Where Do Sean Marks and the Brooklyn Nets Go From Here?
That was not how it was supposed to go down. The Brooklyn Nets eliminated in a 4-0 sweep by the Boston Celtics, the only team to get swept in the first round of these NBA Playoffs. The super team sinking into the play-in tournament and then getting bounced without a win in the playoffs. So much for that, aye?
In fairness to the Nets this has been an absolutely bonkers season for them. Injuries and covid stuff severely hampered them along the way and definitely played a part in their playoff failure too. At one stage they were 23-9 and looking sweet as with Kevin Durant heavy in the MVP discussion. Then the chaos took hold. One thing after another. Most crucial being the knee injury that Durant suffered in mid-January which caused him to miss 21 straight games of which the Nets lost 16 (including 11 in a row at one stage). It was during that spell that James Harden requested a trade. His request was granted.
They never quite recovered. The Nets used 24 different players this season; 19 of them started at least once with 11 different players starting at least 19 games. Out of 82 total their leaders in games played were: Patty Mills (81), Bruce Brown (72), Cam Thomas (67), James Johnson (62), Blake Griffin (56), and Kevin Durant (55). Like, the focus has been on Durant and Irving as always but everybody missed time for the Nets... except for the ever-reliable Patty Mills. Sharp-shooter Joe Harris hasn’t played since November, eventually needing season-ending ankle surgery. 82 games led to 43 different starting line-ups.
How are you supposed to build combinations when it’s a different crew every second game? From 23-9 they tumbled all the way down to 32-33 which had them in serious danger of missing the postseason entirely. But Durant came back and Irving was cleared to play home games and they finished on a 12-5 run to close at 44-38 before overpowering the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-108 in the play-in to claim the seventh seed. But then came the Boston Massacre.
There’s been a fascinating experiment going on with the Nets since Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving were signed. Up until that point Sean Marks had been playing the subtle percentages, starting with hardly any draft picks and maybe two tradeable contracts at best and steadily improving the value of that Brooklyn roster through clever decisions and some excellent developmental coaching from Kenny Atkinson. Marksy was like a blackjack player rocking up to the table with fifty bucks in his pocket and leaving in the early hours of the next morning with a couple thousand.
That team eventually made the playoffs. Spencer Dinwiddie, Caris LeVert, Jarrett Allen, D’Angelo Russell... they finished 42-40 to grab the sixth seed in the East, losing 4-1 to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round in 2018-19. But Marks has been involved with championship winning teams and he knows what it takes to get to the next level. That group could make playoffs but they weren’t going much further so the decision was made to pretty much throw that whole thing aside to being in KD and Kyrie in free agency... and all the baggage that entailed. From a humble culture-first team of underdogs to All-NBA calibre expectations with the star power that comes with it.
There’s no doubt that Marks and his crew have pandered to their All Stars. They’ve done what it takes to keep things happy and it’s been a very player-driven environment ever since. That’s why Kenny Atkinson got fired, because KD/Kyrie wanted it – though that’s not to say they were wrong, The right man for the rebuild is by no means the right man for the title challenge. Very different job descriptions there. Plus Durant and Irving have also won titles. They know exactly what it takes. If they say the environment isn’t focussed enough on immediate high performance then it’s probably not.
And that’s what Sean Marks is banking on: that these guys know what they’re doing and that by keeping them happy and engaged that this franchise can flourish. Hence why Steve Nash was hired as head coach. No previous experience in that role but someone who is highly respected by the players and has worked closely with Durant in particular when Nash was a sort of shooting coach consultant with the Warriors.
But the splash back has been rough this season. Injuries were the main culprit in this Nets season going to pieces but a more harmonious team may well have been able to handle that adversity better. This wasn’t that, though. First you had the Kyrie Irving vaccination shambles. Initially that led to a strong pushback from the Nets wherein Irving was made unavailable for all games if he chose to remain unavailable for home games (due to New York State’s rules on unvaccinated people in large gatherings). You can guarantee that was a player-driven decision, or at least one which had the sign-off of the playing group. Which suggests they weren’t exactly sympathetic to his stance.
However that strong pushback was reversed when the injuries got to be too much to handle. Brooklyn simply didn’t have the guys available to waste the possibility of Kyrie Irving so as of around midway through the season – early January – Irving was welcomed back into the fold and began playing away games. At the request of the players. They needed him on the court so the front office lifted their sanction.
Still, you’ve gotta imagine that those players weren’t happy about that whole saga. Nor the media circus that followed it, nor the lack of self-awareness that Kyrie seemed to have when discussing it – as if he was just some innocent swept up in this random circumstance and not a powerful individual who made a decision that adversely affected his teammates. Many of them probably got vaccinated after initial hesitancy – athletes are always gonna be sceptical about how they treat their bodies – but in the end they did so and he did not. Thus he wasn’t fully available to help them when they needed it. There definitely seems to have been some vocal frustration from James Harden about the situation.
Although Irving did play in eight of those 11 straight defeats in Jan/Feb so there ya go. Not quite the immediate fix that was hoped for and we were to see very clearly come the Boston playoff series how a fully functioning team can neutralise a couple of star players. The way they guarded Durant and Irving was insane. Limiting them as much as possible, playing especially physically with KD, and then exposing Brooklyn’s lack of cohesion beneath them.
Also it wasn’t a massive drop off but Kyrie Irving did get a little worse statistically once the New York restrictions lifted and he was able to play all games. Turns out that being able to rest between games really helps, who knew?
Part Time Kyrie (19gm): 36.1 MIN | 27.7 PTS (49.0% FG, 43.0% 3PT) | 4.7 REB | 5.3 AST | 1.4 STL | 2.3 TO
Full Time Kyrie (10gm): 40.6 MIN | 26.9 PTS (43.4% FG, 40.2% 3PT) | 3.8 REB | 6.6 AST | 1.5 STL | 2.9 TO
Granted, both of those versions of Kyrie Irving would still be All Stars. For all the frustrations he can bring, the dude is a phenomenal player and that’s why Sean Marks is willing to make allowances for him.
If only Irving and Durant had a little more help. James Harden was supposed to be that guy but that one went down in a ball of flames. One day we’ll find out more about where it went awry but for now suffice to say that Harden’s ball dominance on the court was a weird fit and the in-and-out nature of Irving drastically changing what was required of Harden from game to game can only have been annoying. Plus there were defensive issues. Plus Harden’s production in Brooklyn simply was not keeping up with what he used to do in Houston.
In his place they got Ben Simmons. Potentially a really nice fit on the floor alongside Durant and Irving as well as shooters like Patty Mills, Joe Harris, and Seth Curry. But Simmons is a strange fellow. Sat out the entire time he was with Philly this season due to issues stemming from his playoff humiliation last time around and the reaction that drew from Sixers fans.... which the Nets were probably hoping would be instantly fixed as soon as he found himself on a different team. That didn’t happen. Simmons continued to sit out with a back injury and then just as rumours emerged that he might return for game four he was a no-show again with ‘sources’ claiming a ‘mental block’... although the official word was lingering back trouble. Back trouble which was bad enough that he wasn’t able to even take a seat in the arena to watch his team in a must-win contest despite having been in attendance for earlier games. See if you can spot him in here...
And that’s where we’re at right now. A team with championship aspirations that has put all their chips on the table to that purpose just got swept in the first round. There will be repercussions from that. Sean Marks gets to hang back a little more after the in-season trade deadline but from this point onwards he is going to be an extremely busy man trying to figure things out.
One thing you can most likely count upon is the top tier remaining. Kevin Durant is under contract and Kyrie Irving has a player option which he’ll either take up or decline in order to sign an extension. Steve Nash should be safe as coach too given he retains the trust of Durant. As he should, it wasn’t coaching that derailed them even if you can pick and choose a few decisions in the rear-view to complain about.
Beyond those guys it does get frisky. Ben Simmons has a long term and lucrative contract which is a hassle if the Nets are getting cold feet about that scenario. The dude does not have a lot of trade value right now. Joe Harris is under contract, as are their main youngsters Day’Ron Sharpe and Cam Thomas. Seth Curry has one more year on his deal. Patty Mills has a player option.
Keep in mind that the Nets pretty much used a nine-man playoff rotation. Of those nine dudes, seven were aged 28 or older (and Andre Drummond is a pretty old version of 28 lol). The two others are Nic Claxton and Bruce Brown who are both free agents. Goran Dragic, Blake Griffin, and Andre Drummond are also free agents. Not to mention regular season contributors like LaMarcus Aldridge and James Johnson. The top tier will stay the same but the next couple tiers on the roster could look very different.
Luckily Sean Marks will have some help with his general managership thanks to self-appointed assistant Kyrie Irving:
“When I say I'm here with Kev, I think that it really entails us managing this franchise together alongside Joe [Tsai, owner] and Sean [Marks, GM] and just our group of family members that we have in our organization. So it's not just about me and Kev, I don't want to make it just about that. We are cornerstones here, but we have Ben, we have a few other guys under contract. And I think we just gotta make some moves this offseason, really talk about it and really be intentional about what we're building and have some fun with it, make it enjoyable and hopefully we get to start from Day 1 just as a squad and as a family and we just really worry about us.”
Nice of him to volunteer his time like that.
Kyrie Irving won’t have to do the part-time thing next season. Hopefully Kevin Durant can play more than 55 games. With those two in place they should be able to scoop up a few decent cheap players to fill things out, a healthy Durant and available Irving guarantees a level of success that others will want to be a part of. But it cannot only be them. That’s clear now.
Season one of this core, Durant was out hurt all year plus Irving missed time along the way and they were swept by the Toronto Raptors after finishing with a losing 35-37 record. Season two saw James Harden join the crew on the way to a 48-24 second seed... but he and Irving suffered injuries along the way leaving Kevin Durant to play an unfeasible amount of minutes over seven second round games against the Milwaukee Bucks and in the end his big ass foot was a shoe size too large. Season three we just saw what happened. One playoff series win over three years. A 7-13 playoff record. It has to be a more cohesive, team-wide response in order to allow KD and Kyrie (and maybe Simmons) to flourish.
Righto, so how does Marksy do that? Start by getting Joe Harris back fit, add in a full season of Seth Curry, and have Patty Mills opt in for starters. It’ll be very interesting to see what happens with Claxton and Brown because they’re the kind of guys they should really want to keep but there’s not a heap of money to go around once you account for the KD/Kyrie/Simmons contracts. Those three alone tally up to $116.4m for next season and that’s assuming Kyrie doesn’t opt out and get a raise.
The salary cap is reported to rise for 2022-23 with the soft cap at $122 million and the luxury tax at $149 million. That does give the Nets some wiggle room considering that they have an extremely wealthy owner who is happy to pay that tax (their 2021-22 cap hit was $174.8m). A mobile big man with defensive versatility would sure help, as would a perimeter defender. Yet there’s little chance of them being able to sign any high end free agents within that cap space so a lot is going to be determined by what they’re able to do with Ben Simmons.
Again, a fully healthy and engaged Ben Simmons could be a great fit for this team. A superb defender with play-making abilities whose shooting deficiency is offset by the players that Brooklyn will be able to put around him. It’s just a matter of getting him to that fully healthy and engaged place. Simmons very clearly has some mental demons to work through – the court does not appear to be his happy place like it is for a lot of other NBA players. But Sean Marks met with Simmons and his agent Rich Paul recently to discuss how to get Benno churning out rebounds and assist again. The work is being undertaken.
Which is where being a player-first franchise could come in extremely handy. Whatever the public perception might be about the Brooklyn Nets since the superstar experiment began, we know that they do whatever they can to take care of their dudes. Sometimes that borders upon indulgence... but perhaps a little indulgence is what Ben Simmons needs right now.
At least you’d hope so. Otherwise Sean Marks and assistant GM Kyrie are really going to have their work cut out.
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