On Monday, Kyrie Irving, one of the most creative performers of our time, found himself in a rare situation: his moves were over.
The Nets reportedly did not want to sign a long-term contract with Irving, who missed 123 games in his three years with the team. Apparently not anyone else, except the Lakers, who didn’t have enough assets to get Brooklyn interested in signing and trading. So on Monday, Irving announced that he would join the final year of his contract with the Nets, telling The Athletic Sham Charania: “Normal people support the world, but those who dare to be different lead us into tomorrow. . I decided to get involved. See you in the fall. A11 even. ”
It’s a bad turn, but it gets to the heart of the dilemma the Nets have to solve with Irving: He thinks he’s different from everyone else.
In some ways it is different. Irving’s faith and creativity are best when he holds the ball in his hands. He will try things that no one else will do. He will catch a double clutch in the air and find a small crack between the defenders to drive an impossible jumper. He will make the defense attorney’s best attempts to make accusations look silly with seamlessly stopping and popping 8-foot bankers.
For the Nets, problems arise when he (and to a lesser extent Kevin Durant) imposes the persistent, necessary trust of a goal scorer for all time in areas that are not his strengths. Collaboration is a key component of team building in the age of player empowerment, but the Nets’ deal with their stars – including the battle for a long-term deal with Irving – seems more like tug of war. Turning on Irving is a necessary power recalibration, but it’s just the beginning.
For the Nets to succeed, Irving must be an excellent goal scorer – and admit that he is average in the things in which he is average.
But he always wanted to try every hat on for himself, even those that were taken.
In 2014, LeBron James announced that he would return to Cleveland and eventually changed everything: his fate, his squad, his coach and the role of Irving, then a novice 22-year-old star who was preparing to take the keys to the franchise.
Instead, he watched James – who ushered in an era of Miami player empowerment – run things. This May, in an interview with the I Am Athlete podcast, Irving referred to James’ ridiculous nickname “LeGM” and said, “He put the team together. I was not angry with him. I was like, “Okay, I bet that’s how it goes.”
Watching James made Irving hungry to lead his own team. In the summer of 2017, he requested trade; he arrived with the young Boston Celtics and vowed to take on a leadership role for which he was ultimately unprepared. Then, before signing with the Nets two years later, he took LeBron’s book – the use of talent in exchange for fun privileges and control over franchise decisions – to a new level.
But the Nets were much more proven than the historically obsolete Cavs, joined by LeBron, with a renowned coaching staff and front office on board, when they signed Durant and Irving in 2019.
The duo didn’t have much reason to dictate terms, but they did, which led to suboptimal basketball results. The most obvious example was the situation with DeAndre Jordan. The duo have agreed to take less money so Jordan can sign a four-year, $ 40 million deal – a figure Jordan, a clumsy 31-year-old center from a bygone era, is unlikely to command from another struggling team. Former Nets coach Kenny Atkinson has chosen the younger, more mobile defender Jarrett Allen, starting Jordan in just six games in the 2019-20 season. According to Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN, “the initial task at the center has become a source of internal struggle.” In March 2020, Atkinson and the Nets separated. (Allen was eventually changed to Cleveland in a deal that drew James Harden to Brooklyn and was named All-Star this season.)
The Nets then hired Steve Nash to coach before the 2020-21 season, a decision approved by Irving and Durant. But in October 2020, Irving entered Durant’s podcast, The ETCs, and said: “I really don’t see having a head coach. You know what I mean? KD can be a head coach. I could be the head coach. “By the 2021-22 season, according to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, Irving will be conducting his own informal practices once Nash graduates.
It’s one thing to change teams to try a new role for yourself. It’s another thing to trim the wings of your colleagues because you think you can do a better job than them.
Although he missed more games than he played in his three years as Net – mostly due to his refusal to be vaccinated against COVID-19, a decision that reportedly also banished Harden – and although the Nets were swept away in the first round, Irving still didn’t seem interested in stepping down, saying in April that he “looks forward to running this franchise with [team owner] Joe [Tsai] and [GM] Sean [Marks]Marx, meanwhile, recently told reporters that he wants more engagement from Irving, that the Nets are looking for players who “want to be part of something bigger than themselves, play team basketball and be available.”
In the years since the Nets signed Durant and Irving, the Warriors, Heath, Bucks, Celtics and Suns have built finals in well-balanced teams, mixing local foundations with acquired talent, finding role-players whose strengths compensate for the star’s weaknesses. Jimmy Butler and Janice Adetokunmpo do not create space, as Tyler Hero and Chris Middleton do. Draymond Green compensates for the physicality and size that Steph Curry lacks, while Curry compensates for Green’s lack of shooting range. These are a type of lock and key connections that create cohesion and turn a collection of 15 players into a team.
The Nets’ new big three can join a similar yin and yang, with Ben Simmons defending, bouncing, pushing the ball to the floor and playing games for Durant and Irving.
Maybe in the year of the contract, after receiving a realistic check of his value in the league, Irving will buy.
The toughest super team like the Nets does not have the depth to entrust all the dirty work to Simmons. To help the Nets prosper, Irving would be better off taking a page from LeBron’s tenure in Miami than returning to Cleveland.
The Heat Big Three had to embrace the normal things that keep the world moving: sacrificing touch, adapting to a new role, rebounding and defending.
They flourished after losing in their first finals and Dwayne Wade accepted that he was the second best player in the team. The role of Chris Bosch went from the traditional 20-10-big man to the protective pin on the floor, while James often moved to 4. They took the regular season seriously because it was their opportunity to mix and develop at their best. version of yourself. No matter how much talent they gathered, they could not avoid this awkward process.
Leaving the coaches to train and the front office to make moves on the list, Heat harnessed the kinetic forces, combining their work in perfect harmony.
Networks can be just as exclusive. But they will have to accept the things that make them normal.
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