Getty Images Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving went live on Instagram before their first preseason game of 2020-2021
As the old saying goes, when it rains it pours and that has most definitely been the case for Head Coach Steve Nash and the Brooklyn Nets. At one point it seemed as if the Nets were going to run away easily with the Eastern Conference. Presently, they are on the outside looking in at the NBA Playoff Picture, they have lost their starting shooting guard Spencer Dinwiddie for the remainder of the season and Kevin Durant is set to miss the team’s next four games due to COVID protocols. Even though things seem like they are unraveling for Brooklyn now, one former Nets player thinks the adversity they are facing now will better prepare them for the long haul.
Derrick Coleman Sees Nets’ Potential
“The potential is the sky’s the limit with that team,” Coleman told Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “I just see the struggles right now are going to be better for you later on in the season. Just have to keep continuing to work.” One of the few bright spots for the Nets has been Kevin Durant. Sean Marks and the Nets’ front office knew that there were big risks involved when they signed Durant to a max deal in the summer of 2019, knowing that he would have to spend at least the next year trying to come back from an Achilles injury. The reward has been worth the risk as KD has been putting up 28.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks per game on 51.4/45.5/88.5% shooting splits through six games.
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Kyrie, KD Have Been Bright Spot for Brooklyn
“Kevin Durant is going to be one of the greatest scorers we’ve ever seen play the game,” said Coleman. To me right now, nobody can mess with Kyrie Irving; he comes from a lineage of point guards. When your godfather is Rod Strickland, I need not say any more about that. But we have to concentrate and focus on the defensive end of the basketball court and talking.”
To say that the Nets’ defense has been subpar is being generous. Brooklyn is giving up an average of 111 points per game to opponents. However, Coleman has faith that the Nets can clean things up and turn the ship around.
Nets Have Work to Do, but They Can Get It Done
“I can see us coming out of the East,” Coleman said. “I don’t know if we’re able to win the championship right now. But all that goes back to where you don’t have a real training camp, you got a brand-new coach, so listening to his philosophies about the game of basketball. Also, you got to create that chemistry.”
Although things may look grim for the Nets right now, Head Coach Steve Nash realizes that the team is only seven games into the season. He knows that if the Nets continue to play ball the right way they will be okay. I think it’s important that we just stick with it,” Nash told reporters during a zoom call on Saturday. “Stick with it and not lose confidence in our schemes or start to freelance or make it up. We’ve had a lot of success when we stick to it.”
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