Andre Drummond Says Nets Need Pickup Mentality: Take 5 Best Players and Make It Work
Andre Drummond weighed in with his solution for how the Brooklyn Nets can hit their stride down the final stretch of the regular season.
"Got to treat this s--t like pickup," the veteran center said, per ESPN's Nick Friedell. "Just take the best five and try to make it work. And try to build chemistry while we're out there."
Head coach Steve Nash politely disagreed: "I wouldn't go that far. Hopefully we are more purposeful than just a pickup game. But I get what he's saying. And I've talked to the team about this. We don't have time to give away days. ... We've talked to the group a lot about 11 games."
Having more talent than your opponent can go a long way in the NBA, especially in the regular season. But Nash underscored why Drummond's approach would be a recipe for disaster in the playoffs, when coaches have more time to draw up in-game strategies.
"We're playing against teams with four or five, six years of corporate knowledge," Nash said. "A lot of that end-of-game execution stuff is rote for them. They've been through it before. We don't have that."
There's also the fact that Brooklyn's postseason fate might hinge largely on the availability of Kyrie Irving. Unless New York City alters its COVID-19 vaccine mandate or Irving gets vaccinated, the seven-time All-Star will be confined to the bench for home games in the playoffs.
According to NBA.com, Brooklyn has the NBA's third-best net rating (3.9) in road games, when Irving has been able to suit up. The team has fallen to 26th in net rating (minus-3.3) in games at Barclays Center.
Nash can draw up the greatest game plan ever, yet it still might not fully compensate for Irving's absence in a critical playoff game.
And to Drummond's larger point, the James Harden trade seemed to outline the limitations of bringing as many talented players as possible together and figuring out the rest later.
