THERE ARE FEW problems less onerous on the surface than designing a game plan with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving at your disposal. The Brooklyn Nets stars are natural scorers who can demoralize opposing defenders, even those who play textbook defense.
But a lineup featuring Durant, Harden and Irving poses an interesting question to Nets coach Steve Nash: Does he design a system around this talent, or is the talent simply the system?
"Ultimately, I think you have to have a bit of both," Nash told ESPN.
This is true both offensively and defensively, and it's a difficult tightrope to walk given the individual creativity and strong personalities involved. Curbing a superstar's impulsiveness can be just as risky as restraining it when those impulses generate game-changing plays.
Yet even the most transcendent talents need some semblance of a plan in a seven-game series against worthy opponents. For all the firepower Brooklyn brings to a fight, the capacity of the three stars to figure out when structure yields to freelancing and when freelancing yields to structure could determine the balance of power in the NBA.
With the Nets entering their 11th game since Harden's debut, here's how they're answering these enormous questions.
WITH A TRAINING camp that effectively was no more than 15 days, the Nets whipped up a few basic sets to start the season. After all, defense presented the greater challenge and Durant and Irving can manufacture good looks at the basket in their sleep. Brooklyn adopted a standard summer league diet -- old standbys such as Pistol and Horns that offer a basic framework, but little complicated choreography. Out of these sets, Durant and Irving could operate with a good deal of freedom.
All the while, the Nets addressed some vital questions as they observed Durant's and Irving's natural instincts. How did these guys play off each other? How did they not play off each other? The observation period could gradually give way to drafting a blueprint for a more concrete structure. Nash, after all, was a two-time MVP whose creativity thrived not in spite of the system he piloted in Phoenix, but because of it.
Today, no NBA player better captures the tension between individuality and system better than Irving, who has the handle of a magician and the heart of a pickup player. Of the Nets' three superstars, he is the least predisposed to 5-on-5 basketball, for better or worse.
His 39-point performance in the Nets' win over the Clippers on Tuesday night was Exhibit A for the argument that there isn't a basketball system in the world more fruitful than a perimeter virtuoso with both unlimited range and the dexterity to get to the rack at will. Apart from bursting past a couple of DeAndre Jordan screens, Irving's procession of buckets was almost entirely self-made: sweet step-backs, crafty Eurosteps, twisting finishes. Irving didn't exploit the Clippers' defense so much as he exploited the power of his gifts.
When he's not lording those powers over opponents, Irving is a player far more inclined to stand in the corner rather than screen, cut or pop out for a pick-and-roll on the second side. During stretches when the Nets aren't humming, that makes it easier for his defender to relax. Irving's skill set should make him a terror against a recovering defense, but he'll often slow the action when he gets the ball in that context rather than catch and go. He almost seems to invite one-on-one combat.
There's precedent for Irving syncing up with his teammates off the ball. In Cleveland with LeBron James, it was essentially mandatory, and Irving often did it in style. In Brooklyn, it's still a work in progress. But it's hard to complain about a 50-40-90 start on 28.3 points per game from an elite finisher, regardless of whatever challenges accompany his talents.
However the Nets' offense evolves, Irving might be the most influential variable in negotiating the area between improvisation and system. That's even more true for the Nets' more serious matter: their leaky defense.
THE DYNAMIC THAT rewards Irving's individual exploits on offense is less forgiving on defense, where the Nets have been awful over the past four weeks. Irving conceded as much after their 124-120 win over the Clippers.
"I took that personally, just not being able to guard anyone [in a 149-146 loss to the Washington Wizards]," Irving said after the game. "Tonight I gave up a few drives but I feel like defensively as a team, including with my effort, we just matched it."
The Clippers hunted Irving all night, Kawhi Leonard in particular, with the Clippers scoring 17 points on the 10 possessions Leonard was able to find him. On a couple of occasions in the second half, the Nets "scrammed" Irving by having Jeff Green relieve him of the matchup mid-possession. Irving might be correct that he and the Nets turned in one of their more competitive defensive efforts in recent days. But it's damning that came while surrendering 120 points in 100 possessions -- a worse rate than the league's worst defense -- yielding the Clippers a shot diet about equal in quality to their season average.
The Nets' initial defensive plan at the start of the season called for a scheme that would load up to the strong side where the ball handler initiates the first action. Make him choose between a treacherous skip pass to the far corner or driving into the crowd. Switching would be situational, but the driving principle would be to shrink the gaps, while pressuring the opponent's best player and forcing him to make tough decisions. That's particularly important when a defense encounters the league's most dangerous assassins who can't be guarded one-on-one or, in basic actions, two-on-two.
After their first 10 games, the Nets ranked third in defensive efficiency, but have fallen back to 26th overall and rank 28th since Harden's first game with the team (though the lineups with the three superstars, Harris and either DeAndre Jordan or Jeff Green have been markedly better).
The Nets have been the switchiest defense in the league by a wide margin since those first 10 games, per Second Spectrum. Much of that has coincided with Green's more prominent role after the roster's depth was depleted from the Harden trade. Switching on actions doesn't preclude getting up into opponents, be it on a pick-and-roll, a dribble-handoff or an off-ball action (see the Miami Heat when healthy or the vintage Warriors or even Harden's 2017-18 Rockets). And switching doesn't preclude applying the kind of anticipation that frustrates an offense.
Problem is, the Nets have been neither physical nor attentive since the trade. They miss Jarrett Allen, who led the team in defensive rating before getting dealt, and haven't fully integrated Harden. Irving, in particular, is getting torched -- on pick-and-rolls, on handoffs, in a switching coverage scheme, fighting over (to the extent you can characterize it as such), running under, defending drives, closing out to shooters.
Irving can be an effective defender when locked in, but as much as his improvisational instincts make him a master in isolation, those instincts can fail him and the team when he departs from the designated coverage scheme on impulse. Harden will abide by schemes and take responsibility for his assignment -- he didn't give up anything in the post to Serge Ibaka on Tuesday night -- but won't necessarily shine as a helper. Durant has come into his own as a multipurpose defender, but he has worked in systems that asked him to be a generalist defensively rather than apply a weighty coverage scheme.
The Nets could ultimately be a mediocre defensive unit and still lead the league in net rating. But just as the Nets and their coaching staff must achieve a balance offensively between organization and whimsy, they'll have to find a sweet spot between pressure and comfort on defense.
THE NETS ARE experimenting in the laboratory and pledge to do so for much of the season, but in each of the past two games when all three stars have suited up, Nash has let Harden commandeer the second unit to start the second and fourth quarters. While it might be a production of small sample size theater, the Nets are plus-20 in those 19 minutes against the Hawks and Clippers.
Of the three superstars, Harden's instincts best lend themselves to cobbling together 20 possessions with a limited supporting cast. And for a team eager to find something that both approximates structure and allows for creative genius to flourish, 10 minutes of "Harden Time" may be just the scheme. It looked particularly coherent Tuesday when Nash furnished Harden with the services of Joe Harris and DeAndre Jordan. With a dead-eye shooter who can defend and a vertical spacer who can screen, Harden has some of the remnants of the effective Rockets units that produced good results under Mike D'Antoni -- now an assistant with Brooklyn -- and he gets to activate them against second units. This is a structure, but one that empowers the talent to be in control.
As the avatar for mismatch basketball -- picking on the opponent's weakest defender and going to work -- Harden often makes it easy to forget that he's a slick distributor with razor-sharp vision. He's finding Harris in the left corner, hitting Durant on pass-aheads to ignite the break, leaving drop-off passes to Green as the trailer. In the half court, Harden also will demand a screen from Jordan and then treat him with a lob off a hard roll.
Though he's accumulated more touches per 100 possession in Brooklyn than in Houston, he's shooting the ball considerably less -- and with Durant and Irving on the floor with him, way, way, way less than either of them. Sources in Brooklyn say Harden's desire both to defer and distribute has been a pleasant development. They perceive that he was legitimately stung by the suggestions he was a selfish teammate. Conditioning is another factor, with Harden still working himself into shape.
Above all else, Harden is resourceful. His eagerness to provide the team some organization offensively -- and provide his teammates some opportunities he could probably justify keeping for himself -- demonstrates that he knows that balance is the path of least resistance to a championship.
"He's highly motivated to win, which adds a level of sacrifice to his game that gives us a chance to reach our peak," Nash said.
It's also an easy proposition when sharing the floor with Kevin Durant.
IF THE NETS are deliberating between a system-oriented approach or just letting their superstars be superstars, the answer on either account is Kevin Durant.
What's counterintuitive about Durant is that, though he's often seen as a one-on-one player, he's not a dribble-happy, hold-the-ball intimidator -- not in the least. Among the 70 players this season with 1,000 touches, he ranks only 53rd in touches per 100 possessions and 46th in touch length (the amount of time a player has the ball each time he has possession), per Second Spectrum. These are stats far closer to Klay Thompson than Harden or Irving. And those stats include all the time Irving missed and the games before Harden arrived in Brooklyn, when the Nets relied on Durant to drive the offense.
For anyone in the you-need-three-basketballs/whose-team-is-it camp, Durant is an ideal superstar. If you need KD one-on-one, he's devastating, but if you want to run actual stuff, he's more than up to the task.
There are few problems more dejecting to an opposing defense than devising a coverage scheme against a pindown for Kevin Durant. Top-lock it and leave yourself vulnerable to a back cut? Lock and trail, then watch him shoot over you? Double-team it from the baseline and pray for the best as he passes out? Or just try to beat him to the spot (good luck).
"[Durant] is perfect in that he is adaptable to any style," Nash said. "You want to call iso, you can iso. You want him to come off a down screen, run pick-and-roll? You can do that too. He's great at attacking close-outs and getting to his spots."
Durant is the world's leading expert in getting open, and the work he performs prior to getting his shot off is an exhibition in efficiency. He will also get plenty of opportunities to initiate offense. Count on a slew of early drag screens against a backpedaling defense, something with which he destroyed opponents in Oklahoma City.
When a unit has ball-dominant first-action point guards like Harden and Irving, it needs potent second-side options when the defense loads to the ball. If there's a single truth that speaks to the Nets' seemingly unlimited offensive ceiling, it's that, in the half court, Kevin Durant is the team's most common second-side option. Let that detonate in your brain.
In this respect, Durant provides the best hint to what the Nets will look like this summer when the postseason arrives.
As much as Nash might love a synchronized system of basketball fueled by defined principles and the full participation of every player on every possession, will this Nets team ever be more than a one-action, one-pass outfit where shot creators do their own work? And while they might gradually exert more pressure to the ball, will they ever be a unit that sprints to the gaps defensively with everyone on a string?
"Can we get there? That's the challenge," said Nash when asked if the postseason Nets can find an ideal brand of five-man basketball. "This is a beautiful way to play that would be fun, with everyone getting easy opportunities, and it's really difficult to guard.
"But even if we don't get there, we're an interesting team."