Are Brooklyn Nets Empty Calories or a Real Contender?
It's not quite right to say Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets have come full circle.
Yes, after downing the Washington Wizards by a final of 112-100 on Monday night, they've forced their way back into the ranks of the East's top teams, a position they seemed sure to hold until offseason chaos carried into the year and nearly blew the team apart. But a circle is a simple, orderly shape, and the path KD and his team traveled to get here was neither of those things.
Their route, represented graphically, would look more like an EKG chart—peaks, troughs and flatlines.
The stripped-down controversy chronicles of this team's last few months could be spread over a decade for most franchises. Durant demanded a trade, and Irving sought his own route out of town. KD would later ask for both head coach Steve Nash and top executive Sean Marks' to be removed in a "they go, or I go" ultimatum. There was also Irving's suspension for promoting an antisemitic film and initially refusing to apologize, Nash's firing, the hand-wringing about Ben Simmons' health and effectiveness, Durant's public knocks on teammates, injuries up and down the roster and, probably, a partridge in a pear tree. ('Tis the season.)
Somehow, after all that, here the Nets are, winners in eight of their last nine games boasting a mark of 17-12 that'd give them home-court advantage in first-round series if the playoffs started today. That's not so far off from where they were expected to be when preseason oddsmakers gave them the fourth-best crack at winning the 2023 championship.
Better still, the vibes are—if not immaculate—pretty solid!
Scrutinize the schedule, and the skeptic's argument rings out clearly. Brooklyn has stabilized its season by beating up on the downtrodden. Of its eight victories since Nov. 27, only one came against a team that currently totes a winning record. That was the very first win of this surge, a 111-97 victory over a Portland Trail Blazers team missing Damian Lillard. After that, the Nets took out the Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors, Charlotte Hornets, Atlanta Hawks and Indiana Pacers before besting the Wizards again on Monday night.
Note, too, only the Portland and most recent Washington wins came by double figures.
Durant and the Nets know what the critics can say of their ship-righting couple of weeks, and they don't care.
The Nets are within their rights to enjoy the results of this run and the way they've brought positive attention to a team that, for a long while, only seemed to attract the negative kind. Durant, though, is also encouraged by the process.
That includes improved attention to detail on defense.
Just as importantly, there's been an emphasis on accountability from Nash's replacement as head coach, Jacque Vaughn.
None of those details would matter if Brooklyn's talent level were lower. We can talk about switching defenses and new voices in the locker room, but skill speaks loudest. And the Nets' return to the contention conversation is mostly about players performing the way they're supposed to.
Durant hung an easy 30 points on the Wizards and is averaging 32.0 points, 6.9 rebounds and 5.6 assists on 62.9 percent shooting during the Nets' 8-1 stretch. Irving is at 25.5 points per game on 48.4 percent shooting in that same window, and both Seth Curry and Joe Harris are finally striping it from deep at rates more in line with their elite career numbers, drilling 42.4 and 46.3 percent from downtown since Nov. 27, respectively.
T.J. Warren has also returned to the floor after two years on the shelf and though his role has been limited, he's provided efficient secondary scoring as well as another dangerous shot-creator with first-option experience.
Ben Simmons also logged 10 points, eight boards and five assists on 5-of-9 shooting against Washington. He's only played in four of the Nets' last nine games while battling a calf injury, but he was on the best run of his brief Brooklyn career prior to that.
The Nets aren't perfect. They still need more depth up front behind Nic Claxton, and Simmons' health will remain a concern until he stays on the floor long enough to prove it isn't. But add up Durant's reliable dominance, Irving's relatively uneventful few weeks and a supporting cast rounding into form, and you've got a team with the talent to do real damage against almost anybody. It can't be overlooked that the only defeat on the Nets' ledger this month came against the Boston Celtics.
Are the Nets on the same level as the Celtics and Milwaukee Bucks as East elites? Nobody should feel confident saying that after nine strong games against a weak schedule. But given where this season once seemed headed, it's a minor miracle that Brooklyn is a) still intact, and b) actually good enough to legitimize a question about their fitness as contenders.
Credit talent trumping all, Vaughn's influence, or Durant as a constant amid the chaos he largely created. Just don't write the Nets off. Any team that can make it back from where they were, regardless of how or against whom they did it, makes anything seem possible.
Stats courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball Reference and Cleaning the Glass. Accurate through Dec. 12. Salary info via Spotrac.
Grant Hughes covers the NBA for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter (@gt_hughes), and subscribe to the Hardwood Knocks podcast, where he appears with Bleacher Report's Dan Favale.
