Biggest Superteam Failure In NBA History

Biggest Superteam Failure In NBA History

when they played together James Harden Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant had at the time the best offensive rating in NBA history but due to injuries controversy and drama they only played together for 16 games is this the biggest failure in NBA history we didn’t think we could beat the Nets in full power that was a team that we thought we might not be able to get past for three or four years this is the story of the Brooklyn Nets big three arguably the biggest super team failure in NBA history to understand how the Nets were even able to pull this off and acquire their Superstars we need to look back to 2010 when a Russian billionaire bought the franchise and created a super team which soon became a disaster in the span of three years M prerov and the Net’s general manager Billy King quickly sold out all of Brooklyn’s future draft picks which later turned into Damen Lillard Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum and all they got for it was a declining Darren Williams Joe Johnson’s overprice contract and the ancient Kevin Garnett Paul Pierce and Jason Terry whose combined age was over 100 years old I think we’ve got pieces now that we can compete and compete for a championship and that’s our goal with a team full of old stars all the Nets managed was a 2014 second round playoff loss to the heat you know it didn’t it didn’t work out um and that’s what everybody looks at but I easily feel like it it it could have worked out just the same soon all their Superstars left the team and the Nets were stuck in the mud with a bad roster zero draft picks and no ability to sign free agents let’s not forget that this Net’s team was a assembled to win now but according to Jason kid it’s not quite that simple both him and Billy King have a lot to think about now in the off season which begins now but then in February of 2016 Billy King finally got fired and in his place came Shawn Marx a former player who won a 2005 NBA title with the Spurs where he learned a thing or two about building a championship roster marks didn’t have a lot of room to maneuver to acquire players but what he had he used brilliantly Brooklyn became the NBA junkyard because they accepted any body whom the league didn’t want like the basketball version of Money Ball if we win with this team we’ll change the game the N GM performed a miracle in less than 3 years on the job collecting a ton of young assets like Jared Allen Joe Harris Spencer dewitty and D’Angelo Russell who became an All-Star out of nowhere the Nets made the 2019 playoffs and then marks decided to cash in after the 2019 finals Kevin Durant became available and despite his torn Achilles he was just too good to pass on especially because he came in a package deal with his good friend and the best ball handler of all time Kyrie Irving so Marx shipped D’Angelo Russell in a sign and trade deal for Durant which was another small miracle and the only way to create cap space for both Durant and Kyrie and despite KD missing the entire year and Kyrie only playing 20 games due to a shoulder injury the Nets miraculously still made the 2020 playoffs even though they got swept by the Raptors Brooklyn had plenty to be happy about because they were finally going to unwrap the the best gift in basketball a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving before the 2021 season the Nets were the betting favorite to win the Larry O’Brien trophy Steve Nash became the new head coach which was a debatable move considering his lack of coaching experience and the success of his predecessor jacqu vaugh but the Nets had so much talent that it almost didn’t matter however Irving’s injury at the beginning of the season showcased a lack of playmaking on the team especially because the other point guard Spencer dwiti tore his ACL after three games so markx decided to do what Billy King did 8 years earlier he made another big move pushing all his chips to the middle of the table and going all in the Nets traded for James Harden but they paid a hefty price the beard cost Brooklyn three first round picks four pick swaps Carris Levert Jared Allen tan Prince and rodan’s kurck and while Harden’s trade cleared out all the depth the Nets had carfully collected for years it’s hard to say it wasn’t the right move Harden was 31 years old at the time and had been one of the five best players in the league for The Last 5 Years with Harden on board the Nets could constantly play with at least one Superstar on the floor and were absolutely Unstoppable when all three played together oh Blake Griffin Razzle Dazzle oh Next Level Kevin Durant with their big three on the floor they were literally the greatest offense in NBA history scoring 120 points per 100 possessions the net seemed destined to ride through Brooklyn on a big bus in June smoking cigars drinking and pass passing around the Larry O’Brien trophy however injuries to all three stars limited their time on the court and their big three played just eight games together in the regular season the Nets still finished second in the East and when the playoffs started the big three was finally healthy and extremely dangerous in the first round of the playoffs against the Celtics the Superstar Trio of KD Harden and Kyrie averaged 85 points per game the most points by a trio in any playoff series in NBA history the Nets steamrolled past Boston in five games averaging an absurd 124 points in the series but then against the Bucks in the second round Brooklyn had tons of bad luck after 43 seconds of the first game Harden pulled a hamstring which forced him to miss four games and when he returned he was clearly hobbled but even without James Kyrie and KD were still capable of winning on their own as the Nets led the series 2-1 after three games and then in game four Irving sprained his ankle on giannis’s foot and was ruled out for the series but thanks to KD’s heroics and his unreal 40 9 points 17 rebounds and 10 assists triple double the Nets won game five the Bucks countered in game six but in game seven KD was playing out of his mind again and Brooklyn had the final possession and a chance to win the game Durant took a three-pointer that would give the Nets a series win and it looked like they did win after KD’s buzzer beater went in he turns he shoots yes second but because KD barely stepped on the line his shot was just a two-pointer and the game went into overtime in the OT KD and the Nets were running on fumes and they lost the game and the series still despite the loss it was clear that the Nets were on the right track they just needed to get healthy so you know we get ready for for next year when the 2122 season started in the NBA’s traditional GM survey 72% of general managers said that Brooklyn would win the title and KD was the leading vote getter for MVP when their big three was healthy coach Nash established a deadly 5 out system where all five players could dribble pass and shoot with clear roles on the team Harden made the biggest sacrifice in usage taking on the role of a pure point guard with the second best assist numbers in the league this allowed Irving and Durant to remain in their standard roles as scorers the Nets mov the ball really well with only 10% of their offense ending in isolations and 62% of their points were assisted with all this Firepower Steve Nash looked like a damn good coach but then the drama started Kyrie Irving stance on the pandemic and the mandatory vaccine meant he couldn’t play games in New York but despite Irving’s status a bunch of other injuries to the roster and a bottom 10 defense the Nets were still more talented than everybody comfortably holding a top three place in the East and then more drama this time it wasn’t Kyrie but James Harden who couldn’t come to terms that Irving was not willing to sacrifice for the better of the team and take the vaccine James lost trust in the franchise and their ability to hold everybody accountable so he publicly asked for a trade on February February 7th New York lifted the vaccine mandate for municipal workers meaning that Kyrie would finally be able to play in all games starting in late March but the damage to the team’s chemistry was irreversible and even with Kyrie now able to play in the playoffs James Harden was still determined to play elsewhere and 3 days later and just one year after they paid a king’s ransom for his Services the Nets were forced to trade Harden to Philadelphia in exchange for Ben Simmons Seth Curry and two first round picks playoffs right around the corner so we got a Fast Track into you know getting getting used to each other but I’m I’m excited you know I think everybody got what they wanted it all seemed like a reasonably fair trade at the time because Simmons was a former All-Star and the all defensive stopper that the Nets desperately needed but that turned out to be the furthest thing from the truth even though Harden was still nursing a hamstring injury and wasn’t at full strength he still suited up and played in games which couldn’t be said for Simmons who became the next big Fiasco of the Net’s 2022 season towards the end of the year Simmons was ready to play and then he wasn’t he even told the team that he would play in the playoffs and then decided not to play at all in one of the most bizarre seesaw decision-making processes in NBA history after all that drama the Nets somehow made the playoffs as the seventh seed in game one of the first round against the Celtics Kyrie led a miraculous comeback that gave the Nets the lead in the final seconds but the Celtics were a resilient bunch and on the last play of the game Tatum was left all alone under the basket for a buzzer beating layup in the rest of the series The Nets came close but they could never get in front Steve Nash could either deploy a lineup with Shooters and no defense or a better defensive unit that had bad spacing offensively Durant was tormented by the Celtics Defenders who all took turns guarding him and tiring him out and the result was a sweep a four nothing loss was a slap in the face and a big wakeup call for the team everybody believed was going to win the championship this was a season that had so much promise one of the preseason favorites to start the year the Brooklyn Nets and it all fell hard at multiple iterations during the season well it’s a disappointment they lost in the first round of the playoffs they didn’t lose in the second round of the Conference Finals SW in the first he got swept so that mean uh things are not good but before the dust settled the Nets became a hot topic again but this time it wasn’t Kyrie but Kevin Durant Kevin Durant has requested a trade from the Brooklyn Net Durant then went a step further and demanded from the owner that he either fired coach Steve Nash and GM Shawn Marx let him go it was arguably the most aggressive trade Demand by any player in NBA history Kevin Durant I’m sad for you bro you’re all alone you have no help and more importantly than anything else you made the wrong decision by going to Brooklyn thankfully owner Joe Sai held his ground refused KD’s ultimatum and didn’t succumb to the pressure to trade him Against All Odds both Kyrie and KD started the 2023 season for the Nets and they were joined by Ben Simmons who finally made his debut for the team but when the season started the Nets were an Abomination with a defense that couldn’t stop some college teams the Nets started the season with six losses in eight games Simmons looked like a shell of his former self and the Nets couldn’t defend nor rebound and even though Kevin Durant averaged over 30 points per game the Nets offense was still barely average after such a horrible start to the season the Nets fired Steve Nash who clearly lost the locker room and the players trust however on court problems were soon overshadowed by another off-court controversy again produced by Kyrie Irving Kyrie tweeted an anti-semitic message due to a documentary he watched and refused to apologize for it so the net suspended him for eight games and it seemed like the team would sink even further in the standings but somehow they didn’t for the last two weeks the Brooklyn Nets have been in the middle of a firestorm of controversy well today they hired a new head coach they chose a candidate who checks a lot of boxes under jacqu vaugh who returned as the head coach Brooklyn started winning games and at the midpoint of the season they had a 2714 record one- win shy of the best record in the conference but this team couldn’t last more than a month without some kind of Scandal and of course it was Kyrie Irving again Kyrie was in the last year of his contract and even though he was still a top NBA Talent on the court he presented a huge risk for any team brave enough to sign him at that point he was a Loose Cannon and you just didn’t know what he was going to say next that could sideline him from the court indefinitely Shawn marks had had enough of his Antics and he refused to give Kyrie the long-term extension he desired so Kyrie asked for a trade before the deadline and the Nets agreed to trade him because if they didn’t Kyrie would leave the team for free the following summer on February 6th 20123 the Nets traded Irving and Marie Morris to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Dorian finny Smith Spencer Den witty and unprotected 2029 first round pick and two second round picks uh Brooklyn Nets GM Shawn marks is working with Kevin Durant and his business manager rich kman on finding a trade uh for the franchise star apparently Durant requested a trade from from the Nets and on February 9th Durant was gone too KD was traded to the Suns along with TJ Warren in exchange for Mel Bridges Cameron Johnson Jay Crowder four unprotected first round picks and a 2028 first round pick swap it was a lot of ups and downs but I love the grind everybody in Brooklyn loved the grind too so I built the family over there as they going to always be a part of my journey we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to accomplish as far as winning the championship just like I told him but I enjoy the grind and everybody there we tried our hardest every day regardless of what was going on in the media what was going on with our teammates and just like that the net super team was done and dusted in the four years on the team Kyrie Irving played Just 143 games about 40% of all possible games Durant played 129 games for Brooklyn and Harden just 80 they won only one playoff series together just like the 2014 net super team but at least this time they had a bunch of draft picks after all the superstars were for gone thank you for watching and if you like this one subscribe to Non-Stop and check out some of our other videos

A look back at how the Net’s big failed spectacularly.

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