Patty Mills should remain the starter, home AND away

[sashaturiaf]

Judas

But I agree both with Whisky Slick and Prok.

1. The starting role is more symbolic than anything and in this case you can't give Judas the role after what he has pulled, especially since Patty has been the consummate professional in his place.

2. In practice who finishes games matters more than who starts games. Kyrie will be part of our best lineups but Id say let him finish games when he is playing well rather than make it a given that he will be part of the closing lineup.

In short I don't trust Kyrie. Make him the 6th man until at the very least he can play full time.

What exactly did Kyrie "pull"

He chose not to get vaccinated. the city put restrictions on him. the nets put restrictions on him. the nba allowed to have his salary docked. he accepted all of these consequences without pushback. he sacraficed a ton to be true to his choices.

People make it sound like he held out for a new contract or just went on hiatus or went MIA for 30 games intentionally. Kyrie was/is willing to play all games he is eligible to play. his teammates fully support him. so do his coaches. this isnt some malicious, divisive act. its the result of a unprecedented pandemic situation.

I don't really want to argue about Kyrie with other Nets fans since at the end of the day we all want him to play as well as he can, for as many times as he can this season. I don't think he's a good teammate but how we view him and judge him based off his past actions really is irrelevant at the end of the day.

I don't think Kyrie is a victim, and I don't think Kyrie has done everything he can to be there for his teammates when they need him the most (this is not based off this season alone but his entire Nets tenure, why was he not even in the arena after he turned his ankle in the Bucks series? Harden laced up and risked his health just to be a decoy).

BUT - at the end of the day a championship or two is the goal. Nothing says dysfunctional teams can't win titles as long as the talent is good enough, NBA history tells us that. How our season ends will determine the narrative on Kyrie's tenure as a Net. Win us a title, and Kyrie will be the misunderstood erratic basketball genius who took a stand for what he believed was right. But if we flame out and Kyrie is nowhere to be seen, then I'd say history will not look back kindly on a guy who was taking up $35m on our payroll while giving nothing.

[Prokorov]

Judas

But I agree both with Whisky Slick and Prok.

1. The starting role is more symbolic than anything and in this case you can't give Judas the role after what he has pulled, especially since Patty has been the consummate professional in his place.

2. In practice who finishes games matters more than who starts games. Kyrie will be part of our best lineups but Id say let him finish games when he is playing well rather than make it a given that he will be part of the closing lineup.

In short I don't trust Kyrie. Make him the 6th man until at the very least he can play full time.

What exactly did Kyrie "pull"

He chose not to get vaccinated. the city put restrictions on him. the nets put restrictions on him. the nba allowed to have his salary docked. he accepted all of these consequences without pushback. he sacraficed a ton to be true to his choices.

People make it sound like he held out for a new contract or just went on hiatus or went MIA for 30 games intentionally. Kyrie was/is willing to play all games he is eligible to play. his teammates fully support him. so do his coaches. this isnt some malicious, divisive act. its the result of a unprecedented pandemic situation.

I don't really want to argue about Kyrie with other Nets fans since at the end of the day we all want him to play as well as he can, for as many times as he can this season. I don't think he's a good teammate but how we view him and judge him based off his past actions really is irrelevant at the end of the day.

I don't think Kyrie is a victim, and I don't think Kyrie has done everything he can to be there for his teammates when they need him the most (this is not based off this season alone but his entire Nets tenure, why was he not even in the arena after he turned his ankle in the Bucks series? Harden laced up and risked his health just to be a decoy).

BUT - at the end of the day a championship or two is the goal. Nothing says dysfunctional teams can't win titles as long as the talent is good enough, NBA history tells us that. How our season ends will determine the narrative on Kyrie's tenure as a Net. Win us a title, and Kyrie will be the misunderstood erratic basketball genius who took a stand for what he believed was right. But if we flame out and Kyrie is nowhere to be seen, then I'd say history will not look back kindly on a guy who was taking up $35m on our payroll while giving nothing.

Again, what did he "pull"

Harden missed 3 games after his injury. kyrie missed 3 games after his injury. but somehow for Kyrie he needed to play right after but harden it was ok to miss those 3 games. if guys are hurt they are hurt. and if you need to know what playing hurt does just look at the 2 years it cost kevin durant.

Kyrie is an elite teammate and their for his teammates. that is coming from their mouths. but i guess your opinion on if he is a good teammate means more then his actualy teammates opinions?

[Prokorov]

Judas

But I agree both with Whisky Slick and Prok.

1. The starting role is more symbolic than anything and in this case you can't give Judas the role after what he has pulled, especially since Patty has been the consummate professional in his place.

2. In practice who finishes games matters more than who starts games. Kyrie will be part of our best lineups but Id say let him finish games when he is playing well rather than make it a given that he will be part of the closing lineup.

In short I don't trust Kyrie. Make him the 6th man until at the very least he can play full time.

What exactly did Kyrie "pull"

He chose not to get vaccinated. the city put restrictions on him. the nets put restrictions on him. the nba allowed to have his salary docked. he accepted all of these consequences without pushback. he sacraficed a ton to be true to his choices.

People make it sound like he held out for a new contract or just went on hiatus or went MIA for 30 games intentionally. Kyrie was/is willing to play all games he is eligible to play. his teammates fully support him. so do his coaches. this isnt some malicious, divisive act. its the result of a unprecedented pandemic situation.

Agree on some points but in all fairness he did sit out 30 whatever games intentionally last year.

You can only wear a crazy suit so long before people start to call you crazy in regular clothes.

What in the world are you talking about? 30 games? he missed 18 games last year. 9 of those were for injury, covid protocol or schedule maintenance.

of the 9 he missed 4 were protesting social justice and 5 were for the birth of his child. all were excused absences by the team.

[bubonicphoniks]

What exactly did Kyrie "pull"

He chose not to get vaccinated. the city put restrictions on him. the nets put restrictions on him. the nba allowed to have his salary docked. he accepted all of these consequences without pushback. he sacraficed a ton to be true to his choices.

People make it sound like he held out for a new contract or just went on hiatus or went MIA for 30 games intentionally. Kyrie was/is willing to play all games he is eligible to play. his teammates fully support him. so do his coaches. this isnt some malicious, divisive act. its the result of a unprecedented pandemic situation.

Agree on some points but in all fairness he did sit out 30 whatever games intentionally last year.

You can only wear a crazy suit so long before people start to call you crazy in regular clothes.

What in the world are you talking about? 30 games? he missed 18 games last year. 9 of those were for injury, covid protocol or schedule maintenance.

of the 9 he missed 4 were protesting social justice and 5 were for the birth of his child. all were excused absences by the team.

30/18

Tomatos/tomaatos

[Prokorov]

Agree on some points but in all fairness he did sit out 30 whatever games intentionally last year.

You can only wear a crazy suit so long before people start to call you crazy in regular clothes.

What in the world are you talking about? 30 games? he missed 18 games last year. 9 of those were for injury, covid protocol or schedule maintenance.

of the 9 he missed 4 were protesting social justice and 5 were for the birth of his child. all were excused absences by the team.

30/18

Tomatos/tomaatos

it is an enormous difference. especially when you factor in those missed for injury/covid protocol - contact tracing. You painted it as him missing half of last season for personal reasons. when it was really like 9 games.

[gigantes]

Right on, and I hope OP can give up the "Judas" label over time.

That's it, as of this moment I'm officially retiring that label.

Gotta practice Christian forgiveness and it's wrong to hold-on to this animosity, so as of this moment I officially welcome KYRIE back to the team and I hope he can help us win that chip. I also hope that by playoff time he does whatever is necessary to play in all of the games, home and away, even if that means taking the shots.

You're a good man.

I also like the theory that Kyrie being with his teammates again, on and off the court, is going to have a significant natural influence in him getting the shots as the season rolls along. Especially as the playoffs approach.

Belief-system is one thing, but being able to look his teammates' in the eyes while they're fighting to win a championship is another thing. To me it's less about a mandate at that point, and more about Kyrie voluntarily choosing to join his teammates in playing at home.

Also, I'm encouraged by Kyrie's rather humble comments from the other day, in which he acknowledged things were harder for him than he thought they'd be, resisting the NYC mandate.

[bubonicphoniks]

What in the world are you talking about? 30 games? he missed 18 games last year. 9 of those were for injury, covid protocol or schedule maintenance.

of the 9 he missed 4 were protesting social justice and 5 were for the birth of his child. all were excused absences by the team.

30/18

Tomatos/tomaatos

it is an enormous difference. especially when you factor in those missed for injury/covid protocol - contact tracing. You painted it as him missing half of last season for personal reasons. when it was really like 9 games.

I tend to agree with most of your posts, but we disagree fundamentally here.

Kyrie had a phantom injury the year before too....

[Prokorov]

30/18

Tomatos/tomaatos

it is an enormous difference. especially when you factor in those missed for injury/covid protocol - contact tracing. You painted it as him missing half of last season for personal reasons. when it was really like 9 games.

I tend to agree with most of your posts, but we disagree fundamentally here.

Kyrie had a phantom injury the year before too....

you dont think there is a difference between missing 30/72 games for personal reasons vs 9/72 for personal reasons?

[bubonicphoniks]

it is an enormous difference. especially when you factor in those missed for injury/covid protocol - contact tracing. You painted it as him missing half of last season for personal reasons. when it was really like 9 games.

I tend to agree with most of your posts, but we disagree fundamentally here.

Kyrie had a phantom injury the year before too....

you dont think there is a difference between missing 30/72 games for personal reasons vs 9/72 for personal reasons?

There is a numerical difference but not a team philsophical difference, no.

[Prokorov]

I tend to agree with most of your posts, but we disagree fundamentally here.

Kyrie had a phantom injury the year before too....

you dont think there is a difference between missing 30/72 games for personal reasons vs 9/72 for personal reasons?

There is a numerical difference but not a team philsophical difference, no.

Of course there is. missing a handful of games for your kids birth is alot different then missing half a season.

Team and teammates supported him.

[ecuhus1981]

It'll be years before we find out how much actual support Kyrie has had over these absences. You hammer home the point that they've all been excused absences, but remember, friend, that's only because our FO chose to treat them as excused. From all we know of these episodes, he does not communicate properly and in advance, some teams would throw a player under the bus publicly over less. I don't think that would be smart, but teams have behaved that way on the past.

Secondly, about the cone of silence around this team, players under Marks are not going to go on the record with any Kyrie frustration. Just because they keep it in house and we never hear it, doesn't mean that that frustration doesn't exist. Let's just get him back, KEEP him back and hopefully not have another milk carton event in the future. If he does go AWOL again, my guess is we'll hear true feelings from someone.

[GTR11]

It'll be years before we find out how much actual support Kyrie has had over these absences. You hammer home the point that they've all been excused absences, but remember, friend, that's only because our FO chose to treat them as excused. From all we know of these episodes, he does not communicate properly and in advance, some teams would throw a player under the bus publicly over less. I don't think that would be smart, but teams have behaved that way on the past.

Secondly, about the cone of silence around this team, players under Marks are not going to go on the record with any Kyrie frustration. Just because they keep it in house and we never hear it, doesn't mean that that frustration doesn't exist. Let's just get him back, KEEP him back and hopefully not have another milk carton event in the future. If he does go AWOL again, my guess is we'll hear true feelings from someone.

Maybe thing being hash hash inside BK locker and org, I personally listening to Harden. That guy is 100% no bs kept. Him saying that he won't sign extension pretty much says there's tension between him and Kyrie. KD is the only reason this didn't blow out in our faces. Don't get it twisted, it's toxic.

My only only hope is that Harden will figure it out with Marks/Tsai and KD. Kyrie is luney tune, that dumb f*** is definition of Duning - Kruger syndrome.

[GYK]

Kyrie obviously should start. But he obviously has to get the vaccine. We won’t win if he’s missing half the playoffs. No team wins with a core member absent. It’s hubris to even think it’s possible. Durant and Harden are amazing but that Kyrie money is absent and it’s not spent on a support staff. Let him get his 50-40-90 on a shortened season and have his butt vaxxed by the playoffs. If he don’t he can’t be on this team. Pretty simple. Like we might lose Harden cause of him risking it all. As we try to prove super small ball and all offensive lineups work.