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  • What we've seen so far are Kevin Durant and James Harden, fitting together like a hand in a glove.

  • And that should come as no surprise because this was a choice they made to play together.

  • And they have played together before.

  • They, of course, were teammates in Oklahoma City once upon a time.

  • And now here they are, and you've got to brilliant scorers.

  • Two of the I I I should have stopped and thought about.

  • This may be the two best scores in the N B A.

  • Today.

  • I was about to say two of the what?

  • Probably two of the two.

  • They are probably the two best scores in the writing.

  • You know, am I forgetting it?

  • Who is a better score, just pure scorer than either of these two guys?

  • Kevin Durant.

  • Maybe the best pure scorer that we've ever seen.

  • And James Harden is right there putting up numbers the likes of which we haven't seen practically ever.

  • So maybe they're the two best scorers in the entire N ba today, and so far, so good and they're using players around them.

  • They don't have to trade away all of their depth to get James harden.

  • So so far, so good through two games.

  • The question is what happens when they cease to be a dynamic duo and they become a trio?

  • What happens when Kyrie Irving returns?

  • Which basically is going to happen now?

  • We thought for a time he might have played last night and he's going to start playing again soon.

  • I asked him, Legler that question this morning on Get up.

  • And Legler, as you will hear, has some question as to whether that is actually going to work very difficult for me watching that game, imagining Kyrie Irving on the floor because I love the flow that they had.

  • And I talked about those other role players getting great opportunity.

  • Well, when you now add another guy to the mix, that's a ball dominant player.

  • Um, I think the flow is gonna be interrupted, and Cairo's put himself in a little bit of a tough spot here by missing the beginning of this, because now you feel like the pressure is gonna be on him to figure out a way to make sure that this thing stays humming the way that it has for the first two games and you almost feel like he's being set up to fail.

  • No matter what happens, Kyrie Irving is gonna be the guy that people are gonna point at, regardless of how he plays.

  • If they start losing game earth, this offense slowed down.

  • That's pretty much right.

  • I mean of that.

  • There is no question if every game that the Nets lose from the moment Kyrie Irving comes back, the first question is going to be.

  • Were they better off without him?

  • That's a reasonable first question to ask when you consider how good they've looked in the two games since before he returns.

  • Now here's the thing.

  • Kyrie Irving, whom I know only a tiny little bit, and I've told you at great length what I think of this situation here on the show over the last couple of weeks.

  • Kyrie Irving, to me, is a person who is dealing with a lot and I believe, needs some assistance.

  • I don't think he's a bad guy.

  • I don't think he is.

  • The actions that he has taken to this point have been as much drawn or driven by unprofessionalism as I've heard suggested in other places as they are by.

  • I'm person having a difficult time just dealing with and processing all the things that air in his head right now, and that could be difficult than many of us from time to time.

  • So I think maybe with my history here, I'm a little more inclined to give someone.

  • The benefit of the doubt doesn't mean that I would have all the patients in the world if I were them, But we'll see one way or another.

  • The point is, what I can tell you about Kyrie Irving is that, like many people in his position, he is highly intelligent, highly intelligent, so he gets it.

  • He will be able to figure out exactly what needs to be done for those three to be operating at their maximum efficiency.

  • The problem is, what he may figure out is that the one who was really diminished us him.

  • At the end of the day, Durant is going to be the number one player on the team.

  • Durant is the number one option.

  • Durant is the immortal.

  • Durant is the historically and currently the best of the best player of those three.

  • James Harden is a guy who you know what you're getting when you get him, you're asking James Harden to be James Harden.

  • You're not asking James Harden to come in and spot up.

  • It's kind of like asking Carmelo Anthony to come to your team as we've seen some people do and then be surprised when he's Carmelo Anthony.

  • At the end of the day, when you hire someone to do a job, know who they are, you went out and traded for James Harden.

  • You know what you're getting.

  • The question is, where does that leave Kyrie?

  • Irving?

  • What exactly becomes his role with his group?

  • I'm not sure.

  • And I think what he may figure out because he'll be the first one to understand it is that what may happen is that he'll realize that the one who is gonna have his game the most compromised by this is Kyrie.

  • Curry is a ball dominant guard.

  • He has another ball dominant guard on his team that his franchise just went out and traded half their roster for, so whether whether it is actually better for them or not, Harden is gonna be the one with the ball in his hands.

  • That's what's gonna happen.

  • So if James Harden has the ball in his hands and Kevin Durant is the one who's moving without it.

  • And they're trying to set up offense for and at times, of course, creating his own offense as well.

  • Where does that leave another guy who wants to dribble the ball like crazy and create his own shot or one for someone else?

  • I'm not sure.

  • So I think Legler is right.

  • I'm not saying it isn't gonna work.

  • I'm saying it's really difficult for me to picture exactly what it's gonna look like when it does, because it's one thing for two people to compromise or three people to compromise.

  • It's another thing for one to have to compromise.

  • That's why I will forever give credit to Chris Posh, who's someone I've gotten to know a little bit over the years.

  • He hosted the old show with me and, on a handful of occasions, another super smart, awesome guy and Chris Posh's approach when he teamed up with LeBron and Dwyane Wade Waas.

  • I've been a star on a bad team.

  • I've put up huge numbers on a bad team.

  • I've got all the money I could ever possibly spend and then some I want to win and I'm going to.

  • I'm going to take a step back and I'm going to just fill whatever role needs be filled here, even though it means diminishing my greatness because there are people who will ask the question.

  • Is Chris Bosh gonna wind up in the Hall of Fame?

  • Chris Bosch was on a first ballot Hall of Fame trajectory, and he chose to win.

  • Now the Winds are gonna help his Hall of Fame case.

  • But the point is, this is a guy who could have averaged 25 points a year every year, for sure.

  • He chose to sacrifice all of that to play with those other two guys.

  • Is that what Kyrie Irving is going to do?

  • I don't know.

  • Not an easy thing to do.

  • Like Kyrie, Chris Bosch, highly intelligent, figured it out, said.

  • This is what it's gonna take.

  • I'm willing to do it.

  • Let's see if Kyrie is willing to do it, because I think that is what it's ultimately going to come.

  • Teoh, Thank you for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming sports and premium content.

What we've seen so far are Kevin Durant and James Harden, fitting together like a hand in a glove.

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