Just ten games into the season, the Nets have resembled more of an emotional roller coaster than an NBA team.
Every team goes through their bouts with adversity, it’s just what comes with the job. For the Nets, however, if this were a statistical category, they’d be leading the league.
Let’s quickly recap…
Losing five of their first six games, beginning with a blowout loss to the Pelicans on opening night, put the Nets in an early hole.
There was Ben Simmons struggling to knock off the rust from his game. Additionally, Joe Harris and Seth Curry working their way back from injuries presented challenges for the roster. Cam Thomas, Brooklyn’s 2021 First-Round pick, was frustrated by his lack of playing time.
At 1-4, on the court, the smoke hit the fan with a disappointing loss to the Indiana Pacers where Brooklyn’s defensive effort was non-existent.
Despite the Nets pulling out a win against Indiana in their next game, the team decided to part ways with head coach Steve Nash. Interim head coach Jacque Vaughn is holding down the fort for Brooklyn while rumors of suspended Celtics head coach Ime Udoka taking over continue to swirl.
And then, there’s Kyrie Irving
The Nets star landed in hot water with his tweeting of a link to the 2018 movie “Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America”. The movie has been called out, notably by Rolling Stone, for promoting anti-Semitic views.
The decision by Irving to tweet the link, along with the aftermath which included a tense postgame press conference featuring Irving’s response to criticism from that decision — drew the ire of many, including team owner Joe Tsai and NBA commissioner Adam Silver. The Nets would go on to suspend Irving for at least five games. Additionally, Nike suspended its relationship with Irving.
In their last two games, with wins over the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets, credit the Nets (4-6), however, for showing signs of getting the focus back to basketball.
With the sports world waiting to see what’s next that could go wrong with this team, the best cure for the Nets is winning.
After a tumultuous start to the season, this can go one of two ways for Brooklyn; start stacking wins or take another step towards blowing up the entire thing.
Let’s see how their next ten games go.
Main Image: Getty Images
Anthony Rushing is on Twitter @TonyRushingNY
Baseline Sports NY is on Twitter @Baseline_NY
