Expectations grow for talented nets

"The world is so small now, with social media and everyone can post every message of their choice and so on at any time." There is a lot of speculation and everyone gushes about it. that, and did not it mean I think so the market is different too: this year was a year when there was so much money on the market.

"And the guys said," How can I capitalize? How will I earn this money without being left out? "I do not know if it's a perfect storm, I do not know how you want to call it.But I think … it's really an abnormal year.And maybe it's to be where the trends are looming. "

Whatever the case may be, Atkinson admitted that he was caught off guard by the way all of this had unfolded.

"Honestly, it surprised me," said Atkinson with a smile. "Obviously, we improved a lot last year, but it was not a star system, it was a group of guys who play very well together, I think it gives more credit to the guys who come here who say: "I love this style of play, I love the way they play, I think they want to participate in something like this."

"Yeah, it just surprises me because we've come a long way in a short time, it's the biggest surprise, and it's gone faster, I know Sean was developing a strategy and thinking about it. to the situation as a whole.I was focusing a little more on the day.It is a surprise that they chose to participate in this type of system that we use. "

It is certainly far from the Nets' situation three years ago when they were holding a summer press conference to present a series of book signing sessions – including Jeremy Lin, Jordan Hamilton, Trevor Booker and Joe Harris.

Three years later, Brooklyn became one of the league's most exciting franchises and Harris became one of the NBA snipers at 3 points and one of the faces of the Nets revitalization project.

"It's an incredible transition," Harris told ESPN. "In fact, Sean and I were joking the other day because three years ago we had a press conference for a free agent and it was Anthony Bennett, Jeremy Lin , Trevor Booker, Justin Hamilton, myself and Caris LeVert, presser for KD, Kyrie and DeAndre Jordan.

"But it's one of those things where you could kind of see the trajectory of the organization, they had a strong, strong foundation, the culture was strong, everything was going in the right direction and going in the right direction. at this point faster than anyone could have realized ".

It's a transition now, though, that poses a lot of other questions.

The first is obvious: when will Durant play? After being injured in the Achilles tendon in the NBA finals, he is expected to miss the vast majority – if not all – of the next season, before returning for the last three seasons of the season. $ 164 million. contract he accepted with Brooklyn.

The brands, however, refused to speculate on when Durant could potentially return to court.

"It will be evaluated with the performance team and so on," said Marks. "I think that a schedule will be given in due course, but for now, we will certainly not comment on when or if and make assumptions – it's too early."

The two leaders of the Nets were also questioned about Irving's integration process – which has just ended a tumultuous season in Boston – in the Brooklyn mix.

Last season, the Nets experienced extraordinary chemistry throughout their season, moving from a team unlikely to qualify in the playoffs to a team ending with the sixth seed to the east and pushing the 76ers from Philadelphia in the first round.

"I'm definitely starting to do my homework on him," said Atkinson. "It's still recent, I think the challenge is to get the best Kyrie, I want him to have his best season ever and continue this improvement, which is difficult." because he played well last year.

"I know that there is a lot of talk, but you look at his numbers and the way he played, he played very well, he will certainly challenge him to continue to improve. let's play a system that I can not imagine changing You'll have to ask him, I think that's part of why he was interested in coming here, our style of play I think we'll come to a meeting of spirit between him and him and how it works within the group. "

Finally, Atkinson said the competition between Jordan and Jarrett Allen for the starting center spot would go to training camp, but that Jordan – leaving for years – was ready to leave the bench.