Brooklyn Nets preview – 2022-23 NBA season

A classic among classics, the Global Franchise Preview is ready for the customer du jour. A big client by the way, since we are going to analyze the Brooklyn Nets. What, it’s barely October 3 and it’s already the turn of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving’s team?!? Well yeah, they deserved it given their last season and the summer that followed.

What happened last season

We could write a book about everything that happened in Brooklyn last year. But we will try to summarize everything in ten lines maximum because we have already written enough articles on the New York brothel in recent weeks and months. Between Kyrie Irving who starts the season on the sidelines for a vaccine story and James Harden who is light years away from his top level, Kevin Durant – yet in MVP mode – quickly realizes the trap he has fallen into just after signing his big extension in Brooklyn. And the more the season progresses, the worse things get on the side of Brooklyn. In February, we are entitled to the enormous blockbuster trade between the Nets and the Sixers, sending a frustrated James Harden to Philly against a Ben Simmons who will not play a single minute following his arrival. KD also gets injured in the middle of the season, causing BK to fall from top of the table to play-in places in just one month. The numerous absences (Joe Harris and Co. injury, COVID, etc.) associated with the various galleys force the Nets to swallow their pride and call Kyrie back for a part-time job, which allows us to witness a few offensive explosions but not really. to many more victories. Final balance sheet ? Only 44 wins and seventh place in the East, all before getting a big sweep in the mouth from the Celtics.

The summer market

• They leave : LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin, Bruce Brown, Goran Dragic, Andre Drummond, James Johnson
• They prolong : Kyrie Irving, Patty Mills, Kessler Edwards, Nic Claxton
• They arrive : Royce O’Neale, T.J. Warren, Markieff Morris, Edmond Sumner

Between Kevin Durant’s transfer request and the rumors surrounding Kyrie Irving’s departure, we haven’t gone far from the explosion of the Nets’ championship project this summer. Finally, due to a lack of options, Uncle Drew took his player option to stay in Brooklyn during the 2022-23 season, and the New York franchise refused to give in to the ultimatum sent by KD, who had asked the owner Joe Tsai to choose between himself and the Sean Marks – Steve Nash duo to try to unlock the market. Result the two superstars are still there and on the sidelines of the many rumours, the leaders of the Nets have recruited as if they wanted to continue to play for the title: veterans Royce O’Neale, TJ Warren and Markieff Morris have arrived, while Patty Mills was extended along with youngsters Kessler Edwards and Nic Claxton. That’s how we end up with a great team on paper, even if we also have some big names in the starting category.

The Nets 2022-23 roster

• Leaders : Kyrie Irving, Ben SimmonsPatty Mills, Edmond Sumner, Alondes Williams (two-way)
• Rears : Seth Curry, Joe Harris, Cam Thomas, David Duke Jr. (two-way)
• Wingers : Kevin DurantRoyce O’Neale, T.J. Warren, Kessler Edwards
• Power forwards : Markieff Morris
• Pivots : Nic ClaxtonDay’Ron Sharpe

In orange the expected starters, according to the famous sources close to the file

Whether the Nets project ends up exploding or not, at the moment T the roster clearly has the potential – and we do say potential – to go far, very far. You have perhaps the two dirtiest scorers on the NBA circuit with Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, you have Ben Simmons who can act as a hub bringing his playmaker side, his versatility and his DPOY caliber defensive qualities, you have real snipers on the outposts, and also an interesting mix between experience and youth. Now it will be up to Steve Nash to make it all work and we understand if you have any doubts. What we will particularly watch is in the first place the use of Simmons, in terms of minutes first since it has been more than a year since he has played and then in terms of role . There is a way that he is not badly used on position 5, even if Nic Claxton should logically start titu as a pivot. Second thing we’ll be keeping a close eye on is position 2. There’s still a spot left alongside Kyrie, KD, Simmons and Claxton in the five, and we wonder if Nash will bet more Seth Curry, Joe Harris even Royce O’Neale. Harris has established himself in recent seasons as a real starter in Brooklyn, but knowing that he is coming back from several ankle problems (no game played since November) we think that Curry could be favored by his coach (even if Curry also coming out of ankle surgery). Still, if Nash wants to inject a little more defense, Royce O’Neale may have a hand in his 3&D suit.

A little video by the way?

Brooklyn Nets 2022-23 salaries

TTFL: Nets players to watch

Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving et Ben Simmons.

We don’t know how the Nets’ season will go, but in any case they have some serious customers in the TTFL. Kevin Durant is obviously one of the premium picks, he who can score 30 points with his eyes closed with diabolical efficiency, all while adding 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Kyrie Irving – when he plays – can explode at any time, he who remains on two campaigns at 27 pawns on average in almost 50-40-90. Rather clean. Regarding Ben Simmons, inevitably it is uncertainty. No game played since the 2021 Playoffs, it’s starting to get long and who knows what he’s going to offer us at the Nets. But there was a time when the Boomer dropped triple-doubles with his eyes closed, and he might just string them together given the pieces he has around him.

Infirmary: update on injuries

When we look at the Brooklyn infirmary last season, 7 names stand out. Ben Simmons arrived at the Nets in February, when he had not been on the pitch for eight months. He started suffering from back pain after a few days of reconditioning. After examinations, irritation of the L4 disc is found, which coincides with the problems of herniated disc that Simmons has suffered from since the beginning of his career. As always, he received an injection of anti-inflammatories but he aggravated his injury on his return to training. The conservative treatment having failed, he underwent a microdiscectomy (removal of the parts of the disc which pose a problem) in May, which allowed him to be 100% for the training camp.

TJ Warren has been out since end of 2020 following a stress fracture of the navicular bone in the left foot. This bone, covered with thick cartilage, is not very vascularized, which explains the time of absence. Operated at the beginning of January 2021, he is not yet at 100% and will miss the start of the season, he will be reassessed in November. Joe Harris only played fourteen games before definitively joining the infirmary following a grade 3 sprain of the right ankle in mid-November. Operated for the first time in November to remove a bone fragment, he had to undergo reconstruction surgery on one of the ligaments in March. He is present and in good shape for the training camp. Seth Curry, meanwhile, has struggled most of the season with a sprained left ankle that caused him to miss 17 games in total. He underwent arthroscopic surgery in early May and said he was 90%. Not yet declared suitable for 5 against 5, he could miss a few matches, to be continued… Markieff Morris missed 58 games due to neck trauma inflicted by Nikola Jokic. He returned in March but fell out of rotation pretty quickly. Kevin Durant had two alerts last season: three games in December for a sprained right ankle and above all 21 games for a sprained medial collateral ligament in the left knee. Nic Claxton, finally, missed 17 games for a secret illness (non-Covid-19) and 13 games between January and February for left hamstring strain. To conclude, between the players not yet 100% and those who will have to be watched closely, work is to be expected on the side of the Nets infirmary.

What goals this season?

The Nets’ ultimate goal since the arrival of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant in 2019 is to bring a title to Brooklyn. But before talking about the title, let’s lower the bar a bit after the chaotic year that we experienced at the Barclays Center.

First objective of the training camp: leave the various episodes of the off-season in the closet and concentrate fully on basketball. KD and Kyrie, we respect Steve Nash and we let him do his job.

Objective number two: integrate Ben Simmons in the best possible way as well as the rest of the recruits. This is an essential step in maximizing the team’s potential.

Objective number three: build a collective that holds up and make this talented group a group that learns to play together and where everyone pulls in the same direction.

It is only once these bases are laid that the Nets can really begin to move forward, and then hope to play the leading roles in a hyper-competitive Eastern Conference. There’s obviously talent on all floors in Brooklyn, there’s everything you need on site to turn into a steamroller, and no vaccination restrictions are on the agenda. So aim high. But we have learned to temper our expectations with these Nets.

The Editor’s Prognosis

49 wins – 33 losses, 5th place in the East.

What’s great about the Nets is that virtually any scenario is possible, so every tip has some credibility. Some will bet squarely on an explosion of the New York group, others already see Brooklyn champion, we prefer to remain a little more measured with 49 victories and a spot in the middle of the Top 8 in the East.

No matter what happened this summer, Kevin Durant is going to do Kevin Durant and that alone will bring a lot of success to Brooklyn. Kyrie Irving should logically play more than one match out of two, and did Ben Simmons still has enough to feed sacred ambitions.

But if the workforce is both super talented and interesting in terms of depth, we still expect a break-in period. The integration of Simmons and his state of health remain question marks, TJ Warren will not play again until November, and Joe Harris is also returning from injury. Also pay attention to the durability of Kevin Durant, 34, who remains on 64 missed games in two seasons. We also have doubts about Steve Nash’s ability to put a real structure in place, and of course about his legitimacy after the chaotic summer that characterized the Nets.

Some useful links

So much for the Nets preview for this NBA 2022-23 season. We want to tend more towards the optimistic side than the pessimistic, but absolutely everything seems possible in Brooklyn this year. So much the better on the one hand, at least we won’t be bored. However, it would still not be bad for basketball to regain its rights on the extra-sports side because everyone had their dose last season.