Unchecked: Kevin Durant Is All That Matters for Brooklyn Nets
Okay KD, we see you. Getting a glimpse of Kevin Durant on the court and throwing it down again should serve as a reminder.
That for everything else going on with the Brooklyn Nets, there’s only one thing that really matters for BK, and it’s not who will be the coach, but the return of KD.
Concerns about coming back from an achilles aside, fans and pundits may be experiencing a little bit of out of sight out of mind. Because a healthy Durant is a solution for his squad and a problem for everyone else. A career scoring average of 27 points a game on 49% from the field and 38% from three would support that statement.
Now I understand many were upset about how the departure of Kenny Atkinson went down. It feels unjust that someone who helped build what the Nets have become wouldn’t be around for the finishing touches, and it certainly put a hole in their whole culture narrative. But there’s a reason the finger pointing immediately went to KD and Kyrie Irving because stars are what matters in the league.
Not that coaching doesn’t of course, it’s just while managing egos may be a challenge, what happens on the floor is going to get a lot easier with Durant in the lineup. Take a look at the Lakers team Brooklyn just beat. Frank Vogel has been a good fit, however he walked into a readymade situation with LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The Nets are solid enough sans Durant and Irving, especially with Caris LeVert emerging (we’ll see if the roster remains the same when both superstars are healthy). Which brings us to the elephant in the room, Kyrie. Again, that’s where Durant comes in. Because as electrifying as he can be even if Irving didn’t exist you’d still have to take Brooklyn seriously with KD. And Durant will put Kyrie back in the role that saw him win it all, the second star relied upon for one thing, buckets. The two of them together will be credited for any success and blamed for any failure but a near seven foot assassin who can transform a team on both ends makes the former more attainable.
And with Durant set to be in the building Thursday when the Nets visit the Warriors, his past will meet his future. Soon he’ll have a chance to dead the noise around his current team and the hate he received for going to Golden State. As once he’s back the rest of Kevin Durant’s career will be defined by whether he’s able to put Brooklyn on the NBA map. No matter who’s coaching.
