The Nets still think they can salvage a ring from the chaos

No one could have envisioned the Nets entering the NBA All-Star break as the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. Yet here they are, a championship contender fighting for its playoff livelihood in a suddenly stacked conference with at least four other teams (Bucks, Bulls, Heat, Sixers and maybe the Cavaliers) eyeing a trip to the NBA Finals.

What the Nets have had to fight through would have sent most other teams spiraling down the standings, too: They lost three-quarters of their roster at one point to the COVID-19 health and safety protocols; their second-best player can only play in road games; their best player has been out with an MCL sprain; their best shooter might be out all season with a gimpy ankle — not to mention they were forced to downgrade from their Big 3 after James Harden forced his way from Brooklyn to Philadelphia at the trade deadline.

But there remains optimism at Barclays Center, from management down to the players, for salvaging what’s been shaping out to be a lost season. No team has ever won an NBA championship after an 11-game losing streak. The Nets, however, are banking on a stroke of good health, because if they can stay healthy, they believe in pulling off the impossible.

“We’re excited,” Nets head coach Steve Nash said after Thursday’s loss to the Washington Wizards. “We have 23 games to come together as a team. Kevin (Durant) returning, Ben (Simmons) returning. Hopefully we have a good run of health where we can really build something in a short period of time and get a better seed and also more cohesions going into the playoffs.”

First things first: The Nets are going to enjoy their All-Star layoff.

Patty Mills and Kevin Durant are the only players set to head to Cleveland for the NBA’s weekend festivities. Mills, who is in position to wreck the Nets’ all-time single-season record for threes made, is competing in the Three-Point Contest. Durant is the Eastern Conference All-Star captain and picked his team against the West’s captain, LeBron James, but Durant will not play due to an MCL sprain in his left knee.

As for the rest of the team?

“I think where we’re at right now is a much needed break for everyone,” Mills said on Thursday. “For everyone to get away, enjoy their families, spend some time away to be able to hit the reset button.”

That break, however, is fleeting. The games start coming full-speed again on Feb. 24 when the Nets host the Celtics, then Feb. 26 when they travel to Milwaukee for a showdown with the reigning-champion Bucks. The Nets have the 13th toughest remaining schedule and emerge from the break for eight straight games against potential playoff opponents: Celtics, Bucks, Raptors twice, Heat, Celtics, Hornets then Sixers.

But here’s why the Nets are optimistic, maybe even confident in their ability to put this together in the second half of the season.

Durant is expected to return from his MCL sprain in at least one of the first three games out of the break, if not the first two. Nash has kept his MVP-caliber superstar on ice out of precaution, and for good reason: Both Harden and Joe Harris have suffered injury setbacks on Brooklyn’s watch in the past year, and the Nets don’t want Durant to suffer a similar fate.

Durant, however, has to play if the Nets want to win games and avoid the play-in tournament. They are currently 2.5 games behind the sixth-seeded Celtics. Beating Boston in the first game out of the break would reduce that gap to just 1.5 games, but again, if Durant is not on the floor, that is a tall task against a team that entered the All-Star break winners of nine of their last 10 games.

In fact, the Nets would be hard-pressed to find success in any of their first eight games out of the break if they continue to keep Durant on the sidelines. His legs looked just fine as he pranced around the MSG floors when rookie Cam Thomas hit a game-winning dagger to punctuate Brooklyn’s 28-point comeback. Reminder: A healthy Durant is the best player in basketball. He is averaging more than 29 points, 7 rebounds, five assists and almost a steal and a block and makes an immediate impact on win percentage the second he steps onto the floor.

That win percentage is expected to multiply exponentially when Nash integrates Ben Simmons into the rotation. Simmons has not played at all this season and cited mental health issues that kept him off the floor in Philadelphia, but he is expected to start and play a significant role when he makes his Nets debut.

The 25-year-old Australian forward had his struggles in the playoffs against the Hawks last season, but regardless of his inability to shoot or unwillingness to score, he is one of the league’s best young playmakers, an All-NBA defender and a world-class athlete who has stayed in shape during his time away from the 76ers.

“To be honest with you, (the shooting) is not a huge concern of mine,” Nash said this week. “I want him to get out there and be dynamic, athletic, and play-make, and put pressure on the rim and defend, and when you add all those things I just said up, it’s a pretty good player.

“We’re really excited to have a guy come into our program with all those things, so I’m not worried about what he’s struggled with in the past. I look at all the things he can help our team with that happen to be things we’re not great at.”

Nash is also excited to incorporate Drummond into the fold as the team’s featured center. Drummond has to get in better shape. He was previously playing backup minutes behind Joel Embiid in Philadelphia but will now be asked to play in the 25-plus range on a nightly basis. (He averaged 18 in Philly and already increased that to 21 minutes per game in his first three games as a Net.) A fitter Drummond fills the Nets’ most dire need: He is a dominant rebounder who is averaging more than 12 boards per game since his trade to Brooklyn, and he’s a finisher at the rim who can also block shots and make plays for others.

“I’m tired,” said Drummond, who is following a cardio-intensive workout regimen. “So by the time the break is over, I should be back to normal again, just getting myself back in that speed and that mode again.”

And as the icing on the cake, there’s new life on the team, throughout the organization and at The Clays now that Harden is gone.

The Beard will be remembered for his play-making skills and for his celebrity friends who visited and bought courtside seats, but he will also be remembered for missing 10 of Brooklyn’s last 12 games with what the team called left hamstring tightness. His last games were marked by a high turnover count, low efficiency, ending with him shooting 2-for-11 for four points in his final game as a Net.

Most of all, he’ll be remembered as someone who didn’t want to be in Brooklyn at all by the end.

“I can’t really say that you feel that (unhappiness) in the locker room,” said Kyrie Irving of Harden. “But we get hints, so we just wish him well.”

In his introductory press conference with the 76ers, Harden suggested he never wanted to come to Brooklyn in the first place, and that his first choice was always a trade to Philadelphia.

He got what he wanted, and so did the Nets: Seth Curry fills the void left by the injured Joe Harris, and both Simmons and Drummond address needs Brooklyn needed to fill on defense, rebounding and finishing at the rim.

It remains unclear whether New York City’s vaccine mandate will ever allow Irving to play home games as an unvaccinated player, but regardless, the goal in Brooklyn remains the same. Eleven-game skid, blockbuster trade, injured stars and new faces. All of it is forgotten if the Nets can stay healthy and build continuity, fast, before the playoffs arrive.

“And it will take everyone in the locker room, all the coaches, all the staff, everyone in this organization to be able to buy into what we’re trying to do here to be able to get this thing done this year,” said Mills. “So where do I think we stand? I think we’re in a very hungry place right now. The locker room is as strong as it’s ever been this season, we feed off each other’s energy, you can see it on the court and I think coming back from All-Star break we have players coming back from injury and it’s just going to take this thing to another level.

“But the key here is understanding that the end goal and what it’s going to take to get there and it’s going to take all of us. Every single person in this organization. And that’s the belief. That’s the belief that I know is there and we just got to tap into it every single day from the time we come back from All-Star break.”