Kevin Durant proved he’s still an elite player after his long absence following Achilles surgery, but he won’t hold fond memories of this season because of the way it ended, writes Brian Lewis of the New York Post. The Nets went through an epic second-round battle with the Bucks before falling in overtime of Game 7, and Durant said on his “Boardroom: Out of Office” podcast that the disappointment overshadows everything else.
“I’m getting so many congratulations now: I didn’t do anything. We lost,” he said. “I knew I could play, I knew I was nice. I’ve scored 48 before. I had big games before, I made big shots before. So it didn’t feel like anything special to me, because we lost.”
Durant deserves credit for changing the culture around the franchise, Lewis adds. His decision to join the team as a free agent in 2019, along with Kyrie Irving, instantly made Brooklyn one of the glamor spots in the NBA. The addition of James Harden in a January trade turned the Nets into title favorites, maybe for several years.
“Just the camaraderie we built with the fans. The culture we kind of built around Barclays and just Nets culture in general,” Durant said. “People kind of look at the Nets now and like, ‘All right, they can be contenders next year.’ I like that part of it. I was excited about that going forward. I was excited about that even in the regular season. It felt pretty solid to start to build a culture. I feel like a lot Nets fans feel like, ‘Yo, we got a chance.’ To make some noise next year.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- Ime Udoka‘s duties with Team USA in the Olympics may prevent him from coaching the Celtics‘ Summer League squad, according to Adam Himmelsbach of The Boston Globe. New head coaches often handle Summer League teams, but the gold medal game in Tokyo is set for August 7, a day before the start of play in Las Vegas. Himmelsbach expects Romeo Langford, Payton Pritchard and Aaron Nesmith to all be part of Boston’s contingent, along with Moses Brown, who was acquired from the Thunder in a trade last month.
- The quick turnarounds by the Suns and Hawks, who both missed the playoffs last season, shows that teams don’t need to go through years of losing like the Sixers did with “The Process,” argues Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
- Raptors coach Nick Nurse isn’t sure of his future as head coach of the Canadian national team, tweets Blake Murphy of The Athletic. Canada will miss the Olympics after falling to the Czech Republic in a qualifying tournament Saturday. “I love coaching and I love coaching this team, and Toronto, and I’m just trying to help basketball grow,” Nurse said. “… I just want this team to be as good as it can possibly be.”
That’s an incredibly stupid take by Pompey. The Hawks and Suns had all star level players. The Sixers had jack s**t until Embiid became healthy and Simmons.
Yeah you have to hit on draft picks.
That’s why I don’t read anything he publishes anymore. He’s a Philadelphia-based “journalist” who slanders the Sixers every chance he gets, for no reason other than having a controversial take that will get clicks.
Huh? Quick turnaround? TF you talking about? They had essentially 4 years of ‘tanking’ and had the #1 overall pick.
It just reiterated the fact that you need to tank and get good players in the lottery. They used assets to get players like Bridges and CP3.
But Booker and Aston were both lottery picks. So was Cam Johnson.
Is Keith Pompey losing it? The hawks and suns didn’t openly call it a tank but they both had years and years of lottery picks, so they either stunk for years by accident or on purpose.
And if you look at the roster… only non-lottery players getting significant minutes are Craig and Crowder. Everyone else is 14th pick to #1 overall.
The Suns were bad and trying to tank around the same the Sixers were. They traded Gortat for a first in the first year of The Process. They were in the 3 team trade with MCW after he won RotY and gave the Sixers that Lakers pick. If anything the Sixers got good faster with this being the first year the Suns really got into the playoffs.
Suns are tanking on 2017-18 season
They have the worst record in the nba
21-61
You need tanking to get top 3 picks
And
Playoffs Overachieved coach
the worst philly writer
he is a joke
Keith Pompey does realize the Suns went through over a decade of being terrible before getting to this point, right? Yes, they went from missing the playoffs to the Finals in one year, but if you look at that team from last year, they were a competitive team all year, just had a few rough stretches that sank them. It’s not like they just got CP3 and all of a sudden the team was amazing. The Suns built this team over years of drafting and coaching – Booker, Ayton, Bridges, Cam Johnson… CP3 and Crowder were the final veteran pieces that the team needed, but the “process” had already been playing out.
Pompey a casual with an nba writing job, ya hate to see it.
He IS clueless.
Was painful hearing and seeing his commentary last season, backing Brett Brown as if he was on Brown’s payroll.
At the end, he reluctantly admitted it was time for Brown to go…. almost as if it were painful to him to have to admit it.
After seeing KD’s comeback this year I think Klay Thompson will come back and make an all-NBA team after missing so much time and knowing he was the missing piece this season for GSW.
Doc Rivers career
Regular season winning 59%
288 games over .500
Playoffs
4 games over .500
Mike Dantoni
Regular season winning 56%
145 games over .500
Playoffs
2 games under .500
And your point is?
Good luck with Klay making an All-NBA team, he won’t play more than 50-60 games next season.
As a 40 year Sixers fan the process was a success until it wasn’t. Lets start with Michael Carter Williams.Okafor Noel the brutal tatum not a sixer, embids lost years, brands horrendous trades and free agent signings and lets not forget Jerry C. I suggest caution with Big Ben.
Keith Pompey is a jack ass
Pompey is a hack that very few people take seriously.
What stink is coming out of Philly. Pompey, IDK, but the blurb was on target regarding Process failure. Sixers lost on purpose and crowed about how smart Hinkie is for losing. Suns are not comparable; they were incompetent until they hired James Jones for GM, and he stays quiet.
Booker and Ayton were bozos originally. A lot of teams have Bookers and Aytons; they’re just player talent; that gets distributed widely. Neither is an allstar; I think not even close. But then they made it about the team and played happy and let newcomers shine. I think they need Bridges and Paul too, even Saric and Payne. Crowder and the other Cam. Good depth.
However. Hawk GM did a better of Hinkie-izing than Hinkie did. He traded top players away after one or two left, and collected talent even if it did not all fit. Hawks got so much that they were not bothered as much by the absences that every team had this year.
Kevin Durant. The Nets already had a rising culture when you arrived. That’s why you joined, that and following Irving around.
It’s true KD and Kyrie want to show Bron they can do it too. But you gotta give KD credit. He’s proven he’s one of great scorers in history of game. He’s fearless and goes all out. I gained respect for him when he went to Warriors. Cause he tried to fit in, not take over. I’ve come to respect KD. He learned in GS to be more a team player.
Real shame for KD, for sure, this year he played the best of his career, specially in the playoffs, definitely he was at his best, shame couldn’t go any further.
That playoff game was the best individual performance in the playoffs of any player in the last 40 years at least, since I have been following the NBA!
& all of that after his massive injury, this guy is just unbelievable & has earned my full respect this year, what a beast!
Pompey’s lost it
As great as Durant played in the postseason, he didnt trust his teammates enough and that’s why they lost. At the end of the day, it is still a team sports. Same goes for Harden, he should have played less but his big ego kept him in the whole game and he was ineffective.