Thursday’s 29-point loss to the Heat brought back a familiar concern that the Nets might not have enough toughness to succeed against the NBA’s best teams, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. It’s a point that was raised recently by free agent addition Markieff Morris, who played for Miami last season and said Heat players considered Brooklyn to be “soft.”
Getting tougher with opponents was stressed during this week’s film sessions, and Saturday’s practice ran noticeably longer than usual, Lewis adds. The Nets have assembled a talented roster and they don’t want a perceived lack of grit to be their downfall.
“Yeah, the low-hanging fruit that we could honestly all agree on is sometimes in possessions we’re not playing hard enough,” Kyrie Irving said. “You saw it against Miami the other night. They were really physical, and we don’t want that to be our stigma or M.O. in the league. … The most physical teams usually win ballgames, especially down the stretch. So we’ve got to be tougher. Like Markieff said, we’ve got to be comfortable with being uncomfortable at times. We’re going to mess up things, but we don’t want it to carry over to the next possession. That’s what our [message] has been in practice: on to the next play. Regardless what the ref’s doing [or] our opponent is doing, we want to focus on us.”
There’s more from Brooklyn:
- After not playing for 16 months, Ben Simmons knows it will take a while to get comfortable again on the court, Lewis adds in a separate story. The Nets want Simmons to attack the basket more frequently, but he took just three shots against the Heat while committing six turnovers. Still, he remains confident that he’ll work things out. “Obviously, having back surgery and rehabbing, there’s a lot of things that physically I want to do that I’m not doing right now: getting to the rim, getting hit, things like that, and hitting other people,” Simmons said. “But that’s all going to come. We’ve got time. So in due time, it’ll come.”
- General manager Sean Marks discussed Kevin Durant‘s offseason trade demand with Alex Chapman of the New Zealand-based NewsHub, explaining that none of Durant’s suitors was willing to offer enough to get a deal done. “I think, at the end of the day, other teams realized they don’t have the assets to give up to acquire arguably the top one-two-three player in the world, who’s on a contract for four years,” Marks said. “If they’d had to give away their treasure chest, their goals may be reduced.”
- Foot soreness prevented Joe Harris from playing against Miami, according to a NetsDaily story. The team is being cautious with Harris, who has undergone two ankle surgeries over the past year.
The Nets will be a top 3 seed, their team is just too good to not be. The Bucks will win everything though
injuries and egos say otherwise
Bucks will pay $70 million luxury tax
Total payroll before tax: $178 million
Bucks supporting cast is terrible in playoffs
Brook Lopez
Grayson Allen
Pat Connaughton
Portis
Hill
Carter
Ibaka
If Bucks dump Portis and Lopez salary, they still need to pay tax
I’ll be surprised if the Nets finish top 4 (Hawks are going to surprise by making the 4 seed) and Bucks Celtics 76ers are the top 3 in whatever order.
I think whoever comes out of the West wins the ‘chip.
Nets are going to implode when Kyrie gets a headache or a hang nail and has to sit out a month
16 months of not playing, not working on his mid-range or deep shot, and not working on his free throw shooting. Let’s be real about it.
That’s really hard to do with a herniated disc in the L5 region of the back.
You will hurt if you shoot it. It will not heal if you practice shooting either. I know from first hand experience.
How did he hurt it in the first place if he wasn’t playing or practicing anyway?
Considering they have Simmons, yeah, I’d say they’re soft. Too much finesse. Crowder would certainly help.
Nets didnt replace the defense they lost in the front court behind KD, Simmons, and Claxton. They already have Nash hurting their chances, but they need those spots to be a top 5 team in the east, and they dont have it on this roster. There should be several options available at those positions by the end of training camp, some of which currently available, and they should strongly consider making those additions
Also would like to see them starting with lineups with Kyrie, O’neal at the 3, KD at the 4, and Simmons at the 5, with either Curry or Harris at the 2…that might actually help in that depth situation b/c then you have Claxton off the bench at the 4/5
It would be nice to pair Curry with Simmons again, but you could still do that in the 2nd unit when Simmons moves positions, and then they have Sumner and/or Duke for guard/wing defense off the bench, and Curry brings more scoring potential in that bench spot, which would probably otherwise be Cam Thomas or Patty Mills. They also have Warren as a scoring 4 off the bench though, so that Curry/Harris decision is interesting with different standpoints