Not so long ago, fans and analysts were urging the Brooklyn Nets to just pull the plug and trade everybody.
Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving didn’t want to play for Steve Nash.
Nash looked way over his head as a coach.
Durant wanted out, Kyrie was MIA, and Ben Simmons couldn’t even bounce a basketball.
Fast-forward to today, and the Nets are now winners of 11 in a row and look like the biggest threat out of the Eastern Conference.
At least, that’s what we can take from this impressive clip the NBA put together:
The @BrooklynNets have now won 11 straight.
Peep the best plays from their streak so far 👀 pic.twitter.com/dpEzPspojg
— NBA (@NBA) January 1, 2023
Coach Jacque Vaughn has made the players buy into his philosophy nearly right away.
He’s holding them accountable and making them take pride in their once-inexistent defense:
“These little details that we’re just aware of game to game, I just think that we’re doing a great job of talking and communicating when we come to the bench,” Irving told ESPN. “Jacque holding us accountable; him coming in as a head coach and really putting his own DNA on it. And us just following the game plan.”
Of course, some are still hesitant to believe that the Nets will be able to keep this pace up throughout the whole season.
Off-court issues have driven the attention away from the hardwood way too often in Brooklyn.
But even though they’ve become the league’s favorite team to hate, it’s nice to see some of the best players in the game finally live up to their potential and play beautiful basketball.
