Been thinking about the Harden deal. It could absolutely work for the Nets. It’s a talent league, and the Nets have a ton of talent. But there are just so many ways it could go wrong.

A brief thread.

You have three of the NBA’s moodiest stars, one of which is currently AWOL. And you have Harden’s history of not meshing with other superstars like CP3 or Westbrook.

You have a complete lack of defense, a glaring issue even before the Nets brought in Harden. Harden is capable of playing defense, he just rarely engages for very long.

And while the Nets still have some depth, they lack the high-end depth they had before with Allen and LeVert (and Dinwiddie due to injury).

But the biggest thing I keep thinking about is how Brooklyn was building a fun team with homegrown talent, and then KD and Kyrie decided to play in Brooklyn without even consulting the Nets FO. And since then the Nets have just done whatever it takes to placate those two.

“Sign DAJ to a big deal even though Allen is better? Sure. Start DAJ even though Allen is better? Yes. Fire Kenny Atkinson and hire Steve Nash? Whatever you say guys. Demolish our depth and draft capital? Ok. “

If the Nets win a title then very little of this matters, but there are so many land mines to avoid along the way. And if this version of the Nets wins it all, it’s going to feel very soulless, at least to me.

An additional note in an attempt to save my mentions:

If you’re a Nets fan who is happy about all this and disagrees with me, that’s great. Enjoy your team, I’m not trying to tell anyone how to feel about this. Best of luck to you.