Eight-time All-Star and 2018 MVP James Harden finally forced his way out of Houston on January 14th, joining superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving on the Brooklyn Nets. Now that the dust has settled on the league’s newest ‘Big Three’, does history say it is destined to succeed? Lets take a look:
pic.twitter.com/xi3wKrXZjB — James Harden (@JHarden13) January 26, 2021
The Brooklyn ‘Big Three’ walk off the court after a 98-85 victory against the Miami Heat, 25 January 2021.
First, we need to get few disclaimers out of the way. For the purposes of looking at past ‘Big Threes’, I don’t want to include any partnerships that were drafted and progressed alongside each other. Kyrie, KD and Harden are already established All-Stars, and thus looking at these groups would be pointless. That means no Steph, Klay and Draymond.
I am also wary of including teams that had a significant gap between superstars. So no Shaq, Kobe and Fisher/Horry or MJ, Pippen and Rodman. Kyrie has already been the second-best player on a Championship team, KD has an MVP and two Championships whilst Harden has two scoring records and an MVP of his own. Each of these are better than Fisher, Horry and Rodman, and so a comparison would be of little help.
Instead, I think there are two Big Threes that can be looked at in understanding if this group are destined to be successful, and what lessons they might have to learn: the 2007-12 Boston Celtics and 2010-14 Miami Heat.
The 2007-12 Boston Celtics
So, without going back to the pre-2000 slow, post-centric game of basketball, the first modern example of the ‘Big Three’ was formed in 2007 in Boston. Franchise star Paul Pierce was already at the Celtics after being drafted tenth overall in 1998, whilst 2004 MVP Kevin Garnett and sharpshooter Ray Allen were traded to form the so-called ‘Boston Three Party’. By their partnership in 2007, the trio already had 22 all-star appearances between them and were in their primes. For reference, KD, Kyrie and Harden have 24 all-star appearances, and are likewise playing the best basketball of their careers.
The Celtics [Pierce (Left), Garnett (Back), House (Centre), Perkins (Front) and Allen (Right)] ‘Taking a Breather’ during a game against the Cavaliers 2008/09 season, 28 October 2008. Buddy-Icon von Eric Kilby.
Well, the Celtics won a Championship in their first campaign, going 66-16 in their maiden season together. A tough series against Lebron’s Cavaliers led to a win against the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals before the Big Three powered through Kobe’s Lakers to clinch their first (and only) title together. Ray Allen hit an impressive seven threes to take the stuffing out of the Lakers.
So how did they do it? None of our Big Three averaged over 20 points in the regular season or the playoffs, but focused on a more team approach to get the ball to the open man, wheoever it was. Coach Doc Rivers also got the best defensively out of his star players, especially his Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett.
Paul Pierce shakes hands with President George W. Bush alongside the Celtic’s Championship-winning side meet, 19 September 2008. Sourced from The White House Archives.
However, Garnett’s injuries plagued the end of the following season as the Celtics were unable to get past the Dwight Howard-led Magic in the Eastern Conference Semis. The 2009/10 campaign brought the now ‘Big Four’, with the inclusion of point guard Rajon Rondo, back into contention before they fell to the Lakers in the Finals. An uneventful 2010/11 season featured a second-round exit at the hands of the new Miami Heat Big Three, whilst the following season was to be the last of the Allen-Garnett-Pierce era as the Celtics once again were upended by LeBron James and the Heat. Ray Allen’s eventful exit marked a turning point for the Celtics, as he joined the rival Heat as a role player.
What does this Mean for the Nets?
I am very sceptical that our Nets team can replicate the Celtics Championship in their first season together, for (ironically) three reasons.
The first is the Celtic’s ability to share the ball. None of our Celtics stars were particularly adept in the isolation; Allen was a deadeye shooter, Pierce excellent at the rim and Garnett in the post. Having the ball was not essential to their greatness. Whilst KD can do all of these things whenever he wants, James Harden and Kyrie Irving need the ball in their hands to be successful. In the 2018-19 season, Harden had the second highest usage rate of any player in history, possessing the ball 40.47% of the time. In addition Kyrie left Lebron and the Cavs to initially be THE guy on a contending team. Our Celtics example shows that selfishness does not earn you a championship.
My second reason is defense. The Celtics had the DPOY in Kevin Garnett and a very useful defender in Paul Pierce to put the clamps on the opposition, in a Doc Rivers system that was admittedly defensively-minded. And, well…the Nets don’t really have that. Despite the scoring prowess these three possess, only KD can at least defend at an average level to potentially defend the likes of Giannis, not to mention a possible Finals appearance against LeBron and Anthony Davis or Kawhi and Paul George.
Whilst Harden is a passable post-defender, Collin Sexton’s 42-point game against the trio in their first time playing together should be a huge warning. This, alongside Adebayo’s 41 points already spells trouble, especially as there is much better talent they’ll have to face. Steve Nash knows they need a genuine rim protector, with reports circling that JaVale McGee is a potential target. Regardless, I’m not confident that the Nets can keep teams from scoring big on any given night, unlike the Celtics. They have already failed to keep a team under 110 points in three out of their four games together.
My third reason is depth. The Celtics had an up-and-coming Rajon Rondo, a useful James Posey, and a very solid Kendrick Perkins to bolster their Big Three. In fact, their title-winning season featured seven other players averaging around seven or more a night. Having given up most of their depth, the Nets only had four other players score over seven in their win over a very understrength Miami Heat team on Saturday night. And this is in a game where they scored 128 points!
Kevin Garnett dunks in style in 2008. Photo by Keith Allison, Sourced from Wikimedia Commons.
Whilst Joe Harris is a deadly shooter from range, there is not much outside of the Big Three for Steve Nash’s side to rely on, especially now they are without Caris LeVert and Jarrett Allen. Spencer Dinwiddie is also out for the season with injury, so the Nets are going to have to figure out a way to get their role players involved or make sure they each go and get 25 night in, night out. In contrast, the Celtics usually relied on just one of their stars to take the weight of scoring – whoever was hot on the night. The Nets, without good role players or a defence to rest upon, do not have this luxury.
Well, the Celtics example looks quite bleak for the Nets at this moment in time. They lack the intensity and ability on the defensive end that the Celtics had, as well as their ability to play off-ball. Yes they’re superstars and can probably work this out, but it will take time and might not mean they’re destined for a Championship this year. They also lack the depth that the Celtics had in their role players and might have to wait till next year and Spencer Dinwiddie’s return to get this back. Might the next Big Three have something more positive to offer Steve Nash’s side?
2010-14 Miami Heat
When you hear the term ‘Big Three’, most NBA fans will think of the Miami Heat of the early 2010s; I certainly do anyway. Dwyane Wade had already earnt himself a Championship with Shaq in 2006 and was selected for the 2009 all-NBA First Team as part of the Miami Heat: the team that drafted him in 2003. The Raptors’ Chris Bosh joined Wade in a sign-and-trade, whilst the self-proclaimed ‘Chosen One’ decided to ‘take his talents to South Beach’ and form the newest Big Three in the League. The Lebron-Wade-Bosh era had begun.
Chris Bosh (2nd L), LeBron James (Centre), Dwyane Wade (Behind James) and the Champions Miami Heat visit the President Barack Obama, 23 January 2013. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
Like the Celtics and Nets, all three of these players had been the cornerstone for their respective franchises before teaming up; Wade was a bonafide all-NBA player and Bosh the face of the Toronto Raptors. I shouldn’t think I need to say much about LeBron James but he was possibly the best player in the league by 2010 aside Kobe Bryant. Again, similar to the Nets and Celtics, these guys had a combined 17 All-Star appearances. But unlike the Celtics, Miami’s stars were only just entering their primes, having all been drafted in 2003. 2010 looked promising in Florida.
Their four years together started out rocky, with Lebron James embracing his role as the NBA’s villain and claiming the Heat could win seven championships. Long-story short, the Heat coasted through the league before a shock defeat by the Dallas Mavericks in six games. This prompted some basketball heads to suggest the Big Three was en route to being ‘one of the biggest disappointments in NBA history’.
Although they took time to work it out, work it out is exactly what they did. Miami stormed to the 2011 Conference Finals where they overcame the Celtics in a seven-game series before reaching the NBA Finals for the second consecutive time. After a first game loss, the Heat recovered to win the next four straight and beat the ‘Baby’ Oklahoma City Thunder, which coincidentally featured Nets’ superstar Kevin Durant.
Dwyane Wade (L) and LeBron James (R) during a Miami Heat match vs Washington Wizards, 30 March 2011. Photo by Keith Allison, sourced from Wikimedia Commons.
Their first title kicked off the second, as the Heat beat the Spurs in a seven-game thriller, with former Celtics man Ray Allen providing perhaps the most memorable shot in modern times to clinch a crucial game six win. Jump forward a year and the Spurs got revenge on Miami’s Big Three, winning out 4-1 to give Tim Duncan his fourth Championship. The team then broke up, with LeBron returning to Cleveland and leaving the depreciating Wade and Bosh to miss the playoffs the following year.
What Does This Mean For the Nets?
Perhaps the biggest lesson is that it might not work first time out. Whilst the prospect of LeBron, Wade and Bosh losing in the Finals was unfathomable at the time, it is perfectly reasonable to suggest that three 26-28 year olds might take some time to adjust to a new team with new egos. Of course it is going to take a moment for three superstars that were the cornerstone for their respective franchises to work out each other’s game and system, and the Nets may be no different. Unlike the Celtics, the Heat were not the finished article and had some developments to make in their game. Whilst the current Nets are slightly older than these guys, with the exception of Kyrie Irving, they fit poorly together on a theoretical level and it is bound to take some time for them to adjust. So maybe don’t expect a Championship in the first year.
It is perhaps more important to look at how the Heat got over that hump and romped to the 2012 Championship. Well, for starters, Chris Bosh decided to mould himself into the player that the team needed. His points total lowered over the next three years as he focused more on the defensive end of the ball and shooting threes from his full-time Centre position – spacing the floor for Wade and Lebron to get to the basket. The fact that Bosh modelled his game on Celtic’s star Kevin Garnett is no coincidence.
Chris Bosh receives a pass in a match against the Washington Wizards, 18 December 2010. Photo by Keith Allison, Sourced from Wikimedia Commons.
So should one of the Nets’ superstars sacrifice their game for the betterment of the team? In theory, probably. Whilst they’re not going to get lockdown defence from anyone on this team other than perhaps Kevin Durant, and I will not even entertain the idea of him doing a Bosh-like changeup to his game, I think this sacrifice could be on a game-by-game basis. If Steve Nash can organise a flexible offence that gets the ball to the player most fit to play against the opposing team’s defenders then this would greatly benefit the team. For example, in a matchup against the Heat, whichever guard is not defended by Jimmy Butler should get the ball. The Nets’ embarrassment of riches mean they can pick and choose who takes every shot depending on their matchup. With Steve Nash telling the Nets’ twitter that on “any given night it can be any one of them” that takes control, it looks like they might already have thought of this. However, you can be the man to tell Kyrie Irving he might have to take the backseat again.
The other glaring lesson from the Miami Heat Big Three is, once again, depth. The Heat’s 2012 Championship was helped immensely by their role-players. In their Finals match-up against the Thunder, Mike Miller hit seven threes to produce a 23- point game, whilst Shane Battier managed 17 and Mario Chalmers 25 at various points during the series. Other than Joe Harris, I cannot comfortably say I trust any of this Nets team to go out and get big time points against the better teams.
The Big Three Lessons
The Nets Need Defence
I think this one is fairly obvious. Yes, some games against the poorer teams in the league will be won on the basis of the undeniable scoring talent on this Nets roster. But the matchup against the Cavs, the league’s worst-rated offence, showed that this might not always be good enough. As good of a shooter as Joe Harris is and despite DeAndre Jordan’s lob threat and friendship with KD and Kyrie, a starting (and possibly closing) lineup of Irving, Harden, Harris, Durant and Jordan/Jeff Green isn’t keeping out a cold, let alone the league’s best offences.
Shooting Guard/Small Forward Joe Harris taking a jump shot, 13 February 2019. Photo by Erik Drost, sourced from Wikimedia Commons.
Aside from a probably implausible Kyrie trade, the only way I can see this lineup getting better is by bringing in defensive talent, likely in the shape of trading Harris and/or Jordan to bring in a wing defender and rim protector to bolster this team in crunch time. Defensive pieces to deepen the roster will help to make this team a genuine title favourite, and stop dominant players like Giannis or Embiid from feasting in the paint. Pierce and Garnett, Lebron and Bosh. Who is going to help out KD on the defensive end?
Steve Nash Needs to Implement a Flexible Offence
With the ridiculous scoring talent that the Nets have, this shouldn’t be too hard… in theory. Nash’s mantra should be to get the ball to the open man in an attack that focuses less on isolation and more on ball movement to collapse the defence in the pick-and-roll. The possible open shots this could generate for our Big Three and Joe Harris is tasty. Whilst Kyrie and Harden can cook most defenders in the league, the prospect of another team being able to guard all three superstars, who are threats in and out of the paint, is practically impossible. If one of these guys is comfortable in taking the backseat and scoring south of 15 points in some games to facilitate, then the Nets should get the best out of their Big Three. In practice however, getting three 28+ points per game guys to take this step back might be a little more tricky. Harden seems to already be doing this, shooting his lowest number of shots per game since his third season (15.6) and matching his career-high season of assists (11), but I wouldn’t bank on that continuing throughout the season.
However it must be noted that this should probably only occur when all three stars are on the court. We saw in the games before Kyrie came back that KD and Harden complement each other immensely, allowing each player to get his touches whilst also being efficient. Having just heralded Harden for changing his game slightly, I’m going to somewhat contradict myself by suggesting he should focus more on isolations, but only when he’s with the second unit. Nash seems to favour Harden as the man that plays with the bench whilst KD and Kyrie get their rest, and he needs to be Houston Harden if he is to maximise the time whilst the other two sit. With the bench constructed as it is right now, the three-time consecutive scoring champion needs to be selfish to make up for the gulf in talent when he plays with the likes of Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Bruce Brown and Reggie Perry. When the Big Three are on the court though, the Nets need to be flexible, unselfish and dynamic.
Vol. 5’s hit different! pic.twitter.com/XiqgQDmeGW — James Harden (@JHarden13) January 19, 2021
James Harden’s isolation play cooks the Bucks’ Donte DiVincenzo, 19 January 2021.
It Might Just Not Happen This Year
This is the most important thing to keep in mind when thinking of the Nets this year. As we saw with the Miami Heat, talent does not always mean a Championship – in the first year anyway. Kyrie, KD and Harden may well need a year to get used to each other, whilst first-year head coach Steve Nash needs to learn how these superstars compliment one and other and get some pieces next to them to compete properly. Spencer Dinwiddie’s absence could be crucial to how this team fare this year, alongside a number of different issues discussed above. The Nets would likely have to face up against the Lakers or Clippers in a possible Finals matchup, not to mention the likes of the Celtics, 76ers, Heat and powerhouse Bucks in the Eastern Conference playoffs. That is tough for any team, not to mention one that has been assembled during the season with the most inexperienced coach in the NBA.
I have tried to demonstrate in this article the difficulties that the Nets Big Three face, despite their immense talent. The Celtic’s three superstars did win a Championship in their first season, but failed to build on this in the years following. And this was with three non-ball dominant players – this is not the case with the Nets. The Heat showed what pressure in the first year can do, and subsequently what is required for a Big Three to get to four consecutive finals with sacrifice and dynamism. The realities of the pandemic s only make the prospect of ‘working it out’ that little bit more difficult, especially if one or more of the players are ruled out due to player protocols.
All-in-all, there are changes to be made for the Brooklyn Nets in both personnel and tactics. By looking at the realities of the Big Three, I don’t think the Nets are as nailed on to be successful straight away, as some are suggesting. It will be all eyes on the Brooklyn Nets for the entirety of this year’s season, but it is far from Championship-or-bust in 2020/21.
Articles Consulted:
Luis Battle, ‘Boston Celtics: Ranking the Four Rreatest “Big 3s” in Their History’, Bleacher Report, 23 August 2011. Accessed via: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/816517-ranking-the-4-greatest-big-threes-in-boston-celtics-history.
Daniel O’Brien, ‘Timeline of Boston Celtics’ Big 3 as We Knew Them’, Bleacher Report, 5 May 2013. Accessed via: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1629028-timeline-of-boston-celtics-big-3-as-we-knew-them.
Eric Vincent, ‘Miami Heat: Ringless Big 3 Would Be One of the All-Time NBA Dissapointments’, Bleacher Report, 14 June 2012. Accessed via: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/1220466-miami-heat-ringless-big-3-would-be-one-of-the-all-time-nba-disappointments.
Steve Busfield, ‘Miami Heat Win NBA Championship’, The Guardian, 22 June 2012. Accessed via: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2012/jun/22/miami-heat-nba-champions-lebron-james
Multiple figures from Basketball Reference. Accessed via: https://www.basketball-reference.com.
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