Post#39 » by gigantes » Wed Sep 25, 2019 12:42 am
This isn't a particularly KD-specific comment, but I'm getting pretty tired of Nets fan's borderline premature victory dance, re: this coming season.
It almost sounds like for this coming season, if the Nets don't start strong out of the gate and/or if they don't hit 50 wins, and/or if they don't challenge for the conference title, then once again fans will be calling for Kenny's head. And regardless of all that, getting to the finals sounds like it's also expected in year two of Kyrie-Durant.
TBF, I can indeed see all the positives working out, and the Nets possibly winning the trophy in either of the next two seasons. But I can just as easily see a load of things not working out as well as fans were assuming, starting with KD's rehab and how he performs when he's back. But I also see a major factor in terms of our top three guys all having serious injury histories, and that kind of thing possibly coming back to bite one or more of them.
Also, it seems like there's a major piece of reality that fans are kind of sleeping on, and it starts with the fact that the Nets were a 28-win team just the season before last, with collective talent that arguably didn't even match that win total. The cupboard was pretty much empty, and players like Harris, DWid & LeVert were in many ways longshots who might possibly turn in to something down the road, but were still major longshots by most expertise.
In other words, the 42-win Nets were hardly a 'solid, perennial playoff team' that only needed a couple more pieces to become a finals contender. In fact, it seems to me like fans are kinda, suddenly sleeping on the fact that only a series of miracle moves in desperate straits got the team back in to the playoffs, to the surprise of almost everyone. And all we have is one playoff series in the bank at this point.
My point here is that even with the new guys, this isn't a traditionally loaded team (like the Sixers, Celts or Raps) with years of chemistry (given all our new guys this season), with injury a non-looming concern. As I see it, in reality, this is still a team with its fair share of question marks across the board that could in fact struggle to meet fan expectations.
It's also a team of pretty mediocre defenders (speaking of DWid & Harris), with the two best players also presenting some potential challenges in terms of fitting in chemistry-wise, so to speak, another major area of concern.
Me? I'm hoping for the best, but prepared if things get rocky... is what I'm trying to say, I guess. It's going to be super-annoying though if there's some rockiness, and a big section of the fanbase starts brattily calling for Kenny's head or some other stupid sh-t like that, such as putting down various players. Been there, done that. One thing I know for sure is that this team busts its collective ass, and if things don't live up to your dreams in the coming season(s), the problem likely isn't the team, but you.
[/rant that's been slowly fed across this summer]
