Three Scorers, One Ball: The Nets' star-studded lineup will fold in the playoffs
“He’s got his little superteam. He’s got to win this year. If he doesn’t win this year, it’s a bust. Period.” These are the words that Shaquille O'Neal, NBA legend and analyst, said after the Brooklyn Nets acquired James Harden in a blockbuster four-team trade. Unsurprisingly, it came one day after a dissatisfied Harden proclaimed that the Rockets were “just not good enough” in response to a defeat against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Twelve games into his coaching career, Steve Nash will have the immense challenge of blending the three high-scoring stars: Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden—who all rank top 10 in usage rates among active players. The Nets, already regarded as Eastern Conference title contenders, began the season with a mediocre 6-6 record before acquiring Harden. Some even questioned whether the addition made the Nets better since it lost most of their depth following the trade. Was removing the depth of the Net’s lineup worth James Harden? To put it bluntly, the Nets trading for James Harden—a player who has never sacrificed in his career—was a mistake, and the trio of Durant, Harden, and Irving will combust, failing to make it out of the East.
In the deal, the Nets sacrificed their depth in center Jarrett Allen, forward Taurean Prince, guard Caris LeVert, and forward Rodions Kurucs and three first-round picks and four first-round pick swaps. The upgrade from LeVert to Harden is insignificant when you think about the pieces Brooklyn lost. Levert, a 26-year-old, was a reliable scorer and defender for the Nets who averaged 18.5 PPG. Allen, a 22-year-old, was the Nets’ best center and was on pace for a career season. The duo was a big reason for the Nets’ success, and now Brooklyn has three stars and not much else. For the rest of the season, the Nets will gamble on minimum-salary veterans to fill out the roster. Also, with little defensive talent, the team will struggle in the playoffs. Defending the Nets might be difficult, but scoring Brooklyn’s defense will be easy. Thus, even if the Nets improve offensively with Harden, which is highly unlikely, they lose it to their lackluster defense.
In Houston, Harden won three scoring titles and an MVP in 2017 by having the ball in his hands full time—valuing iso ball over team play. If he were to play like that in Brooklyn with two ball-dominant stars alongside him, the Nets would crumble. Satisfying all three-star players offensively creates a challenge that, if accomplished, would weaken Brooklyn’s defense and depth since no one else would score besides the Nets’ three big stars. The notion that Harden gives the Nets an overwhelming offensive force for teams to guard is false. After all, for Kyrie to shine, he needs the ball in his hands, and it will only be a matter of time until he lets the league know through his antics. Similarly, Harden and a healthy KD all perform best with the ball in their hands. If a starting lineup is filled with three on-ball players, it leaves no room for an offense to run properly with space and a lackluster defense at best. To be a championship contender in the NBA, a team needs to be superb on both ends of the court. Given the defensive limitations that the Nets face, the team would need to break offensive records to compensate.
This is not the first time the Nets have gone all out for one player. In 2004, they traded for Vince Carter, who like Harden was unhappy with his former team. Although Carter enjoyed some of the best seasons of his career, the move only brought the Nets two playoff series wins—nowhere close to a championship title. Then in 2013, the Nets gave up a substantial number of draft picks for Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry. The move was supposed to transform the Nets into finals contenders, but they only managed to win one playoff series. While Boston used the draft picks they gained from the trade to rebuild their young core, the Nets were left handicapped for years: Pierce left the Nets in only one season, and Garnett was traded during his second season.
However, this time around, if the Harden deal goes south, it will have cost the Nets two potential stars in Allen and Levert, and even more draft picks. Therefore, the Nets have once again gambled their promising future on star players who have yet to prove that they can play alongside one another. The Brooklyn Nets is an organization that avoids the hard process of rebuilding to take chances on finding the perfect mix of stars, which is why they will always remain as the New York Knicks “little brother”.
