It's Not Time to hit the Panic Button; but it's close

 The Nets stink. James Harden stinks. Kyrie Irving can only half the games. Kevin Durant is out until the beginning of March. Brooklyn has started 26 different starting lineups and the five best players: Harden, Irving, Durant, Harris, and Mills haven’t played a single second on the floor together. Brooklyn’s “Title Contending” team is 29-24 and in 7th place in the East. This team STINKS right now.

No quick fix is coming for this team either. Brooklyn cannot make a trade to reinvigorate this roster. The team they have is the team they have (unless someone gets out of an untenable situation and gets bought out elsewhere), and the team they have now simply cannot get it done. Any team that loses to the Kings by 11 points would name that as the low point of their season—except for the Orlando Magic. It is laughable that the current betting favorite for the NBA title as well as the consensus favorite among fans when the team is fully healthy is this Brooklyn squad. That’s the thing; this team since signing Irving and Durant haven’t been healthy—EVER! One member of the dynamic duo or the “Nets World Order” Big Three has always been on the shelf. The promise of tomorrow has been the only constant for this franchise since opening the current championship window.

As of writing this the Nets have the longest losing streak in the NBA and got embarrassed by the defending MVP and Denver yesterday afternoon. Kyrie Irving played 41 minutes because he can’t play at home and needs the run to stay in game shape. Irving played well for most of the game—finishing with 27 points, 11 assists, and five rebounds. However, he shot 10-26 from the field and seemed out of gas toward the end of the third quarter (probably because he was), which didn’t help Brooklyn’s chance at a comeback.

Every team must deal with injuries, so not having Durant or James Harden or Joe Harris isn’t an excuse to fall back on. The rest of the roster isn’t up to par with where the team hopes to end up in June. The hope for this team is the hope they’ve been banking on for a year now, health. That and luck in the buyout market to get a guy or two to give this roster a much-needed energy boost.

Over the next seven games Brooklyn plays one playoff team, Miami, and the rest are either in lottery contention or are borderline playoff teams leading up to a Primetime matchup in Milwaukee on February 26th. Aldridge, Harden, and Claxton are all game-time decisions for Tuesday’s matchup against Boston and if all three play, could be the start to the turnaround the Brooklyn Brigade have been hoping for. The Nets have three road games (including a cross-town matchup with the Knicks) over this span so getting Harden and Irving minutes on the floor together should be the teams’ number one concern. Having two thirds of the Nets World Order getting chemistry will get Brooklyn closer to title contention.

It is not time to hit the big red panic button, but it is ok to open the lid to the button.      

 

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