The Nets had their first media availability since the game against the Houston Rockets … and there was a lot to reveal. Steve Nash provided updates on star Kevin Durant; Blake Griffin first spoke as a Net; DeAndre Jordan detailed his reunion with his Lob City partner.
Unfortunately, it was a little disappointing. Hamstrings are complicated things.
Status update on Kevin Durant
The Nets will open the second half of the regular season on Thursday without Kevin Durant, who will lose his tenth straight game against the Boston Celtics due to the persistent effects of a strain on his left hamstring.
Steve Nash said that Durant will do another scan next week, but stressed that he has not played in almost a month and that he will need a boost as soon as the results are positive … when appropriate.
“Kevin is improving all the time and will do a scan next week,” said Nash. “We will evaluate him then, but he hasn’t played for a month basically, so no matter what the sweep says, he will have an appropriate ramp up and we will put him in a position to end the strong season.”
On February 21, before the victory over the Clippers, Nash observed how Durant was improving “at a rapid pace”. He was optimistic until KD could return before the All-Star break, but after a second sweep, the Nets realized that Durant wouldn’t be back anytime soon.
“I think when we did the second exam, we knew it would take longer,” said Nash. “In the first exam, there was bleeding and the image was not so clear. I think we realized with the second scan, this is the kind of timeline we’re looking at and seeing. That can change. We hoped that this potential would last for a month.
Nash added how Durant will do another scan next week. He provided a specific date.
“Who knows what the scan says. Who knows where it takes us and when he’s back, but I think when we did the second scan, we knew that that’s probably what we’re looking at. ”
The Nets want to see the left tendon healed. Meanwhile, the 32-year-old Nets superstar is on the court working individually.
“I think seeing the injury heal frankly,” said Nash. “How simple. He was on the court. He has been doing a lot of work and just making sure he has the appropriate healing response in the window we had here. He had two weeks after the scan, two weeks after a scan and he is progressing in the right direction, this is the number one thing. Then the second is fully healed and the more we can predict that it will have to go to be fully healed.
“He is already on the court and is already working individually, putting himself in a position to climb this ramp whenever the sweep provides us with the appropriate information.”
Durant is doing light work on the training ground, like half a court, and working at his rate of fire. Nash and the Nets are preventing Durant from participating in any high-speed training or five against five.
“He’s definitely not doing five against five. He’s definitely not doing any high-speed runs on the entire court, but he’s doing a lot of tight space-shooting rhythm work on the half-court. We will wait for the scan to be staggered and we will take the next step. “
When asked if the injury to Durant’s thigh tendon is correlated to his Achillies, Nash quickly broke the connection, but noted that he never wants to rule out any injury pattern. While the sweep awaits, the Nets will remain very cautious with Durant emphasizing its obvious importance to the team.
“You never want to govern standards because even if you can’t diagnose it, it may be part of anything. Through their history, medical history, assessments, we do not feel that these two are related in any way. He is doing very well now and we all feel very optimistic about the direction he is taking, but we just need to be very cautious because he is a very important player for us ”.
Blake Griffin will miss Thursday’s game (“left knee – injury treatment”), which he described as “accelerating”. quickly rejected any injury. Brooklyn listed Jeff Green as doubtful with his right shoulder bruise and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot as doubtful with pain in his right knee.
Nash does not see any players suffering an injury requiring the loss of most of the remaining 35 games of the regular season, but he wants to take everything day by day so that his players are available for the playoffs.
“We are at the mercy of how all this is going to play out. The more games, the better, but we have 35 games left and now, I don’t see anyone having it that will hold them back for most of those games, ”said Nash.
“We are going to monitor Kevin and Blake and, hopefully, we will have a lot of health and luck in the race, but you can make all the plans you want and things sometimes go wrong. We just have to take it on a daily basis and make sure that we make sensible decisions and with a little luck, we will have a beautiful walkway with these guys available, healthy, playing and an opportunity to gain cohesion and understanding before the playoffs arrive. “
Blake Griffin details his new role
Blake Griffin made his first appearance with a Nets shirt (training) on Thursday. For those who want to take a look at what the 31-year-old looks like in some Brooklyn outfits, take a look:
Griffin said of his new home: “it’s about meaningful basketball, playing in the qualifiers.” Of course, the 12-year-old veteran did not come to the Nets without encouragement. The simple dance of fluffing Larry O’Brien’s feathers to court available collaborators played an important role. So to speak.
The main recruiter, can you ask? “I talked to KD more,” said Blake. “This was a family team for me.”
Everything was cool, of course, as he told Rich Eisen on Tuesday. I would not like to violate these tampering rules.)
What Griffin brings to the table, in addition to being another big body to fill some of the open spaces in the attacking court, is a distinct skill set that is pre-suited for a role. After all, he is a veteran, fully aware of what he does and what he doesn’t bring up. He and Steve Nash have already spoken (during a great meal, it seems!) about a possible role for Blake. Nash has a very specific one in mind for the six-time All-Star.
“Blake is a small ball of 5, which can make open triplets,” said Nash. “He is very good at creating half roll plays, playing in 4-on-3, 3-on-2 and 2-on-1 situations. He is a smart player, has great experience and IQ. “
Defensively, it seems that Griffin is best used in a scheme that can work with Brooklyn’s switching defense. Former Nets technical assistant Steve Jones Jr. detailed Blake’s profile as a quarterback on Twitter on a wonderful topic (seriously, take a look!). Snapper’s son Jones came to the conclusion that Blake is probably best used in a defense that exchanges defensive assignments.
You know what, let’s watch some Blake Griffin saves.
– Steve Jones Jr. (@ stevejones20) March 9, 2021
The best coverage for Blake at this point may be to just reach the screen level and then go back or recover.
– Steve Jones Jr. (@ stevejones20) March 9, 2021
It seems that DeAndre Jordan is in agreement.
“With a guy like Blake, man, we can go small,” said Jordan after training on Thursday. “We can change many things.”
In short, the change must be beneficial to both sides. For Griffin, he benefits from a fresh start in a championship contender in a city that, heh, isn’t that bad to live in (Comedy Cellar is waiting for him!). Meanwhile, the Nets may (or may not) have found a hidden pot of gold. With simplified expectations, there is a chance that Blake will be a star once again … but only a star in his role.
“His role will be different. He was asked to do a lot in Detroit. There would be a lot of focus on him defensively, ”explained Nash. “Now with this team, he won’t have to carry such a large load or absorb so much pressure from the defense. I think there is an opportunity for him to have less pressure, less responsibility and, therefore, to show what he can do in a greater light. “
Nash added …
“I’m not sitting here making any expectations about Blake. I just want to see him enjoy his game, feel good, move as best he can at this stage and, hopefully, incorporate it into what we do and allow him to find a good role ”.
There was no word on how the Nets will fill its two spots, extend two of the three 10 days launched earlier in the week, hire other players for a new 10 days or leave the spots open. After all, as Marc Stein reported on Wednesday night, if Andre Drummond reaches the free agency, it will be a “Nets versus Lakers showdown”.