In the preseason, the consequences don’t imply up to the paintings. But after Kevin Durant asked a industry this summer season after which attempted to get basic supervisor Sean Marks and trainer Steve Nash fired, the Nets’ chemistry goes be underneath the microscope.
Or extra just like the James Webb telescope.
Their 0-2 preseason mark getting into Wednesday’s sport in Milwaukee isn’t a large deal, but take this Durant quote and retailer it away if their struggles stretch into the steady season when the wins and losses begin to depend.
“Vibes have been straight. But who knows what the vibes will be if we hit a skid, or we’re not playing well or somebody gets injured,” Durant stated. “I think that’s what makes a team: How we stick through those times. It’s easy to be cool when everything is positive right now, but we’ll see as the season goes on.”
Marks shrugged off the go out request adopted through the rise up, but he concurred that their true measure will probably be how they set up the inevitable tricky moments and painful losses this season.
“Personally I don’t think [another trade request] is something we should be concerned about now. It’s about how we manage this on a daily, minute-by-minute basis,” Marks stated. “Do we be in contact in follow? Kevin doesn’t wish to be stunned, both; and neither can we.
“He knows there’s going to be ups and downs. But how do we combat that? Whether it’s that anxiety or the ups and downs, as a collective unit how we manage those? Hopefully there won’t be surprises on the KD front, our front, any of it.”
The Nets had been turnover susceptible and missing physicality this preseason, with Friday’s finale in Minnesota as the general tuneup.
Still, information at this level imply little, and Durant stated he wasn’t hanging a lot inventory within the tilt in opposition to the Bucks. He wasn’t dropping sight of the truth it was once with reference to seeking to construct towards when the video games in reality begin to depend.
“We want to win every possession and we don’t want to look bad,” Durant stated. “But there’s going to return a time once we’re now not enjoying nice basketball for a spurt [and] there’s going to be occasions we performed nice basketball.
“It’s still early in the year. We want to be in great shape as the season goes on, but we want to be our best version as the season starts progressing. We want to take our time now and keep working, but have some sense of urgency as well.”
The Nets haven’t performed nice basketball this preseason, getting muscled around through extra bodily groups and now not enjoying onerous sufficient for lengthy sufficient. They misplaced to the Heat and 76ers prior to dealing with the Bucks, all of the most sensible Eastern contenders.
“Everyone has a good team on paper. A lot of good teams, a lot of talent in the East. But once the games are being played, that’s when you’ll declare who the best team is,” Durant stated. “Obviously the first third of the season you’ll start to figure it out. Everybody feels great about their team about this time.”
Brooklyn would possibly not even wish to look ahead to a 3rd of the season, a quarter of the agenda is also telling.
Through their first 20 regular-season video games, the Nets will play 12 occasions at the street — probably the most within the East and second-most within the league. Their 5 back-to-backs are moment in the back of handiest the Pistons, they usually’ll face 11 video games in opposition to groups that made the playoffs. That doesn’t even come with the Clippers and Lakers.
“The biggest proof is, to me, how the guys come out here and play, how they perform,” Marks stated. “Three weeks into the season, a month into the season, three months into the season, you’ll get a sense of this is the identity of the Nets. This is who we are, this is how we play. Is there a collective unity for the whole group? That’s what we hope.”