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      The Brooklyn Nets Have So Much Talent but So Little Charm

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      The Nets are again one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams, with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant leading All-Star voting. So why is there so little joy in watching them?I watched the Nets play in Brooklyn last week, and a Boston Celtics home game broke out.“M-V-P, M-V-P, M-V-P!” rang the chants, aimed not at one of the Nets but at Jayson Tatum, Boston’s feather-touch, do-it-all forward, as he toed the free-throw line in the fourth quarter of what became a runaway victory for his team.This was one of the most significant rivalry tests of the N.B.A. season, a battle between two teams vying for the best record in the Eastern Conference. It was also the first of a spate of games the Nets would play without Kevin Durant. The team’s best player, and the core of the offense, Durant sprained his left knee earlier in the week and stands to spend at least two weeks recovering.In other words, it was the type of game that reveals a team’s DNA.With much in the balance, the Nets mounted only a tepid response, fading late and losing, 109-98. That may be why the fans at Barclays Center seemed muted, why they allowed a rival like Boston to roll into town and treat the arena like a personal penthouse. The team rolled over for the Oklahoma City Thunder at home Sunday night, dropping back to four games behind the Celtics in the East.High hopes have stuck to this Nets team since the summer of 2019, when Kyrie Irving signed on to be the franchise’s floor general and promised to persuade Durant, the 2014 league M.V.P., to join him. Both stars had won N.B.A. championships in the not-so-distant past. It stood to reason that Brooklyn would become a perennial contender.The Nets are again an elite team this season. When they are clicking, as they were in December, they are capable of winning a dozen straight games on the strength of hot shooting and stern defense.So why isn’t it more joyful and exciting to watch them?Brooklyn is the N.B.A.’s most enigmatic team — awkward to root for, understand, figure out and believe in. Over the past several seasons and into the current one, the high hopes for what the Nets could become have consistently been dashed by soap opera controversies.“If you love the Nets, you have to focus on the skill of the players,” one fan told me during the game. “It’s all about the skills of this team. That’s why you watch. Because their big stars all have, how do I say this, well, they have some baggage.”For the uninitiated, here’s a quick rundown of the plot twists.Steve Nash was hired as head coach in 2020 despite having no coaching experience. His first year went well enough: The Nets were a Durant 3-pointer away from making the Eastern Conference finals.The promise of this team never quite outpaces the spectacle. The 2018 league M.V.P., James Harden, arrived in 2021 thinking he would complement Durant and Irving perfectly. Break out the Champagne, N.B.A. titles here we come.But Harden beefed with Irving, partly because Irving — who seems to have never met a conspiracy theory he didn’t want to bear hug — refused to get vaccinated for the coronavirus as the pandemic raged. That meant Irving couldn’t play home games during a period when New York demanded immunization as a prerequisite for work.Kyrie Irving led all Eastern Conference guards in All-Star voting, despite being at the center of several controversies.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesSo the Nets shipped Harden to Philadelphia midway through last season. “There was no structure” in Brooklyn, Harden said, offering a parting shot. “And even superstars, they need structure.”He continued pulling back the curtain. “Internally, things weren’t what I expected when I was trying to get traded there,” he said.In trading for Harden, the Nets received Ben Simmons, a player talented enough to have once been viewed as Magic Johnson Lite.Problem is, Simmons arrived in Brooklyn so saddled by injury and self-doubt that he had become allergic to one of basketball’s most essential and elementary skills: shooting the basketball.Nash’s team stumbled through last season, dogged by injuries, a teamwide Covid outbreak and, yes, more drama, only to be swept ignobly by the Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Durant peppered the team with a demand: Fire Nash, or trade me. (He later relented.)When the Nets began this season losing five of their first seven games, Nash was let go.I haven’t even detailed Irving’s self-inflicted wounds. They’re enough to fill a book. To keep from dragging on, I’ll say that this season could have been a redemption tour until he started it by publicly backing a holocaust-denying documentary that blamed Jews for many of the world’s woes.No, the Nets don’t leave you with the warm and fuzzies — not in the way, for example, that Golden State, fronted by Stephen Curry, or the Denver Nuggets, led by Nikola Jokic, do. But the Nets’ stars remain popular, at least by one nonscientific measure. Durant and Irving are among the league’s vote leaders for this year’s All-Star Game.“It’s all about the skills” seems to have become a necessary mantra for the many fans willing to look past all of this team’s travails.What will the Nets’ future be? How can anyone be sure when, despite all that skill, the team remains such a work in progress?Simmons is 26, still capable of becoming the superstar he was billed as when he was drafted No. 1 overall in 2016. He put up quite a stat line against Boston: 13 assists and nine rebounds, the type of play vital to Brooklyn with Durant out.But there were times when Simmons was near the basket and attempted awkward layups. Clang. He tried again. Clank.All game, Simmons did not score a single point. As he sat on the bench in the fourth quarter, the Nets already having given in, Celtics fans filled Barclays Center with their loudest roars.In the news conference after the game, I asked him: What is this team’s identity?I wanted to know if the Nets had a trademark trait they could rely on, something not only excellent but sustainable in the crunch. All championship teams contain such a quality; if you ask me, all deeply embraceable teams do, too.Simmons leaned back, shook his head as if bewildered and paused for a beat.“We are still trying to give ourselves an identity,” he said. “So maybe at the end of the year, I will give you that answer.”Basketball fans have been waiting long enough. More

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      Nets Cut the Drama and Rekindle Championship Hopes

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      Kevin Durant’s trade request, a coaching change and Kyrie Irving’s suspension made the Nets look destined for another season of disappointment. Now, they’re the hottest team in the Eastern Conference.The Nets were a complicated franchise when Jacque Vaughn met with his players at a morning shootaround in Washington on Nov. 4.Before their game against the Wizards that night, the Nets had filled the early weeks of their season with substandard basketball. But it was their off-court issues that were worthy of a telenovela. The Nets had indefinitely suspended Kyrie Irving for refusing to disavow antisemitism. They had fired Steve Nash as their coach. And Ben Simmons was scuffling through his delayed debut with the Nets.Vaughn, a longtime assistant, was in a tenuous spot as the team’s interim coach at a particularly fraught moment for an organization that had already experienced its share of fraught moments in recent seasons. But Vaughn was hoping to act as an agent of change.“Our shootaround was the precipice of that,” he recalled, “me getting up in front of the group and being as vulnerable as I can be in explaining the situation and telling them that ‘I’m going to be as consistent as I can be with you every day, and as honest as I can be — and I’m always going to do what’s best for the group.’”As a self-described “simple person,” Vaughn wanted his team to rid itself of unnecessary clutter. So he stripped down the playbook. He began to stress just three defensive concepts — “I won’t say what those are,” he said — so that his players could focus on them rather than make huge adjustments from game to game. And he emphasized the purity of their pursuit: Why make life in the N.B.A. more difficult than it needed to be?“We kind of pledged to each other that it was going to be about basketball,” Vaughn said, “and hopefully not let any outside noise interfere with that. And our guys have done an unbelievable job protecting each other.”Nets guard Kyrie Irving was suspended for eight games in November after he would not disavow antisemitism. He apologized and has averaged 25.6 points per game since he returned.Kirk Irwin/Getty ImagesThe Nets won that game against the Wizards, which was the start of a trend — a trend that has them climbing the Eastern Conference standings and back in the conversation as, yes, a championship contender.The Nets, who extended their winning streak to nine games on Monday night with a 125-117 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers, have won 20 of their last 26 games under Vaughn, who was named the head coach on Nov. 9. The Nets’ resurgence has been notably drama-free, no small feat given their early challenges.Kevin Durant is assembling one of his finest seasons, averaging 30 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists a game while shooting a career-best 56.3 percent from the field. Simmons, after missing all of last season, has rebooted and found his footing as a pass-first facilitator and disruptive defender. And Irving, whose suspension lasted eight games, had 32 points and 5 assists in the Nets’ win over the Cavaliers.“I think we’re finding our identity off the court in terms of how we treat each other, and that’s looking good on the floor,” Irving said after the game. “It’s looking great on the floor, honestly. We just want to keep it up.”There is no denying the Nets’ talent, but everyone has already heard this story. They were talented last season, too, until their grand experiment blew up in spectacular fashion. Remember last season? Irving refused to be vaccinated against the coronavirus. James Harden asked to be traded. And the Nets crashed out of the playoffs when the Boston Celtics swept them in the first round. During the off-season, Durant asked to be traded, and Irving seemed to be on his way out, too.Both stars stuck around, but the Nets seemed bound for more dysfunction anyway in the wake of the early coaching change and Irving’s high-profile suspension. For his part, Durant blamed the news media, rather than Irving’s behavior, for creating a lot of the “outside noise” that had the team flailing. But Vaughn has operated as a calming influence.“Coach shored up our roles, pretty much letting us know each day what he needs from us,” Durant said. “I think that’s been our focus. It’s not like, ‘Man, finally we got the noise out of our locker room, and now we can play.’ I think we always been locked in on basketball to try to get this thing back on track.”The question now, of course, is whether the Nets can sustain their strong play. The answer will hinge in large part on Irving, a gifted player who is not known for being the most reliable teammate.“Any external negativity or praise, I really don’t care about it,” Irving said. “I think I’m just focused on being the best version of me and letting the results play out based on how well we trust one another as a group.”After Monday’s win, Irving reflected on the six seasons he spent with the Cavaliers at the start of his career. He recalled the pressure he put on himself when they made him the No. 1 overall pick of the 2011 draft and how he felt like a “lone superhero” for several lean seasons before LeBron James returned to the Cavaliers after four seasons away in Miami. Together, they delivered an N.B.A. championship to Cleveland in 2016.“I think the greatest lesson I learned throughout that process is that it’s not a lonely road that you’re supposed to take on your own,” Irving said. “It takes a lot of help.”In Brooklyn, Irving has help. He has help from Durant, who has outsize goals of his own. He has help from teammates like Simmons and Nic Claxton, a promising young center. And he has help from a coach who has urged the Nets to get back to basics.“And we’re not going to change that anytime soon,” Vaughn said. More

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      Nike and Kyrie Irving Officially End Relationship

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      The sportswear giant suspended its partnership with the N.B.A. star last month, after he posted a link to an antisemitic film on social media.Nike and the N.B.A. star Kyrie Irving ended their business partnership on Monday, finalizing a break that began when the sportswear giant suspended the relationship last month after Mr. Irving posted a link to an antisemitic film on social media.“Kyrie Irving is no longer a Nike athlete,” Nike said in a statement.Mr. Irving’s contract with Nike, which has produced the basketball star’s shoe line since 2014, was set to expire in October 2023. At the time of the suspension, Nike said it would not release Mr. Irving’s latest shoe, the Kyrie 8.“We mutually decided to part ways and we just wish Nike all the best,” Shetellia Riley Irving, Mr. Irving’s agent, said. She declined to comment further.Mr. Irving, 30, was also suspended by the Brooklyn Nets last month, though he returned to the team on Nov. 20.A few days after his initial post with the link to the film, Mr. Irving posted an apology on Instagram. “To All Jewish families and Communities that are hurt and affected from my post, I am deeply sorry to have caused you pain, and I apologize,” he wrote.Mr. Irving’s suspension last month came shortly after Kanye West made a series of antisemitic comments, causing numerous companies to cut ties with him. Notably, Adidas ended its relationship with Mr. West, who goes by Ye. Adidas, which had an entire division devoted to manufacturing and selling Yeezy merchandise, said it would likely face a loss of 250 million euros, or roughly $246 million, this year from ending that partnership.Mr. Irving’s shoes have been popular with fellow players and fans. Still, analysts have pointed out that Nike earns far more from ties to other notable stars, especially the basketball great Michael Jordan. Last year, the Jordan brand, which includes sneakers and other athletic wear, accounted for $5 billion of Nike’s $44.5 billion in total revenue. More

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      Nets Name Jacque Vaughn as Head Coach

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      Vaughn, an assistant coach, was filling in since the team fired Steve Nash last week. Guard Kyrie Irving, who promoted an antisemitic movie on Twitter, remains suspended.No stranger to drama lately, the Nets eschewed a protracted coaching search and made a quick decision to hire someone familiar.The team named the longtime Nets assistant Jacque Vaughn as head coach Wednesday to replace Steve Nash, who was fired last week. Vaughn has coached the team in an interim capacity in the four games since then.Vaughn took over at a particularly fraught time for the organization, whose star point guard Kyrie Irving posted a link to an antisemitic film on Twitter in late October. The Nets suspended Irving indefinitely for refusing to disavow antisemitism. He has missed three games, and the team said he would miss at least two more.“Finding somebody with some stability, that’s J.V.,” Nets General Manager Sean Marks said. “Very stable, poised under pressure. Gentleman. That’s sort of who he is.”Before Wednesday’s game against the Knicks, Vaughn met with reporters and smiled brightly. In answering one question, he nodded to the rampant rumors of the past week that the Nets had chosen Boston Celtics Coach Ime Udoka, who is suspended for the season, to replace Nash.“I guess I was the write-in candidate,” Vaughn said, laughing. He added: “I’m OK with that. I said to my wife, I might have not been her first choice and we’ve been together 20 years. So, you know, it could all work out. Off we go.”Vaughn has been an assistant coach for the Nets since 2016 and served as an interim head coach in 2020 after Kenny Atkinson was fired as coach. The Nets considered him to replace Atkinson but ultimately hired Nash, and Vaughn remained on Nash’s staff.On Wednesday, Marks praised Vaughn for stepping in, again, as an interim coach. This time, Marks saw enough out of him to give him a shot on a more permanent basis.The Nets had a 2-2 record under Vaughn heading into Wednesday’s game, and Marks said he liked the energy around the team during those four games.“We’re looking at the big picture here and having a relationship with him for seven years, his relationship to players, his competitive spirit, a lot of that goes a long way,” Marks said. “We’re seeing how this team, to be quite frank, has responded to him lately.”Vaughn said he had not reached out to Irving since he was suspended Thursday.“I thought in the capacity that I was serving that it wasn’t my place to,” Vaughn said. “I’ve always understood my boundaries as an assistant coach. That could change going forward in the position that I’m in now.”Marks said he had not spoken to Irving since Thursday, either, but he did not explain why he hadn’t.The team announced Nov. 1 that it had agreed to part ways with Nash. Not long afterward, news media reports began to link the Nets with Udoka, who was suspended by the Celtics in September for violating unspecified team policies. According to two people familiar with the situation who were not authorized to speak about it publicly, Udoka had a relationship with a female subordinate.When asked specifically about why he didn’t hire Udoka, Marks said it wouldn’t be appropriate to discuss what candidates were considered. The Celtics have given Udoka permission to talk to other teams and will not demand compensation if another team signs him, according to a person briefed on the matter who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.Nash initially had the support of Irving and forward Kevin Durant when he was hired in 2020 with no previous coaching experience. But he presided over a chaotic time for the franchise that included: Irving missing most of the 2021-22 season because he would not get vaccinated against the coronavirus; injuries to Durant and Ben Simmons; and James Harden being traded to the Nets from Houston — and then to Philadelphia from the Nets as the team struggled last season.This summer, The Athletic reported that Durant had asked the team owner Joe Tsai to choose between him or Marks and Nash. Nash, Marks and Durant all said at media day in September that they were ready to move on together.Healthy again to start this season, the Nets continued to struggle. They began the year 2-5 before firing Nash. Marks said that players had “zero” input on the decision and that he and Nash “felt that it was time.”“If I sat here and listed one by one all the things that he had to go through over his tenure here, I’d be doing him a disservice because he doesn’t want excuse,” Marks said. “That’s not who he is. So he has certainly not had an even playing field over two years here. And for that, I certainly feel definitely some responsibility because this does not all fall on him.”Vaughn began his N.B.A. journey as a player, with a 12-year career that included two seasons with the Nets. He won a championship as part of the San Antonio Spurs in 2007.San Antonio was where Vaughn’s playing career ended and his coaching career began. He was an assistant for Coach Gregg Popovich for two seasons before the Orlando Magic hired Vaughn as their head coach in July 2012.The Magic were beginning a rebuild. They traded the All-Star center Dwight Howard that summer, then went 20-62 in Vaughn’s first season. It was the worst record in the N.B.A., and the next year was only slightly better at 23-59. After a 15-37 start to the 2014-15 season, the Magic fired Vaughn.He joined Atkinson’s Nets staff in the summer of 2016. The Nets fired Atkinson on March 7, 2020, less than a week before the season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. When the N.B.A. resumed the season in a bubble environment at Walt Disney World in Florida that summer, Vaughn coached the team to a 5-3 record in playoff-seeding games and then lost to the Toronto Raptors in the first round of the playoffs.“I was a young coach,” Vaughn said. “I’m definitely glad I took that job. It made me a better assistant coach.” He added: “I’ve just grown as an individual. Much more secure in myself, as you can see with this beard right here.” More