blamed is Marks , he created this roster , he stand pat with Nash 2 years to long , now again he’s doing nothing

Can’t wait until his tenure here is over , he might be good at finding low risk talent , he got no clue how to build a contender, serious contender not paper tigers

[3pt_chucker]

We can absolutely blame Ben. His offense is utter garbage.

And he got cooked on defense all night.

Why is he making 30 million? He sucks.

I would literally trade Kuzma for him tomorrow.

Are we watching the same game??? He did not get cooked on defense? He had to guard Poeltl mostly because he is the only one with size to do so. Whenever he defended Keldon Johnson, he actually forced him to use his left hand and miss shots. Only starter with a positive +/- speaks volumes. He has numerous flaws but please be honest and not just drive a narrative.

Swapping Kuzma for Ben is hilarious.

I agree Ben is a legit player but he needs to put the darn ball in the hoop sometime. Missed a open dunk, 2 easy layups and he has no moves on offense. He's good at everything else except scoring. I just wish he can put the ball in the hoop at least a little bit. But he had like 6 turnovers which is unacceptable but I don't put this loss all on him. We literally got absolutely nothing from Joe Harris.

Scoring is one of the flaws I mentioned. However, as we've talked about before, it's even worse right now because he's just not the same player athletically right now. His vertical lift and explosiveness is just not there. He never had great touch around the rim but he could compensate by dunking it with power. He can't do that right now and probably won't for a few months until he's 100% back from the back.

I agree him not being able to get to 15 PPG is a problem but we shouldn't be surprised and Sean Marks has to be able to anticipate he'd not be able to be the same off back surgery! Why is the roster STILL overpopulated with small guards who can't defend, rebound and struggle to create shots/shoot over length? This has been a bad rebounding team the entire time during Marks era. At some point you can't keep blaming the players when they are put in positions to fail.

Ex: The Royce O'Neale trade was suspect at the time and looks worse now. I like Royce but I feel like he should be coming off the bench ideally. Marks has to get Kuzma(w/o trading Ben) or someone similar. No excuses imo.

[OfficialRef]

Is there any team that sucks this hard without their best player like the Nets without Durant?

Bucks, Nuggets, Warriors are all good teams even without their top guy. This team doesn't even look like an NBA team some nights.

[3pt_chucker]

Joe Harris with 0 rebounds in 17 mins is egregious. Way worse than him missing every shot. Won't even start with how much he got blown by on defense or him giving up an and 1 layup while going "straight up" on defense.

Yuck. He needs a new team where all he has to do is catch n shoot, with everyone else doing the rebounding and defending. Cleveland would be a perfect fit IMO.

[3pt_chucker]

2 bad losses to teams we should of beat smh KD can't come back quick enough. Kyrie better show up in Phoenix

I want to agree but right now KD is lipstick on a pig. Roster will get exposed vs any elite team in the playoffs.

That said, I don't think the roster is far away. Just need better balance of role players.

[ArksNetsSince99]

Joe Harris with 0 rebounds in 17 mins is egregious. Way worse than him missing every shot. Won't even start with how much he got blown by on defense or him giving up an and 1 layup while going "straight up" on defense.

Yuck. He needs a new team where all he has to do is catch n shoot, with everyone else doing the rebounding and defending. Cleveland would be a perfect fit IMO.

To many roster spots taken on this team by useless players , Joe is one of them , he got paid by Nets well , this is the first guy we should be looking to trade ASAP

[Papi_swav]

Are we watching the same game??? He did not get cooked on defense? He had to guard Poeltl mostly because he is the only one with size to do so. Whenever he defended Keldon Johnson, he actually forced him to use his left hand and miss shots. Only starter with a positive +/- speaks volumes. He has numerous flaws but please be honest and not just drive a narrative.

Swapping Kuzma for Ben is hilarious.

I agree Ben is a legit player but he needs to put the darn ball in the hoop sometime. Missed a open dunk, 2 easy layups and he has no moves on offense. He's good at everything else except scoring. I just wish he can put the ball in the hoop at least a little bit. But he had like 6 turnovers which is unacceptable but I don't put this loss all on him. We literally got absolutely nothing from Joe Harris.

Scoring is one of the flaws I mentioned. However, as we've talked about before, it's even worse right now because he's just not the same player athletically right now. His vertical lift and explosiveness is just not there. He never had great touch around the rim but he could compensate by dunking it with power. He can't do that right now and probably won't for a few months until he's 100% back from the back.

I agree him not being able to get to 15 PPG is a problem but we shouldn't be surprised and Sean Marks has to be able to anticipate he'd not be able to be the same off back surgery! Why is the roster STILL overpopulated with small guards who can't defend, rebound and struggle to create shots/shoot over length? This has been a bad rebounding team the entire time during Marks era. At some point you can't keep blaming the players when they are put in positions to fail.

Ex: The Royce O'Neale trade was suspect at the time and looks worse now. I like Royce but I feel like he should be coming off the bench ideally. Marks has to get Kuzma(w/o trading Ben) or someone similar. No excuses imo.

yea I get that about Ben, but he's been an NBA player for a while, he should at least have some basic moves down pack to get a bucket. I hope this summer he does something about that, develop a 10 foot shot, work with Hakeem on post moves, something.. can't just rely on athleticism at this point. Just wish he improves a little in the category.

I don't really like Kuzma tbh, yea he can put up some nice numbers but he makes alot bonehead plays and he's not a defender. I wouldn't want to put him in a switch situation because he'll give up points most of the time. That Royce trade is still suspect but he has helped us win some games and his defense does help us. It seems like every other team is throwing away first round picks in this day.

[Papi_swav]

2 bad losses to teams we should of beat smh KD can't come back quick enough. Kyrie better show up in Phoenix

I want to agree but right now KD is lipstick on a pig. Roster will get exposed vs any elite team in the playoffs.

That said, I don't think the roster is far away. Just need better balance of role players.

What elite teams will expose us? Except for Celtics I would like to know. It seems like every team has their flaws. I agree that we definitely need more 2 way players in place of Joe Harris and Patty Mills etc.. but take out any teams star player and they can be bottom level team except for Boston because they have 2 top guys. Maybe Philly as well but Bucks are clearly not what they used to be,

[Hello Brooklyn]

Milwaukee also beat Toronto without Giannis.

Do they have more talent than us? No.

We are just mentally weak.

[Decipher]

Well that wasn't good

Most of us have been saying for a while that we need a big body in certain matchups and this was one of them

Nic has made great strides but he's a beanpole which leaves us to rely on Simmons & not only does that remove him from his best defensive position but he shouldn't be banging bodies anyway

As for Joe Harris, I doubt that he has any real trade value atm so we probably need to right it out

Seth is the guy with value

[OneZilion]

I think all now understand limits of this players, they are just good role players next to all time great talent in KD who elevate them and hide all weakenesses of them and you put robin in kyrie with him…

Joe is awful, Simmons have problems but except scoring he is ok, but scoring it is unreal for nba player that was 1pick and allstar…that is a shame to me, royce is good role player cant expect anything more of him, claxton is defencive beast put on offence good only in good system and this team without kd and ky is nothing organised, when kd is down you see Yuta is not same Yuta…

KD is playing realy MVP level of season on that was reason this team stayed together and was winning and everybody was much better cause all teams focus too much on him… put some Euroleague or G league player in roster with him they would be solid…

[Gooner]

Without KD and Kyrie this team can lose to anyone, it's the reality. Simmons can't be the guy to lead the team in any circumstances. He is handling the ball up top and teams are just sagging off of him.

[NetsWorld]

I hate to say it but the weaknesses are showing: this team is just full of very good role players who support KD/Kyrie. Marks need to make a trade to bolster the front court or get another damn star level player. I hope he doesn’t stand pat because he’s been doing nothing but that so far this season.

[OneZilion]

Ben Simmons is not the same Simmons from Sixers days maybe he is not ready yet but at the moment he is role player.

We have many good role players Claxton, Ben, Royce, TJ, Harris, Seth, Yuta…. but all of them are just role players and dont expect more than that. Only who is underperforming to their status and salary are Ben and Joe… and obviously they are not the same before treir injuries… Clax is better this season but he is not a guy that will make big difference, he is perfect for his role on this team with kd and ky

Yuta, Seth, Cam, Sumner, TJ after 2 years no playing… what do you really want from that guys?

This is reality and we have to hope to win some games… to not go really bad run… I think we cant go under 5th place in the east in any option

[MrDollarBills]

Vaughn needs to he preaching team basketball right now. Not sure what we're doing

Team is lost on both ends. JV coaching was too Durant centric and you can see how it falls apart when he's gone.

That dsaid, team looks ok when Ben is running the show. Too bad he gets in foul trouble easily

Nothing should change with Durant out. Move the ball, set screens on and off ball, shooters need to hit their open looks and guys who can put the ball on the floor to create need to attack.

This is the stuff that KD was upset about and he's right. The team is talented enough that we should be able to win without him against lesser opponents. Losing these last few games is inexcusable imo. This falls on everyone, coaches and players.

[TheNetsFan]

Read on Twitter

It sounds like KD is signing off on what SVG is saying. Coincidental or damning a day after Kyrie sits for sudden calf tightness?

[MrDollarBills]

Read on Twitter

It sounds like KD is signing off on what SVG is saying. Coincidental or damning a day after Kyrie sits for sudden calf tightness?

I don't wanna read too much into that. Kyrie honestly needed to sit, he's been awful the last few games.

KD is a hooper and would literally play 48 mins in a back to back if he could. He probably agrees with the old school mentality more than anything if i had to guess.

He's also a big proponent of practicing, which I agree with.

[MrDollarBills]

Vaughn needs to switch things up.

I would start Claxton/Yuta/Royce/Kyrie/Simmons. We need to get back to our defensive ways instead of this small ball garbage. Having Clax/Yuta/Ben together provides the length that we are missing with KD out.

I think Marks needs to seriously shop Cam/Curry or Joe in order to either get us another big, or another lengthy perimeter player.

I'm sorry. Cam's attitude is horrible. Last night was enough for me, dude wants to chuck shots, he can do it for another team.

[Eatgreenz]

Yea idk why vaughn is playing lineups n strategies like we still have KD out there switch it up. Clax n Simmons lineup only works with kai n kd, cuz of the gravity they create. Why is this mini backcourts every a thing