Nets Bar Kyrie Irving From All Games Until He’s Vaccinated

Yappi

Yappi

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Kyrie Irving was supposed to be the starting point guard of the N.B.A.’s next dynasty. He was going to use his superb ball-handling skills to dish passes to Kevin Durant and James Harden, and together this Big Three would turn the Nets into champions season after season for years to come.

Sure, Irving had suggested that the Earth was flat. But he had also delivered a championship to Cleveland alongside LeBron James, and he was a perennial All-Star. The Nets could stand a little quirkiness in pursuit of greatness.
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www.nytimes.com

Nets Bar Kyrie Irving From All Games Until He’s Vaccinated

The barring of Irving complicates what looked like a surefire path to the finals for the Nets and could set up a battle with the players’ union.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
 
Makes perfect sense to me. I would not want to play a guy that by public health mandates would miss half of the games, especially if I expected to contend for a title. Having to constantly adjust for him being in/out of the lineup day-to-day screws with team chemistry and rhythm.

I'd be trying as hard as possible to ship him out for anything resembling good value. The Nets are good enough as is offensively with ball dominant players in Durant and Harden, and would probably benefit by getting a complimentary off-ball scorer or a defensive stopper that can do a bit of everything. I'd be burning up the phone line with Philly for some type of swap for Ben Simmons.
 
I'll start off by saying I do not like Kyrie Irving. He's an odd duck, but a wildly talented basketball player.

That said...it's absolute nonsense that he's barred not only by his team, but by his league and belongs to a union that won't stand up for him?? There are and have been high school, middle school, youth league and college kids participating in sports for more than a year now, and the NBA chooses to side with the state of NY's silly guidelines on a vaccine mandate??
There are high school and college kids all across this country participating in sporting events everyday who are not vaccinated!!!! This is so silly.

As a Philly fan, I would not trade for Kyrie even if they only wanted Furkan Korkmaz for him. Kyrie is a franchise KILLER. He ruined two franchises already in the Cavs and the Celtics, and he's well on his way to ruining the Nets, although they weren't very good before he got there anyway.
 
clarkgriswold said:
Sure they can, they have 2 of the top 10-15 players in the NBA, Harden can play the point and Patty Mills is a capable backup.
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I think you've seen the best of James Harden. he's not a top 10-15 player. He's always been a novelty. Great scorer in short spurts. Never won anything. You cannot win with a guy who plays no defense and dominates the ball like he does.
 
14Red said:
I think they need all 3, and health and alot of luck and other good veteran role players to even sniff a long playoff run.
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They do not need all 3. They still have Joe Harris as an elite shooter off the ball, Blake Griffin, Paul Millsap, Patty Mills and Aldridge is coming back. Nicolas Claxton showed he can bring energy off the bench. They're old with a lot of guys nearing the end of their careers or are simply not as good as they used to be, but, looking at the numbers, they're still very good role players.
 
SC10EHS15 said:
They do not need all 3. They still have Joe Harris as an elite shooter off the ball, Blake Griffin, Paul Millsap, Patty Mills and Aldridge is coming back. Nicolas Claxton showed he can bring energy off the bench. They're old with a lot of guys nearing the end of their careers or are simply not as good as they used to be, but, looking at the numbers, they're still very good role players.
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Being a Sixers, fan, Joe Harris is a poor mans JJ Redick. Can shoot, no doubt, but come playoff time they go after them on the defensive end. Paddy Mills is a great pickup, but the other guys you mentioned aren't going to make a difference. They will go as far a KD takes them, and I'm not sure he has it in him anymore. Great player, but the gas tank is getting low and he needs alot more than James Harden.
I personally think all this stink will blow over in month or two and Kyrie will be back by 2022. These guys don't want to go to training camp and play in the first 20 games anyway.
 
clarkgriswold said:
I'm not a Harden fan but you're clueless if you think they won't win with their lineup, even without Kyrie. I actually hope they don't because I don't like any of them, but they'll win games regardless.
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I really don't like any of those three guys, but I see a lot of redundancy between Kyrie and Harden, with Harden being a better scorer even if he's getting to the point where he starts most years off being fat and out of shape. IMO the "big 3" concept doesn't work with the three guys they have as everyone's ball dominant. Every franchise that's won in the last 10-15 years with three stars has had at least 1/3 be primarily an off the ball guy, whether it's been Klay Thompson, Kevin Love, Chris Bosh, or Ray Allen back in the day with the Celtics.

I'm not sure they'd be hurt with Kyrie sitting out as it frees up volume and probably more consistency for the other two, and IMO they'd be better off converting Kyrie into an off the ball guy that's primarily a spot shooter or a stretch big guy that can face-up.
 
nwwarrior09 said:
I really don't like any of those three guys, but I see a lot of redundancy between Kyrie and Harden, with Harden being a better scorer even if he's getting to the point where he starts most years off being fat and out of shape. IMO the "big 3" concept doesn't work with the three guys they have as everyone's ball dominant. Every franchise that's won in the last 10-15 years with three stars has had at least 1/3 be primarily an off the ball guy, whether it's been Klay Thompson, Kevin Love, Chris Bosh, or Ray Allen back in the day with the Celtics.

I'm not sure they'd be hurt with Kyrie sitting out as it frees up volume and probably more consistency for the other two, and IMO they'd be better off converting Kyrie into an off the ball guy that's primarily a spot shooter or a stretch big guy that can face-up.
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Good post. The only problem with that plan is Kyrie isn't ever going to be willing to an off the ball guy. He's too selfish. If he was committed to the team he'd be with them right now.
 
clarkgriswold said:
Good post. The only problem with that plan is Kyrie isn't ever going to be willing to an off the ball guy. He's too selfish. If he was committed to the team he'd be with them right now.
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Whoops. I don't think I clarified it enough, but I meant trading Kyrie for that type of player. IMO the Nets would be much better off deeper in the playoffs.
 
clarkgriswold said:
Here's a guy who thinks they can win it all-

sports.yahoo.com

Hot Takes We Might Actually Believe: The Nets should win the title, with or without Kyrie Irving

The 2021-22 NBA season is almost upon us, but Hot Take SZN is here, and at the end of another eventful offseason we will see how close to the sun we can fly and still stand the swelter of these viewpoints.
sports.yahoo.com sports.yahoo.com
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Good article. The author correctly points out that with only Durant healthy (and outside of about a minute of Game 1, only one or the other of Harden and Irving available the rest of the way) the Nets went to the wire against the eventual champion Bucks and nearly won that series off of Durant's back.

I hate that team, but they certainly have enough firepower and complimentary pieces to be a real threat without Kyrie.
 
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