By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Weighing in on the latest developments around the NBA and specifically the Brooklyn Nets, Rick Pitino labeled the squad including Kevin Durant as a championship-caliber team.
“Well, that’s a championship-caliber team,” he suggested during a Zoom call Tuesday, as relayed by NJ.com, “If you have three great players [in Durant, Kyrie Irving and Ben Simmons], they’re going to get injured, they’re going to miss some games. You have to make sure that four through eight [on the roster] can play that role because they are going to get hurt and in the case of some of the guys on the Nets, they miss a lot of games. You have to make sure that 4-8 can play and it doesn’t get any better than Kyrie and Kevin Durant.”
Durant, 33, rescinded his trade request opting to run it back with Kyrie Irving. Also, Ben Simmons is projected to be available.
“They’re two of the most explosive offensive basketball players there are in the NBA and if Simmons is healthy, he’s an outstanding playmaker and he’s a great defensive player. So that’s a great team. I don’t know who they have 4-8 but that’s going to be a key component whether they can win a championship,” added the former head coach of Panathinaikos and Greece senior national team, currently focused at the NCAA level and Iona.
Pitino, 69, has worked in the NBA as well featuring as the head coach of the Boston Celtics from 1997 to 2001 and the New York Knicks from 1987 to 1989.