Nets. What to do about Kyrie

[LesGrossman]

All hate and history aside, i dont think anyone in their right mind can say KD is the problem in Brooklyn. Yes he didnt have a good series and didnt perform as we have seen him do, but his underperforming is not even in the same tier as the disappointment, distraction and overall annoyance that is Kyrie Irving. From his public vaccination nonsense to public Ramadan in the middle of the critical series to his latest statements of wanting to "manage" the franchise together with KD, its obvious he isnt going to go back to just being a super gifted basketball player. I think he has serious mental issues that need attendance. In terms of his roster spot, how do you think the Nets should deal with him? Does anyone seriously believe they can achieve any thing as long as he is there, occupying money and attention and not contributing anything of any significance in games that matter?

[Owly]

All hate and history aside, i dont think anyone in their right mind can say KD is the problem in Brooklyn. Yes he didnt have a good series and didnt perform as we have seen him do, but his underperforming is not even in the same tier as the disappointment, distraction and overall annoyance that is Kyrie Irving. From his public vaccination nonsense to public Ramadan in the middle of the critical series to his latest statements of wanting to "manage" the franchise together with KD, its obvious he isnt going to go back to just being a super gifted basketball player. I think he has serious mental issues that need attendance. In terms of his roster spot, how do you think the Nets should deal with him? Does anyone seriously believe they can achieve any thing as long as he is there, occupying money and attention and not contributing anything of any significance in games that matter?

My question would be around what do you think you can get for him?

If you think he needs moving, do you think he's regarded as an asset?
What would you think they could get back?
What would you want back?
What if anything would be acceptable to KD (and a KD-centric timeline)?

If you couldn't get something that aligns all the above reasonably positively then the main options are sit tight, hope to ride it out (at least short term) and hope that the "star talent" will be enough or a hard reboot rebuild that's bigger than Kyrie. Regardless, you probably don't want there to be the type of "must trade" narrative that built around Simmons last offseason that didn't help anyone.

Fwiw I'd argue positing "not contributing anything of any significance in games that matter" as a given seems a bit harsh.

[Colbinii]

All hate and history aside, i dont think anyone in their right mind can say KD is the problem in Brooklyn. Yes he didnt have a good series and didnt perform as we have seen him do, but his underperforming is not even in the same tier as the disappointment, distraction and overall annoyance that is Kyrie Irving. From his public vaccination nonsense to public Ramadan in the middle of the critical series to his latest statements of wanting to "manage" the franchise together with KD, its obvious he isnt going to go back to just being a super gifted basketball player. I think he has serious mental issues that need attendance. In terms of his roster spot, how do you think the Nets should deal with him? Does anyone seriously believe they can achieve any thing as long as he is there, occupying money and attention and not contributing anything of any significance in games that matter?

Sure we can.

He brought Kyrie.
He brought DAJ.
He picked Nash.
He wanted Harden.

[Dr Positivity]

KD leaving GSW dynasty core to play with Kyrie on the not even popular New York team will go down in history for terrible moves. Twitter was the worst thing that ever happened to this man.

[LesGrossman]

KD leaving GSW dynasty core to play with Kyrie on the not even popular New York team will go down in history for terrible moves. Twitter was the worst thing that ever happened to this man.

I respect the decision to put an end to the GSW dynasty because it was just too lobsided, short of injuries. I dont understand the Kyrie decision. Not a bit. I dont know really wether he is one of the guys who try to dictate everything to their franchise. We mustnt assume everyone wants to play GM, i am sure there are enough players out there who want to focus on what they are really good at, which isnt GM'ing. Kyrie was bad, Harden was worse. Nash as a coach has a way to go before he will be able to coach a champion, even though he has shown to have huge BB IQ while he played. Still i dont know how much influence KD had on all of this.

Right now, i believe their most urgent move is to get rid of Kyrie. I just dont see a good deal for all sides.

[Dr Positivity]

KD leaving GSW dynasty core to play with Kyrie on the not even popular New York team will go down in history for terrible moves. Twitter was the worst thing that ever happened to this man.

I respect the decision to put an end to the GSW dynasty because it was just too lobsided, short of injuries. I dont understand the Kyrie decision. Not a bit. I dont know really wether he is one of the guys who try to dictate everything to their franchise. We mustnt assume everyone wants to play GM, i am sure there are enough players out there who want to focus on what they are really good at, which isnt GM'ing. Kyrie was bad, Harden was worse. Nash as a coach has a way to go before he will be able to coach a champion, even though he has shown to have huge BB IQ while he played. Still i dont know how much influence KD had on all of this.

Right now, i believe their most urgent move is to get rid of Kyrie. I just dont see a good deal for all sides.

Kyrie has always been someone that NBA peers are much higher on cause they respect his skill level. So I'm guessing KD had too high of an opinion on Kyrie's impact.

[tsherkin]

Kyrie has always been someone that NBA peers are much higher on cause they respect his skill level. So I'm guessing KD had too high of an opinion on Kyrie's impact.

One more look at why players and talent/chemistry analysis don't always cross paths in sensible ways, heh.

[homecourtloss]

All hate and history aside, i dont think anyone in their right mind can say KD is the problem in Brooklyn. Yes he didnt have a good series and didnt perform as we have seen him do, but his underperforming is not even in the same tier as the disappointment, distraction and overall annoyance that is Kyrie Irving

KD didn’t just underperform—he played his worst series ever in 4 close games. Yes, he’s not their biggest problem but this team was thought to be close to unbeatable healthy BECAUSE of how good people thought Durant was.

[HeartBreakKid]

Durant had plenty of problems, for one he had an insanely damaging injury which was the first and biggest hurdle for the Nets. After he came back, injuries amongst their big 3 were still a concern.

I definitely get why Durant left to Brooklyn. If he wins it validates him as the guy, and maybe playing the long game in a couple of decades he'll have a place in NY sports history if Brooklyn takes off and carves a niche (like the other New York clubs have, New York has two popular sports teams in NFL/MLB/NHL - the Nets are the lone exception).


Teaming up with another star makes sense. Getting his team to trade for a 3rd star, an MVP caliber guy, makes sense.

The nuances weren't exactly there and there were personality issues (understatement), but their biggest problem was probably health. Which granted Irving isn't the beacon of.

Anyway, I certainly get why he did what he did. There was a lot of risks of course.



As for the question at hand, I don't think any team is that seriously interested in trading for Irving. I also don't think the Nets are that high on doing it because they do not want to piss off Durant.

[LewisnotMiller]

All hate and history aside, i dont think anyone in their right mind can say KD is the problem in Brooklyn. Yes he didnt have a good series and didnt perform as we have seen him do, but his underperforming is not even in the same tier as the disappointment, distraction and overall annoyance that is Kyrie Irving

KD didn’t just underperform—he played his worse series ever in 4 close games. Yes, he’s not their biggest problem but this team was thought to be close to unbeatable halrhy BECAUSE of how good people thought Durant was.

True. However, he's a guy not too far removed from a major break due to lower leg injuries. He played too many regular season minutes, and carried too much load.

He then came across a defence that could sell out on stopping him.

If the Nets get their pieces back (healthy Simmons, Harris and Kyrie) and put them with Curry, Claxton and Mills, they have the makings of a powerful offence.

That would still leave defensive questions, and the chances of them getting all those guys back, healthy and focused seems limited, but still...

Reduce the regular season load on Durant, and get in some assistant coaches who are strong systems guys. Durant will look much closer to All-NBA than All-washed, I believe.

[andyhop]

The Nets give Kyrie whatever deal he wants because they don't have a choice and then live with KD's terrible decision to want to team up with him for even longer , whilst hoping that it somehow turns out all right in spite of all the evidence it most likely won't

[LesGrossman]

All hate and history aside, i dont think anyone in their right mind can say KD is the problem in Brooklyn. Yes he didnt have a good series and didnt perform as we have seen him do, but his underperforming is not even in the same tier as the disappointment, distraction and overall annoyance that is Kyrie Irving

KD didn’t just underperform—he played his worse series ever in 4 close games. Yes, he’s not their biggest problem but this team was thought to be close to unbeatable halrhy BECAUSE of how good people thought Durant was.

True. However, he's a guy not too far removed from a major break due to lower leg injuries. He played too many regular season minutes, and carried too much load.

He then came across a defence that could sell out on stopping him.

If the Nets get their pieces back (healthy Simmons, Harris and Kyrie) and put them with Curry, Claxton and Mills, they have the makings of a powerful offence.

That would still leave defensive questions, and the chances of them getting all those guys back, healthy and focused seems limited, but still...

Reduce the regular season load on Durant, and get in some assistant coaches who are strong systems guys. Durant will look much closer to All-NBA than All-washed, I believe.

I believe much of the KD criticism is agenda-driven. He had a bad series, but besides the injury, he was forced to play a role that just doesnt allow him to excel in what his strengths are. Far too often he had to handle the ball more than he should - do we really expect every guy who's nearly 7ft to have a guard-like handle? He had to set up team mates, be the ball handler in Pick and Roll's. Thats just not who KD is, and it resulted in a crazy number of turnovers - if he can focus on being the unstoppable score-first option on his team, his game would age gracefully because he lives off his touch and size. So to some extent, his team mates' disappearance forced him into a role that made him look terrible, too. Thats why i think Kyrie needs to go. Comparable to Dirk, i believe KD needs someone else to set the offense up, and Kyrie isnt that person.

[Gooner]

KD leaving GSW dynasty core to play with Kyrie on the not even popular New York team will go down in history for terrible moves. Twitter was the worst thing that ever happened to this man.

I respect the decision to put an end to the GSW dynasty because it was just too lobsided, short of injuries. I dont understand the Kyrie decision. Not a bit. I dont know really wether he is one of the guys who try to dictate everything to their franchise. We mustnt assume everyone wants to play GM, i am sure there are enough players out there who want to focus on what they are really good at, which isnt GM'ing. Kyrie was bad, Harden was worse. Nash as a coach has a way to go before he will be able to coach a champion, even though he has shown to have huge BB IQ while he played. Still i dont know how much influence KD had on all of this.

Right now, i believe their most urgent move is to get rid of Kyrie. I just dont see a good deal for all sides.

Kyrie has always been someone that NBA peers are much higher on cause they respect his skill level. So I'm guessing KD had too high of an opinion on Kyrie's impact.

They respect his skill level and also the fact that he says in public what they don't want to say.

[LesGrossman]

I respect the decision to put an end to the GSW dynasty because it was just too lobsided, short of injuries. I dont understand the Kyrie decision. Not a bit. I dont know really wether he is one of the guys who try to dictate everything to their franchise. We mustnt assume everyone wants to play GM, i am sure there are enough players out there who want to focus on what they are really good at, which isnt GM'ing. Kyrie was bad, Harden was worse. Nash as a coach has a way to go before he will be able to coach a champion, even though he has shown to have huge BB IQ while he played. Still i dont know how much influence KD had on all of this.

Right now, i believe their most urgent move is to get rid of Kyrie. I just dont see a good deal for all sides.

Kyrie has always been someone that NBA peers are much higher on cause they respect his skill level. So I'm guessing KD had too high of an opinion on Kyrie's impact.

They respect his skill level and also the fact that he says in public what they don't want to say.

You think there are more flat earthers among the players?

[Gooner]

KD didn’t just underperform—he played his worse series ever in 4 close games. Yes, he’s not their biggest problem but this team was thought to be close to unbeatable halrhy BECAUSE of how good people thought Durant was.

True. However, he's a guy not too far removed from a major break due to lower leg injuries. He played too many regular season minutes, and carried too much load.

He then came across a defence that could sell out on stopping him.

If the Nets get their pieces back (healthy Simmons, Harris and Kyrie) and put them with Curry, Claxton and Mills, they have the makings of a powerful offence.

That would still leave defensive questions, and the chances of them getting all those guys back, healthy and focused seems limited, but still...

Reduce the regular season load on Durant, and get in some assistant coaches who are strong systems guys. Durant will look much closer to All-NBA than All-washed, I believe.

I believe much of the KD criticism is agenda-driven. He had a bad series, but besides the injury, he was forced to play a role that just doesnt allow him to excel in what his strengths are. Far too often he had to handle the ball more than he should - do we really expect every guy who's nearly 7ft to have a guard-like handle? He had to set up team mates, be the ball handler in Pick and Roll's. Thats just not who KD is, and it resulted in a crazy number of turnovers - if he can focus on being the unstoppable score-first option on his team, his game would age gracefully because he lives off his touch and size. So to some extent, his team mates' disappearance forced him into a role that made him look terrible, too. Thats why i think Kyrie needs to go. Comparable to Dirk, i believe KD needs someone else to set the offense up, and Kyrie isnt that person.

I think this thread is agenda driven if anything. You can't put it all on Kyrie, atleast he had a great game 1, almost willed the team to win by himself, but KD was awful in every single game. Missed shots can be tolerated on some nights, but his turnovers were unacceptable. He basically threw away first 2 games with his silly turnovers.

I agree he should not be handling the ball as much as he did, but that's what he always wanted himself. He was the one who brought Nash who has no coaching philosophy, he was the one who criticised Steve Kerr for not letting him play enough iso etc.

Both Durant and Irving are extremely talented players and I love their games, but when it comes to leadership, both have shown major flaws so far. Irving is always the target but KD doesn't deserve the pass. If anything he deserves even more blame because he had a bigger input when it comes to decision making of this organization.

[Gooner]

KD leaving GSW dynasty core to play with Kyrie on the not even popular New York team will go down in history for terrible moves. Twitter was the worst thing that ever happened to this man.

KD had to leave Golden State because he wasn't getting enough credit for winning the championships there. He thought that he could take over that team from Steph Curry and he was upset when they didn't let it happen, and he criticised everybody in GS on his way out. Now he has the control of the franchise like he always wanted.

[TroubleS0me]

make sure he's woke

[MartinToVaught]

All hate and history aside, i dont think anyone in their right mind can say KD is the problem in Brooklyn.

He is absolutely part of the problem. He has no leadership skills whatsoever and chose to surround himself with known headcases/quitters. He ignored all the glaring red flags with Kyrie and Harden because he was caught up in his dream of breaking the league all over again, but with him getting all the credit this time instead of having to share the credit with Steph. KD's ego, hubris and insecurity are a big reason why the Nets are such a disaster.

[homecourtloss]

All hate and history aside, i dont think anyone in their right mind can say KD is the problem in Brooklyn.

He is absolutely part of the problem. He has no leadership skills whatsoever and chose to surround himself with known headcases/quitters. He ignored all the glaring red flags with Kyrie and Harden because he was caught up in his dream of breaking the league all over again, but with him getting all the credit this time instead of having to share the credit with Steph. KD's ego, hubris and insecurity are a big reason why the Nets are such a disaster.

Also interesting that this poster has gone on and on about LeBron’s “superteams” formed with Kyrie yet now Kyrie is the problem. Zero credit given before for harnessing the best out of a lesser version of Kyrie and creating an all time great offense, but now the blame is on Kyrie while before credit was taken away from LeBron because Kyrie helped create a “superteam.”

[DQuinn1575]

KD shot horribly, their 3rd best player didn't play at all, and Kyrie and KD have played hardly any games together.
All those things should change for the better next year.
And they lost to maybe the best team in the league by an average of 4.5 points per game.
You still have top 5(plug your own number here) and top 15 (again plug your number here) players in the league at a pretty high level, you would have to trade Kyrie 1 for 1 for someone, and I dont think there is anyone out there that would be available.
So you give it a year with what you got.
They assembled a Big 3, changed out 1 part, but in both years the Big 3 weren't available.
Give that plan 1 more year, hope they are all healthy and good enough so talent prevails.
You still have a 10% (again plug your number in) chance to win next year, you gotta go for that when you are that good.