James Harden to Brooklyn

Kliq

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Kyrie was against trading for Harden. I think him going AWOL pushed the Nets to make the trade.
Which could be true. People are acting like these are three guys who are all going to work really hard to share the ball and get along and make everything work, which ignores pretty much everything we know about these three guys.
 

radsoxfan

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The Nets need everything to go perfectly for them...

Harden back in shape and motivated
Kyrie to stop being insane
Durant to avoid the injury bug
Develop offensive chemistry with 3 #1 options

I don't think they are automatically the best team in the East even if this all happens, but they are in the mix. Honestly seems like a panic move by Brooklyn based on Kyrie going AWOL and a slow start. They didn't want to waste this season so they went all-in.

2+ years from now, this has the potential for getting very very very ugly.
 

Average Game James

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The things people are saying about this deal are the same thing people always say when a team puts together a group of superstars- there’s only one basketball, their depth is bad, we don’t know if the personalities will work etc. All of that is true, but top tier talent wins in the NBA. This is a pretty amazing trio. They are going to be dysfunctional as hell but they could be very good.
They absolutely could be very good. Harden and Durant are probably the best 1-2 in the league aside from Lebron/AD and Kyrie with his head straight can be an All-NBA player. But this group takes all those issues - ball dominant players, no depth, volatile personality mix - to an extreme I'm not sure we've seen before.
 

OnTheBlack

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There is a law of diminishing returns with ball dominant superstars as there is only 1 basketball. They gave up all their depth, their front court and their future for it. I’d be shocked if this all works out for the Nets. 3 combustible personalities, 2 with significant injury history and no one else on the team. Will be fun to watch that’s for sure.
 

Average Game James

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This makes no sense to me. Take out Kyrie and it seems like there is almost no way Brooklyn competes for a championship. Let's say KD + Harden =.Lebron + AD. Now look at the depth the Lakers had last season (Kuzma, Morris, KCP, Rondo, Caruso) vs. what the Nets will have after their top 2 (Harris, Jordan, Shamet, Jeff Green and ?). And Brooklyn has no assets left to trade for depth, so they are limited to the buyout market. If Kyrie going full Kyrie is detonating the present, seems like all the more reason not to mortgage the future...
 

jon abbey

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Not only does Kyrie evidently not like Nash, D’Antoni couldn’t wait to get away from Harden and now they are also reunited.
 

BigSoxFan

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The Nets will go back to being completely forgotten after this, much like they were after the Kidd/Kenyon Martin era. It'll be a mess but I don't think it will hurt the league any. They don't even really have any fans.
 

radsoxfan

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The Nets would be much better off if they could somehow trade Kyrie for a couple useful role players and get a motivated Durant/Harden to lead them.

Sounds like they would prefer that too. At this point though, I'm not sure they can get much for Kyrie. What a strange strange man.
 

cardiacs

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The East just got..... less predictable?

I hope someone documents who exactly thinks this makes the Nets the team to beat in the east, because I think that is totally not clear until we see them play together for 5 games minimum.
 

Tony C

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The Cavs getting Jarrett Allen - a very useful player both on the court or as a trade asset going forward - for a Bucks first-round pick is possibly the most impressive part of this whole thing.
Color me intrigued with the Cavs. That backcourt duo is really fun and love Allen and looks like they just had a good draft. Starting to be ...kinda/sorta ok.
...and KYRIE, who as we speak is AWOL from the team and apparently already mad at Durant and didn't want Nash to coach the team. Nobody has to worry about these guys.
Wait...he's mad at Durant? Where was that? About what? And what does he want in order to come back?

Steve Nash must be thinking....this isn't as easy as it looks.
 

ManicCompression

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Important to remember that even the Heatles needed a year to understand how to play together and assemble a bench that was good enough to support the top three. Different era, but really trying to wrap my head around what this is going to look like on the court.
 

nighthob

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Color me intrigued with the Cavs. That backcourt duo is really fun and love Allen and looks like they just had a good draft. Starting to be ...kinda/sorta ok.

Wait...he's mad at Durant? Where was that? About what? And what does he want in order to come back?

Steve Nash must be thinking....this isn't as easy as it looks.
There was an earlier tweet that Kyrie's relationship with Durant had cooled, along with his enthusiasm for Steve Nash.
 

SeoulSoxFan

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If the kd that's shown up so far is real, they're going to probably beat the lakers this year.

The internet puts too much stock into draft picks. See the lakers. They traded away everything, forever, and got a title. Teams dont give a shit about draft picks. They want a title and tomorrow's problems are tomorrow's problems
This assumes that KD = LBJ and Harden = David and Kyrie starts to answer phones.
 

OCST

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Not satisfied by the ill-fated C’s trade, evidently.
I'm not a big NBA guy, but I live close to Barclays and pass it a few times a week, so I feel the buzz. I remember widespread disgust with that deal to bring in all of these olds. I'm sure the big name will sell some merch but the fans here are pretty savvy and will crap on this.

Two guys I know gave up the Knicks forever after years of ineptitude and bad decisions and became Nets fans. Maybe they'll regret it
 

SeoulSoxFan

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Yeah, the only way this deal works out for Houston is if the situation gets so toxic so quickly that Durant walks out after '22. Because if it works out for the Nets the Rockets just entered a generational rebuild. They could possibly have/get decentish firsts in '22 and '23 before losing their draft for the remainder of the decade (more or less). I guess with a bunch of picks in the 20s they can always hope to strike on the next Jimmy Butler.
Couldn't you say that the generational rebuild started BEFORE the trade, since Harden became the most toxic player since Kyrie?

Seems controlling 8 first round picks is a phenomenal start (almost) no matter where they draft.
 

Average Game James

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So what’s the market for a Dinwiddie rental like? Because it seems like he is the obvious chip to trade for a big once he’s healthy. No obvious landing spots jump to mind, but there’s probably a rotation 4/5 type out there they could get for him, right?

edit: nevermind, he’s not going to be back before the deadline, if at all.
 

nighthob

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Couldn't you say that the generational rebuild started BEFORE the trade, since Harden became the most toxic player since Kyrie?

Seems controlling 8 first round picks is a phenomenal start (almost) no matter where they draft.
Controlling eight low firsts isn’t a start. Under optimal circumstances it means you get a bunch of Peyton Pritchard level players. Which means years of 35-45 win seasons with no daylight in sight.
 

nighthob

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So what’s the market for a Dinwiddie rental like? Because it seems like he is the obvious chip to trade for a big once he’s healthy. No obvious landing spots jump to mind, but there’s probably a rotation 4/5 type out there they could get for him, right?
Dinwiddie going down was a pretty big blow to them, because he’d be a great trade chip. Unfortunately all you can get for him is a malcontent making short money.
 

ElUno20

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Important to remember that even the Heatles needed a year to understand how to play together and assemble a bench that was good enough to support the top three. Different era, but really trying to wrap my head around what this is going to look like on the court.
We just saw lebron and ad do it in a splintered year with a dogshit, makeshift bench. I think the nets will be fine as long as kd is healthy
 

Cellar-Door

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Controlling eight low firsts isn’t a start. Under optimal circumstances it means you get a bunch of Peyton Pritchard level players. Which means years of 35-45 win seasons with no daylight in sight.
they aren't going to use them all though, and unprotected picks 3-5 years after the contracts of all the players on a team expire could be anything, and have decent value in trades.
 

nighthob

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Right, but people were responding to my observation that if the trade works out for the Nets the Rockets are hosed. The only way the deal works for Houston is if Irving really falls off the edge of the earth and torpedoes them. Aside from that Durant, Harden, and roleplayers is a 60 win team for the foreseeable future.
 

Cellar-Door

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Right, but people were responding to my observation that if the trade works out for the Nets the Rockets are hosed. The only way the deal works for Houston is if Irving really falls off the edge of the earth and torpedoes them. Aside from that Durant, Harden, and roleplayers is a 60 win team for the foreseeable future.
Maybe. But that's why you get 7 years of picks. Do we really think Durant (had an Achilles tear) and Harden (notorious for working into shape not staying in shape) are going to be the same guys at 36,37,38? They could win 3 titles and the Rockets could still get 2 top picks out of it
 

PedroKsBambino

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Right, but people were responding to my observation that if the trade works out for the Nets the Rockets are hosed. The only way the deal works for Houston is if Irving really falls off the edge of the earth and torpedoes them. Aside from that Durant, Harden, and roleplayers is a 60 win team for the foreseeable future.
Yeah, that’s not a realistic assessment for Houston...there’s almost zero chance any of those guys are there when the last of those picks is made. You’re way, way over fixated on the first couple years.