Yeah but Lebron is a leader, he is basically prime Captain America. KD and Kyrie are like Iron Man with PTSD when it comes to their emotional maturity. Lebron is also one of the most versatile players in NBA history, he was able to fill a lot of holes on that Cleveland team all Irving had to do was score 1on1 Lebron took care of the rest along with Love. KD was neck and neck with Lebron when he was healthy but now he is coming off an Achilles tear and lots of players are never the same after that type of injury including Kobe and Rudy Gay. Even if KD comes back full strength they might clash again like Russ/KD cuz both Irving and KD specialize in scoring, KD is just better at every facet of the game.
On to the Celtics. This should be probably the best series in the East. I think who ever wins here can take the Bucks Rocket River
ha, yeah you see lowry and smart do something and they're like "man, almost as bad as harden" as if harden has done a tenth of what those guys have done.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...waits-kevin-durant-kyrie-irving-brooklyn-nets [...] There will be no collective shrugs if the Nets face early elimination next season. A searing and unwavering spotlight will be centered squarely on Durant and Irving, chronicling their every move and every utterance. Make no mistake, KD and Kyrie are on the clock. The success or failure of this franchise, which is firmly on a championship-or-bust path, will fall squarely on their shoulders. Neither player has reacted well to intense scrutiny in the past. The first order of business is for them to develop some callouses. When the Nets were just a bunch of scrappy overachievers, nobody was auditing their day-to-day maneuvers. As Marks & Co. have discovered, that is no longer the case. In January, Irving made waves when he declared the team didn't possess the full complement of talent required to win it all. "It's pretty glaring that we need one more piece, two more pieces that will complement myself, KD, DJ [Jordan], GT [Garrett Temple], Spencer, Caris, and we'll see how that evolves," Irving said at the time. His omission of Allen, Harris and Taurean Prince immediately raised eyebrows. Was it merely an oversight or a pointed message to the front office? Speculation ran rampant. Harris, another successful Atkinson reclamation project and the team's most reliable 3-point threat (a .426 career 3-point percentage) is a free agent. Marks already has announced Harris is "priority No. 1." While the Nets have $136 million committed to the cap for 2020-21, team owner Joe Tsai is on record saying he is willing to pay the luxury tax in pursuit of a championship. Harris, who was on the books at a bargain price of $7.6 million this season, could well be in line to double his salary. Will the Nets stand pat and bank on either LeVert or Dinwiddie blossoming into a legitimate third star alongside Durant and Irving? Or will they package some of their young talent (with LeVert as a centerpiece) and go hunting for a bigger, more established and more expensive fish? Brooklyn already has been linked to Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal, who, when asked about it by this reporter in May, said he would love to "grind out winning" with the Wizards but admitted the Nets' purported interest was a sign of respect. "When you hear that Kyrie and KD want you, s---, that's amazing," Beal said. Stars, not scrappy overachievers, win championships. The underdog culture that Marks and Atkinson crafted is officially moot. That's why the Nets willingly added the 31-year-old Jordan to the mix at the behest of Durant and Irving. It was a no-brainer package deal that the organization believes can help the Nets win it all. When Atkinson and the Nets mutually parted ways 62 games into the season, multiple reports suggested both Durant and Irving had a hand in ending Atkinson's tenure. For one thing, said team sources, it rankled them that Atkinson was bringing their "brother" Jordan off the bench, favoring the 21-year Allen in his starting five. Not coincidentally, in interim coach Jacque Vaughn's first game, he elevated Jordan into the starting lineup in Allen's place. Vaughn has earned the respect of both the players and the organization. In fact, sources say, Marks is seriously considering Vaughn for the permanent job. Yet, league sources say Durant and Irving are interested in a higher profile head coach, along the lines of Tyronn Lue or Gregg Popovich, who are among the candidates who have been linked to the opening. [...]
I didn’t watch a second of this series I checked the boxscore and see Toronto dropped 150!! Hell nah, that wasn’t a playoff game. That was a Toronto Raptors scrimmage.
https://theathletic.com/2017846/202...nets-dream-candidate-sixers-fallout-and-more/ Toronto Raptors Raptors championship guard Fred VanVleet is on fire to start the NBA’s Bubble Playoffs: 21.3 points, 7.8 assists and four rebounds per game in the Raptors‘ series sweep over Brooklyn. VanVleet is a shoe free agent and has multiple suitors for a new deal, sources say. And on the court, expect a strong market for the free-agent-to-be: Detroit, New York and Phoenix are expected to emerge as suitors for VanVleet outside Toronto, sources said.
