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    The Nets’ Problems Are Bigger Than Steve Nash

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    The Nets dumped their coach, but the team has never lived up to expectations. And there’s no clear path forward now.For the past three seasons, success for the Nets had been rooted in hypotheticals.Ever since the All-Stars Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant joined the team in the summer of 2019, the Nets had been supremely talented on paper, with hopes of multiple N.B.A. championships. On the court, though, they were never good enough to contend. Their specialty, it seemed, was not playoff wins but off-court theater.Two weeks into a new season, one that was supposed to be a fresh start, the Nets are once again mired in drama. Last week, Irving posted a link to an antisemitic documentary on his Twitter account, drawing a public rebuke from the team’s owner, Joe Tsai. On Tuesday, the Nets announced that their coach, Steve Nash, was out. Hours later, General Manager Sean Marks sat down behind a microphone and tried to quiet the gathering storms.Marks expressed regret about having to fire Nash, but said that now that it was done, he would “like to get back to basketball,” to “focus on the things that are important.” Asked why fans would continue to cheer for the Nets with the team’s constant dysfunction, Marks replied, “Look, it’s understandable” if they don’t. He said the Nets had a “window” for winning, one he hoped the next coach would maximize with the current roster. But that may take longer than he likes: An hour or so after he finished his news conference, the Nets took the court and lost again, falling to the Chicago Bulls, 108-99.Marks’s problem, the Nets’ problem, is there is no real proof that this team or that any of the other teams assembled during Irving and Durant’s tenure was built to win a championship. Since 2019, the deepest the Nets have advanced in the playoffs was the Eastern Conference semifinals two years ago. Durant carried the offensive load largely by himself in that series, with Irving and the now-departed James Harden mostly sidelined with injuries. If Durant had worn a smaller shoe — one that kept his toe behind the 3-point line on a critical shot — the Game 7 overtime loss that ended the Nets’ season that year might have been a win.But “what ifs” have always been the story of these Nets.Jacque Vaughn, with Kevin Durant, was installed as the Nets’ interim head coach on Tuesday.Jessie Alcheh/Associated PressAfter an off-season in which it seemed as if Durant and Irving would be traded (Durant by request), both returned to Brooklyn instead. The Nets trotted out a revamped roster that also included Ben Simmons and Joe Harris, who were returning from injuries, and the new addition Royce O’Neale, but they struggled out of the gate. The Nets opened the season 1-4 even before the backlash to Irving’s antisemitic post began to take attention away from basketball. Simmons has missed the last two games with injuries. And Tuesday’s defeat dropped them to 2-6; at the moment, only the Orlando Magic (1-7) are keeping them out of last place.And while Nash paid the price for those struggles, many of the Nets’ issues are things that would have been problems for any coach: not only Irving’s social media and Durant’s changing commitment, but also Simmons’s difficulty finding his rhythm on the court; a lack of depth in the frontcourt; and an inability to close out games.“It was a difficult task, first of all, for Steve,” Harris said after Tuesday night’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. “It was not an easy job for him, given especially how much turnover we had.”“There was a lot going on,” he added, “and it made for a difficult job.”While Durant said he was “shocked” to wake up from a nap and find out Nash had been fired, he did not seem surprised by the move. Durant said he had not been consulted about Nash’s firing but admitted that he “knew that everybody was being evaluated.”“That’s just how it is in the league,” Durant said. “I like working with Steve. I like working with the coaching staff, and it was a roller coaster the last few years. But you know, at the core of it, basketball is something that we all love to do. So regardless of who the coach is, regardless of the circumstances, still got to come to work.”On Tuesday night, the Nets took the floor against the Bulls, with the assistant coach Jacque Vaughn in Nash’s seat. Vaughn will serve as the interim coach until the Nets find a permanent leader; he said he did not know how long that would take.But the Vaughn-directed Nets looked like the same team they had been all season. Simmons sat out with an injury. They struggled on the defensive end, and particularly at the end, when they allowed Bulls guard Zach LaVine to outscore the Nets by himself (20 points to 19) in the final period. And while Durant looked dominant with 32 points, the Nets again appeared to be a team with an incorrect combination of players.But, at least hypothetically, the Nets say they still believe they can win a championship.General Manager Sean Marks said he wanted the team to be able to focus on basketball.Jessie Alcheh/Associated Press“We got everything you need and more,” said O’Neale, who noted — correctly but rather optimistically — that there were still 74 games left in the season.Durant said the Nets’ issues, in fact, were not unusual.“It’s the N.B.A.,” he said. “Everybody got volatility. Outside people might look at what we do as bigger than what it is, but we come to work every single day. I mean, guys ask for trades before coaches get fired. You know, we have disagreements in our locker room. That happens in the N.B.A. But at the end of the day, we all came to work. It just didn’t work out on the floor.”It’s hard to say when it will work out. Simmons has a knee injury. Irving might be suspended for promoting the antisemitic documentary (Marks said the team was having internal discussions). And after Durant asked to be traded over the summer, it’s not hard to imagine him asking for that again.“I just want a good coach,” Durant said Tuesday. “I’m sure Sean and the staff will do a good job trying to figure that out.” More

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      ‘New Year, New Me’ Actually Might Work for the Chicago Bulls

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      The Bulls reinvented themselves and have risen to the top of the N.B.A.’s Eastern Conference, despite a virus outbreak and injuries that have tested them.About a month before training camp last fall, the Chicago Bulls began meeting up in their city, which would become a new home for most of them.They got together for workouts they didn’t have to do. They played five-on-five. They hung out. With only three players who had been with the team during the previous off-season, there were a lot of introductions to make.“Everybody that came here was very excited for this project to work,” said Nikola Vucevic, one of the longer-tenured members of the Bulls, having joined the team at the trade deadline in March 2021. “There was a very positive energy going into it. I think that helped a lot. Also, we had guys that were still trying to prove themselves.”Those workouts built team chemistry, and the Bulls surprised people — Vucevic included — with how quickly they started winning. And when injuries and coronavirus infections depleted their roster, they had a foundation that allowed them to adapt.This season has demanded that teams be pliable, given how the pandemic has disrupted it. A virus outbreak during a wave of the Omicron variant in December meant that the Bulls were missing 10 players at one point — and once they emerged from that setback, they began losing key players to injury. Despite all that, the Bulls (37-21) are well positioned for the run up to the playoffs after All-Star Weekend.“We’re not able to see us at our full potential since the beginning of the year,” said Zach LaVine, Chicago’s two-time All-Star guard and the longest-tenured Bull. “Even then we were working out the kinks, getting to know each other.”He added: “We’re still at the top of our conference and we’ve been doing a patch job.”Zach LaVine has been with the Bulls since the 2017-18 season.Grant Halverson/Getty ImagesThe Miami Heat, who have dealt with their own virus and injury issues, are tied with the Bulls for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. It has been more than a decade since the Bulls were truly considered contenders in the East. They have missed the playoffs for the past four seasons, and two years ago they tried to shake up their front office in hopes of changing their fortunes.They traded for Vucevic last season, and he became the first part of their remodel. Only the third-year guard Coby White and LaVine remain from the team that began last season.DeMar DeRozan became their marquee free-agent signing, a player who had been written off because of his preference for midrange jumpers over 3-pointers.The Bulls traded for Lonzo Ball in the off-season, and paid a small price — the forfeiture of a second-round draft pick — for tampering to get him. They signed Alex Caruso, who comes off the bench for a defensive jolt, in free agency as well. And they drafted Ayo Dosunmu, a Chicago native who had spent three years at the University of Illinois.Critics wondered if this group would actually work, and how.Bulls Coach Billy Donovan said the players’ time together before training camp “really helped our team.” For Vucevic that meant reconnecting with DeRozan, with whom he’d played at the University of Southern California. It meant getting to know others he’d played against in the N.B.A.“It’s one of the great things about team sports,” Vucevic said. “You meet so many people and you never know who you’re going to build friendships with.”Lonzo Ball playing against Philadelphia in November. He is currently recovering from a knee injury.Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesThe Bulls started the season 6-1 and went on a nine-game winning streak in late December and early January after their Omicron wave had passed.Ball’s outlet passes, LaVine’s dunks and DeRozan’s buzzer-beaters were just part of the fun. Their up-tempo offense, fueled by DeRozan, LaVine and, eventually, Vucevic, was balanced by a clear defensive identity, led by guards Ball and Caruso.“They look like they’re having fun playing basketball together,” said Joakim Noah, who played for the Bulls from 2007 to 2016, including seven straight trips to the playoffs. “When you look around the league you realize you can probably count that on one hand.”Friendships might seem like a small thing on a professional sports team, but discord can derail even the most talented teams.“I think when you have a lot of guys built into the foundation as if we’re one household, one family, when you have guys going in and out it’s much easier to plug guys in,” Dosunmu said.DeRozan was out for almost two weeks after testing positive for the coronavirus in December. LaVine has missed 11 games, most of them because of a lingering knee injury, though he also played with back spasms earlier this month. Ball has been out since Jan. 15 with a knee injury.Caruso missed 13 games in December and January with a foot injury. In the second game after he returned, he fractured his wrist after a hard foul by Milwaukee’s Grayson Allen. Caruso has not played since, but he has been on the bench, helping younger players learn from what he sees.“We have a strong-minded group,” Vucevic said. “A group of fighters. When we’re going through it, we just talked about how we can’t feel sorry for ourselves because nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.”They have stayed afloat by beating lesser teams, but the league’s better ones have proved a tougher challenge. So far they are winless against Miami, Milwaukee, Golden State, Philadelphia, Memphis and Phoenix. They have only two wins against teams currently in the top four in their conferences — they beat the Jazz and Cavaliers once each.“We understand that we are a good team, we are not yet at the level of the best teams, and we still have a lot of work to do,” Vucevic said, adding, “We have to wait to get full to be able to do that, but all of this is a good test for us to get to there.”After shootaround Friday at Chicago’s practice facility, Ball hopped through a drill as he worked on rehabbing his knee. Nearby, Caruso watched a scrimmage. LaVine practiced shooting free throws and then spoke to reporters.“We get healthy and we do what we’re supposed to do, I don’t see anybody better than us in the East,” LaVine said. “That’s my opinion. Competition-wise, you step on the line you go throw the ball up, I don’t think anybody’s better than us.”That night LaVine played 37 minutes and winced as he landed on his feet after a dunk. The Bulls announced Monday that he would be out until the All-Star break because of that lingering knee injury.DeMar DeRozan defending against San Antonio’s Doug McDermott in February.Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated PressSince returning from his coronavirus-related absence, DeRozan has offered some consistency. He’s scored at least 35 points in the team’s last six games — losses to Phoenix and Philadelphia, followed by four wins over pesky but less-accomplished teams.After Saturday’s home win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, DeRozan spoke wistfully about what it might feel like when the Bulls are all healthy again.“It’s like a dream I dream about every night,” DeRozan said as he looked into the distance.Outside the United Center, the winter Chicago air was biting cold just a few hours before the city would be dusted with snow.“Being on a sunny beautiful island, that’s how I picture it when we get back healthy,” DeRozan said. “We’re going to get there. It sucks right now, but we got to weather it. It’s going to come.” More

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      The N.B.A.’s Early Story Lines: Missing Stars, Big-Time Bulls, Jokic

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      The Chicago Bulls have stood out for their surprising success on the court. But three stars have been in the spotlight without ever taking a shot.After two seasons that were dramatically disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, the N.B.A. thought it was returning to some version of normal this year. Instead, a wave of infections in the past few weeks has had a major impact on rosters and schedules, prompting game postponements and sidelining key players.Before that, though, several key story lines had begun emerging on the court.Golden State and Phoenix have established themselves as the best teams in the Western Conference, while the Lakers, laden with former All-Stars, have struggled to find their way. And even though injuries have stymied the Nuggets as a team, their big man Nikola Jokic has been making a case to win the Most Valuable Player Award again.The Chicago Bulls have proved to be surprising contenders with a team of former castoffs who have played brilliantly together. In the East, only the Nets have a better record than the Bulls, despite playing without Kyrie Irving so far this season.While Irving’s absence has to do with his vaccination status, two other stars have been out for contract-related reasons — Houston’s John Wall and Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons. How their situations resolve could have consequences for the way players and teams resolve conflict in the future.With Christmas Day — what some consider the unofficial start of the N.B.A. season — looming, here’s a look at three important story lines so far this season.Stars Go M.I.A.New Orleans Pelicans forward Zion Williamson has not played this season because of a foot injury.Jeff Chiu/Associated PressPhiladelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons has not played this season after asking to be traded and as he tends to his mental health.Matt Rourke/Associated PressEven before teams began cycling through replacement players to deal with Covid-related absences, some big names were missing this season.There is, of course, the soap opera in Philadelphia, where Ben Simmons requested — demanded? — a trade from the 76ers over the summer. A standoff ensued before Simmons, a three-time All-Star and the team’s starting point guard, made a couple of cameos at preseason practice. The 76ers subsequently suspended him for conduct detrimental to the team. Daryl Morey, the 76ers’ general manager, has said that he will trade Simmons only for a “difference maker,” and he has clearly been methodical in his approach to weighing offers.In Houston, the Rockets are undergoing a rebuild — and John Wall does not figure into their plans. Wall said in September that he and the Rockets agreed he would not play while the team sought a new team for him. But Wall is 31 with a surgically repaired Achilles’ tendon, and his onerous contract includes a player option worth more than $47 million next season. The search for a trade partner continues.Houston guard John Wall, right, has not played as the Rockets try to find a trade partner.Carmen Mandato/Getty ImagesAnd in New Orleans, the Pelicans are still awaiting Zion Williamson’s return to the court — a theme that has become all too familiar to fans. After undergoing off-season surgery to repair a fracture in his right foot, Williamson has experienced a series of setbacks. His scheduled return to practice this month was scuttled when he reported soreness in his foot. Medical imaging later revealed a “regression” in the healing process, which led the team to abandon any sort of targeted timeline. He remains indefinitely sidelined.When healthy, Williamson has been one of the league’s most dynamic young players. The No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft, he was named to his first All-Star team last season. But he appeared in just 24 games as a rookie because of a torn meniscus in his right knee, and has now played in just 85 career games while missing more than 90. Without Williamson, a bruising forward who is 6-foot-6 and not particularly slim, the Pelicans have scuffled to one of the worst records in the league.Surprise Success: The Chicago BullsBulls guard Lonzo Ball is shooting better than ever in his first season with Chicago.Elsa/Getty ImagesThe Chicago Bulls’ resurgent season was interrupted last week when a coronavirus outbreak sent 10 of their players into the league’s health protocols and the N.B.A. postponed two of their games.They returned to play Sunday, still depleted, in a game against the Lakers, and got right back to winning.The Bulls have been led by DeMar DeRozan, whose emphasis on midrange jumpers has led him to be treated like a relic. DeRozan is averaging 26.8 points per game this season, ranking fifth in the league. He missed 10 days after entering the coronavirus protocols with what he told reporters in Chicago was an asymptomatic case.While he was out, the Bulls relied more on guard Lonzo Ball, who has made dazzling assists all season and is running the team’s offense beautifully. Chicago recently lost a second-round pick after the N.B.A. concluded that the Bulls had tampered in order to sign Ball in free agency over the summer. But that penalty might have been worth it: Ball is shooting better than ever, especially from 3-point range, where he has made more than 40 percent of his shots.Bulls guard Zach LaVine is averaging 26 points per game, second most on the team.Kamil Krzaczynski/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBulls guard Alex Caruso is making an impact on both ends of the floor, especially on defense.Kamil Krzaczynski/USA Today Sports, via ReutersZach LaVine, who starts at guard alongside Ball, has had nearly identical statistical production to DeRozan, including averaging 26 points per game. Meanwhile, center Nikola Vucevic is averaging double-digit rebounds.Off the bench, Alex Caruso has changed games with his defensive intensity, and is averaging two steals per game — second best in the league. Caruso’s defense is what earned him a shot in the N.B.A. to begin with.The success so far is a welcome change for a franchise that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2017. The Bulls last made the Eastern Conference finals in 2011, led by Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.They won’t play with the marquee teams on Christmas, because few saw this start coming. But they’ll have plenty of chances to prove they belong among the best in the league.An Underrated M.V.P.?Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic has often been left out of M.V.P. conversations this season.David Zalubowski/Associated PressNikola Jokic can’t jump particularly high or move all that fast. He’s rarely the most muscular player on the floor.But Jokic is having the best season in the N.B.A. While players like Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo and LeBron James are often cited as the top candidates to wear the best player crown in this era, Jokic is outproducing them all. He’s somehow playing even better than last season, when he won the Most Valuable Player Award.For context, explore his advanced numbers: Entering this week, Jokic was at .312 win shares per 48 minutes, a measure of how many wins can be attributed to a player. His was the best in the league, and on a pace to be the 10th best in N.B.A. history. Another number: Jokic’s player efficiency rating, a measure of contributions per minute, was 34.22 entering this week, the highest in the league. He is even been better on defense.When we watch Jokic play basketball, we aren’t just seeing one of the N.B.A.’s best in his prime. We’re watching one of the best players of the last 30 years. But he hasn’t been a part of much M.V.P. chatter this season. After Denver’s run to the Western Conference semifinals last season, the Nuggets have been mired around .500 for most of this season, in large part because two of their top players, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., have been injured.It’s too bad, because when Jokic is on the floor, the Nuggets are among the best teams in the N.B.A. statistically. When he’s not, they’re among the worst on both ends of the floor. It’s difficult to be more valuable than that. More