Brainstorming Ideas so Kyrie can play at home

Well, we’ve reached the stage where desperate times call for desperate measures. If the Brooklyn Nets are going to win an NBA championship this season, it is essential that Kyrie Irving be eligible to play at Barclays Center. However, because of Mayor Eric Adams’ private vaccine mandate that will seemingly never go away for the rest of time, that will not happen. So here’s the list of ways Kyrie can return to his home court along with his other unvaccinated opponents who can enter the arena without issue:

1. Kyrie gets vaccinated – This will truly never happen and to even imagine the possibility of this is laughable. Be better, people.

2. Mayor Eric Adams lifts the private sector mandate – Like Kyrie getting vaccinated, as long as Eric Adams is mayor, an unvaccinated home athlete will never be able to participate in an indoor sporting event in New York City. However, they are free to pay money to watch the game, buy food, sit courtside, etc. You get the point.

3. NBA alters its memo sent to teams in September requiring them to obey local laws regarding eligibility of unvaccinated players in home arenas – There hasn’t been a single whisper about this, but stripping Mayor Adams of the power to decide who can and who can’t participate in a professional sporting event seems to make complete sense. In a practical world, that decision would be made by the league (Adam Silver), arena (Barclays Center) and team (Brooklyn Nets, Joe Tsai, Sean Marks, etc). The fact a local politician has final say is incomprehensible. I also don’t think anyone would scream injustice if this happened. I could be wrong.

4. The Nets simply declare they’re allowing Kyrie to play at home – I would love for this to happen just to see how the powers that be respond. Is Mayor Adams going to order the National Guard to stop Kyrie from taking the court at Barclays Center? Will there be a perimeter set up around the court blocking any attempt from Kyrie to play? As I write this, I just saw the league fined the Nets $50,000, the league maximum, after Kyrie stepped into the team locker room at halftime of Sunday’s game against the Knicks. So unless they force the Nets to forfeit the game, I’d at least explore it. We do know that based on the comments from Adam Silver and LeBron James, that arguably the two most powerful people in the sport are on the Nets side. Will it ever happen? No, not a chance.

5. Kevin Durant and Eric Adams play a game of 1-on-1 to determine if Kyrie can play – Do it for charity. Broadcast it on national TV. Raise millions and millions of dollars for vaccine awareness. Invite famous singers, actors, etc. Have them play to 21, give Adams a 20-0 head start and if he wins, Kyrie has to sit out home games for the rest of time. However, if Durant wins, Kyrie becomes eligible immediately no questions asked. Who says no??

For more, be sure to follow @lucasfrankel on Twitter.

 

Attempting to rationalize Harden trade for Nets

We’ve seen this movie before for the Nets. The date was June 27, 2013, the day the Nets went “all-in” acquiring 35-year-old Paul Pierce, 37-year-old Kevin Garnett and 36-year-old Jason Terry from the Boston Celtics in exchange for three first-round picks, a pick swap in 2017 along with the likes of Gerald Wallace, MarShon Brooks, Keith Bogans, Kris Joseph and Kris Humphries.

The “belief” at the time was that adding Pierce and Garnett to the duo of Deron Williams (gulp) and Joe Johnson would catapult the Nets past LeBron James and the Heat in the Eastern Conference. Let’s just say things didn’t exactly go according to plan. The Nets lost in 5 games that season in the second round to Miami. Then that very offseason, Pierce signed with the Wizards and by the trade deadline of the following season, Garnett was a member of the Timberwolves. Two years after that trade went down, the Nets were one of the single worst teams in the NBA losing 61 games in the 2015-16 season.

Those draft picks and the swap they gave up in that trade, yeah, those turned into Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. You may have heard of them. They’re pretty good.

The Nets then went through years of rebuilding, but things took a stunning turn in the summer of 2019 when Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant (once he recovered from an Achilles tear) decided to join forces in Brooklyn. All the pain, suffering and embarrassment appeared to have paid off and for the first time in a long time, the future looked bright on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush Avenue.

This brings us to Wednesday, January 13, 2021. At around 4pm eastern, the bombshell news dropped that the Nets acquired the out-of-shape and out-of-control James Harden from the Rockets in exchange for four first round picks (two in 2022 and then one each in 2024 and 2026), pick swaps in 2021, 2023, 2025 and 2027 as well as Caris LeVert, Jarett Allen and Taurean Prince among others in what turned out to be a wild 4-team deal.

Just like that fateful summer of 2013, the Nets have mortgaged their future to win this year or next year, with Kyrie, Durant and Harden all slated to become free agents following the 2022 season. Now if this works by some true miracle, it would have been worth it. Let’s be clear though, that’s a humongous “if”.

What I’m really struggling to understand here is how the Nets seemingly haven’t learned their lesson? In 2013, they didn’t need washed up versions of Pierce, Garnett and Terry, especially not for what they gave up. In 2021, while they certainly could have used James Harden, they by no means needed to give up FOUR first round picks and four pick swaps for a player who’s value has probably never been lower in his entire career.

Then you couple that with the fact that there’s a strong chance all of those draft picks and swaps after 2022 will turn into a gold mine for Houston assuming Durant, Kyrie and Harden decide to move on with their careers in other places in which case it will be deja vu all over again.

The best rationalization I could think of here is that Kyrie Irving is planning to retire from basketball and Kevin Durant wasn’t going to stand for not having a true superstar wingman alongside him for his remaining years with the Nets. That’s it. Because the bottom line is this trade by Brooklyn was un-called for, irresponsible and is poised to set the franchise back years in their pursuit of a championship.

Drink up, Sean Marks, because this had better work.

 

Phil Jackson turned his back on Doug Collins, and the rest is history

He’s arguably the greatest coach in the history of basketball.  Eleven championships with the Bulls and Lakers, two more as a player with the Knicks, but Phil Jackson’s rise stemmed from a fork in the road moment during his tenure as an assistant coach with the Bulls.

 

LeBron gave up

Going in, the NBA Finals may as well have been a David vs. Goliath matchup.

 

Magic no sure bet to turn around Lakers

He’s arguably the greatest Laker ever.  He was the star player on five Laker title teams.  No one can argue with what he did on the court for the franchise, but to automatically assume that Earvin “Magic” Johnson is going to step right in, work his “magic” and bring the Lakers back to glory is foolish.

 

Don’t buy Riley’s comments on Wade departure

Pat Riley told reporters on Saturday he was “floored” by Dwyane Wade’s decision to leave the Heat, and that he feels “great regret” he didn’t do more (or anything for that matter) to convince Wade to stay.