Mateo’s Hoops Diary: Look Who’s Back for the Nets

With a stroke of a pen, the eastern conference playoff picture will change. New York Mayor Eric Adams lifted the COVID-19 private-sector vaccine mandate on Thursday, just a week after he said he wasn’t concerned about one man rather than nine million.  

Adams probably made his friends with the Yankees, Mets and Nets happy.  Politico pointed out that Mets owner Steve Cohen donated $1.5 million to a PAC supporting the mayor’s campaign last summer, while his team didn’t meet the 85% threshold of vaccinated players for relaxed protocols this upcoming MLB season.   Brooklyn also paid lobbyist Corey Johnson to persuade important figures at city hall on the matter.

Well, when there’s a will by the wealthy to throw money at a problem you can be sure someone somewhere will swallow their morals.

Concerning the NBA, positioning in the standings may not matter to the Brooklyn Nets.  They currently sit at eighth in the east and could make a cameo in the play-in tournament as they are three games out of sixth place.  If they survive the play-in, which would likely be the case, Brooklyn will see one of the two top-seeded groups, which could be any four between Miami, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Boston in round one.  Fingers crossed for a Philadelphia and Brooklyn matchup so James Harden’s former teammates can show the Beard what he’s missing.

The legislation passed significantly helps the Nets by allowing Irving to play in home games. So far into the season, Brooklyn is three games below .500 at home (16-19), but has six more wins than losses on the road (22-16).  Of the seven teams with better records away than at home, only three are likely playoff teams: the Toronto Raptors, Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.

When evaluating the potential postseason landscape, it’s difficult to identify a more potent offensive duo than Kevin Durant and Irving.  Both of these juggernauts may occasionally become enamored with iso ball, but when they are moving the rock to exploit mismatches and are finding the man with space, Brooklyn could be as formidable an opponent as there is in the postseason.  

One of Brooklyn’s biggest concerns are its frontcourt’s defensive limitations.  With the exception of Simmons when he’s healthy, Brooklyn doesn’t have a versatile disruptor that can switch and cause havoc when rotating assignments between quicker guards or stronger forwards and big men.

Andre Drummond is still a fierce rebounder, but he struggles to stay in front of his man or to close out quick enough on opposing cuts.  Lamarcus Aldridge at 36 years old is not as laterally quick as he used to be and guarding was never his forte, although he was adequate.  And Blake Griffin at this stage in his career can get hunted down by an opponent forcing a switch, but he has solid instincts defending in transition. Evident by his 25 charges taken, which are tied for first with Miami’s Kyle Lowry.

As my colleague Ethan Skolnick has discussed on Five On The Floor, Drummond, Aldridge and Griffin were once franchise players that usually were not relied upon to be the glue guys that dive for loose balls, take charges, or crash the offensive glass.  That’s what their role is now and it takes a colossal amount of sacrifice for a former All-star to get comfortable exclusively performing a job that isn’t as glorious as dropping buckets en route to a W.  

The Nets inexplicably are optimistic that Ben Simmons will play, but he shouldn’t touch the court if his back has not completely recovered from his herniated disk.  If by some miracle Simmons does manage to suit up, the results may not be the desired outcome.  It’s complicated to incorporate a key player into a lineup past training camp, but in this case, there are nine games left for Broolyn.  He may not have enough time to learn Durant and Irving’s on-court tendencies and develop some chemistry with them.

But even without Simmons, now that Irving is getting his full-time gig back, the Nets become a larger headache for everyone in the east.  Brooklyn may be undermanned, but they still have enough ballers to win a round or two.  Durant and Irving have limitless range and can get to any spot because of their tight handles and elusive movements.  The last five times they’ve played together, Irving has averaged 38 and Durant 26 points per game.

An advantage that Brooklyn will have over every team is that Irving has fresh legs because he’s  only participated in 20 of Brooklyn’s 73 games played. An 82 game season is a marathon and players eventually hit a slump because of fatigue.  Irving probably will not have one.  He’s had extensive rest and he is so lethal that an opponent can study all of his tricks in the film room and it probably still won’t be enough to help stay in front of him.

Regardless of Irving’s position on the vaccine, I’m glad he’s back on the court as a full-time player.  At least for me, the east playoffs would not have been as exciting without one of the game’s greater players today.