Kyrie Irving 3.0, for one game, was a player reborn.
He dropped 50 points to go along with eight rebounds and seven assists in an overtime loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. The focus is on that weird final shot he took and barely missed, yet it should be on the fact that he’s gone from a situation that never seemed comfortable in Boston to one that had him emotional in his quick pre-game speech to the Barclays Center.
But here’s the thing that nagged at me after watching Irving’s Brooklyn Nets debut: it’s great that he might be on his way to a career year, but with this team, the focus is really on 2020-21. That’s when Kevin Durant will be back and this team can really start cooking.
That’s because the Nets are still the super entertaining and talented team we thought they were last year, but they replaced D’Angelo Russell with Irving. They’re still one superstar away from joining the East’s elites in Milwaukee and Philadelphia, putting them with squads like the Raptors, Pacers and the Celtics who will compete for homecourt in the playoffs this year. It’s a bit of a weird place to be in if you’re a fan, but this team is still going to be — as I said above — super entertaining and fun.
And that’s fine! They probably won’t make the Finals this year, but they will spend the year getting a squad that will stay mostly intact through the summer (does three-point sniper Joe Harris re-sign?) to gel. There’s so much value in that, because when Durant returns from his Achilles tear, they’re going to need to compete right away.
So sit back, enjoy what hopefully is a huge season from Irving, and hope that it carries over to next season, when he, Durant and a supporting cast in Brooklyn have a shot to make a run at the East.
