Let’s forget about playing basketball for a minute. Baskets can wait. What character traits did the Brooklyn Nets bring together with James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant? And what do these personalities mean for their championship plans?
Based on Harden’s time in Houston, “selfish” is part of the discussion.
Not because he forced Wednesday’s change in Brooklyn, Harden has every right to maximize his career. But that’s how he did it: celebrating without a mask in the pandemic while his teammates were in quarantine on the training ground, then playing with the kind of thickness i mandra who is usually in a league of players 50 years or older, and on his last day in the Houston Rockets uniform, slandering his squad as “not good enough.” Luckily Harden left before one confessed DeMarcus Cousins caught him.
Meanwhile, based on the latest vibrations emanating from Planet Irving, “Strange” is a fair description of Kyrie, and “unreliable“Not out of the question.
On January 8, Irving did not travel with his teammates for a game in Memphis, Tennessee. Maybe he was protesting the Donald Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol, or the prosecutors who refused to file charges against the police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back. Well, we could accept and support that. But then Irving missed three more games, so the team called it “personal reasons,” and he’s not expected to return this week. What could Irving be protesting now, something of a “past life”? Are you denied 8 back plays to the basket per game? Are you not allowed to coach the team? With Irving’s rugged story, you never know.
This leaves Durant as the adult in the Brooklyn dressing room.
He does not have the baggage of Irving and Harden. Teammates love him. All he seems to care about is winning. During he probably sacrificed his Achilles tendon by returning too soon to the 2019 NBA Finals; this is not something a selfish person would do. But despite always being the best player on his team, Durant has never been the leader. He played in the shadow of Russell Westbrook’s personality in Oklahoma City, then coexisted within a Golden State Warriors franchise led by Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. If there is any criticism of Durant, it is that he may be too sensitive, hence the infamous account of his social media accounts.
Talent alone does not win championships. Character is also essential. You need players who are responsible to each other, which was a problem for Harden in Houston. Players who are self-aware and can take responsibility for their mistakes, not blame their teammates, as Irving did before fleeing Boston, or the media, as he did in Brooklyn.
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The general manager of the Nets Sea Marks says they are looking for Kyrie Irving to rejoin the team as soon as possible.
For Brooklyn’s mega change to live up to expectations, Durant will have to move Irving away from his quirks and immaturity. He will have to convince Harden to be generous and responsible. In his thirteenth season, Durant will have to become a complete leader.
Wait, isn’t that the job of head coach Steve Nash? Not in the current NBA, where star players tolerate coaches more than following or obeying them. One of Nash’s assistants is Mike D’Antoni, who, as head coach of the Rockets, never realized (or maybe didn’t even try) to keep Harden at bay. As a player, Nash earned a reputation for joining his teammates, but he did so with the ball in his hands. Now Nash will be on the sidelines while three of the players with the most dominance of the ball in history try to win together.
The character is revealed on the track. You can tell what kind of person someone is by how they play basketball. During setting his good credentials at Golden State, where he moved without the ball, or stopped for the shot, and was happy to create offense when needed. But Harden and Irving have never been happy playing that way. They need to dribble like the Kardashians need attention. Irving left Lebron James in Cleveland because he couldn’t tolerate him not directing the show. Harden made it out of Houston to future Hall of Fame owner Paul Paul, and then alienated his alleged best friend Westbrook, for his addiction to isolation basketball.
(Arriving late usually didn’t help). Harden couldn’t make the situation work with one more star, now he’s supposed to share with two?
To be fair, Harden and Irving’s character is more than basketball. Irving is a generous and passionate advocate of social justice. Harden helped buy food for 5,000 Houston families during the pandemic. But when it comes to their profession, they seem to believe they have every right to demand. Which makes it difficult for any association to function.
When Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen teamed up with Paul Pierce in Boston to create the first modern NBA super team, Garnett’s fierce bonding and sacrifice attitude led them to a title. When James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade in Miami, they could not win until Wade gave James the keys to the offensive and Bosh accepted the role of third in the group.
Who is man enough to stay in the background in Brooklyn? Will Irving and Harden be able to recover from all the sage and bridges they have burned? Will Durant manifest the leadership that his transcendent skills suggest?
It’s all a matter of character.