NBA Power Rankings Week 2: Scorching hot Miami Heat and what scares me
8. team. 147. . 3-3. Previous: 3rd. Brooklyn Nets
Last Week: (L) to CHA, (W) over WAS, (L) to MIA, (W) over IND
What’s going on with the Brooklyn Nets? The biggest problem is one I’ll address below. The second biggest problem is that Kyrie Irving is voluntarily opting out of playing for the team. Third? That this team has a bunch of tweener bigs who are filling rotation minutes and not elevating the play of the team.
Kevin Durant has been brilliant, and assuming the Nets right the ship he’ll be in the MVP race at the very least. Yet as we talked about last week, he is playing too many minutes at the 3 because of the roster composition. They have righted the ship somewhat after a really tough start, but they have clearly been a worse team than the Bucks and Heat. They would probably be in the 12-14 range if we weren’t assuming this team will figure things out.
Scares Me: Harden will never be the same guy. The hot topic has been the new foul-drawing rules and how they have affected Harden, but he also seems to be a step slow after a nasty hamstring injury and is 32 years old with a body that won’t necessarily age well. It’s possible the Harden who contended for MVPs is never coming back, and given how much the Nets gave up for him that’s a scary thought.