Darius Garland was a three-time recipient of the Tennessee Mr. Basketball Award (2016-18) and after a year at Vanderbilt, the Guard was taken with the Fifth Overall Pick (2019) where he landed with the Cavaliers.

Garland became the answer to the trivia question, “Who is the first player to be born in the 2000s to play in the NBA”, but the former Commodore has shown progression in all three of his pro seasons, immediately becoming a starter, and working his way to the All-Star Game in year three.  That was the season where he broke out with 21.7 Points and 8.6 Assists per Game, the latter stat placing him sixth overall.  Garland was also a Finalist for the Most Improved Player of the Year Award, losing to Ja Morant.  Two years ago, Garland had similar numbers (21.6 PPG), and helped the Cavaliers make the playoffs.  Garland averaged 18 Points per Game last season and again aided the Cavs in making the playoffs.

Entering his sixth campaign, Garland is a player to watch, and could be the catalyst for a deep playoff run in Cleveland.

Yes, we know that this is taking a while!

As many of you know, we here at Notinhalloffame.com are slowly generating the 50 of each major North American sports team.  That being said, we have existing Top 50 lists out and we always consistently look to update them when we can and based on necessity.  As such, we are very happy to present our post 2021/22 revision of our top Brooklyn Nets.

As for all of our top 50 players in basketball we look at the following: 

1.  Advanced Statistics.

2.  Traditional statistics and how they finished in the National Basketball Association. 

3.  Playoff accomplishments.

4.  Their overall impact on the team and other intangibles not reflected in a stat sheet.

Last year, Brooklyn made the playoffs, but were bounced in the first round in a disappointing year.  The impact of 2021-22 yielded one elevation and two new entrants.

As always, we present our top five, which was not affected by the last season:

1. Jason Kidd

2. Julius Erving

3. Buck Williams

4. Brook Lopez

5. Vince Carter

You can find the entire list here.

The controversial Point Guard, Kyrie Irving moved up to #25 from #35, a staggering amount considering how few Games he played last year, though this is more of an indictment on the tumultuous overturn of the franchise on a regular basis.  This made it easy for Irving who was still great when playing to make a jump like this.

Another polarizing figure, Kevin Durant, makes his first appearance at #26.  Again, like Irving, this was an easy vault, as he just needed to be…well…Kevin Durant.

Let’s make it three!  James Harden, who was only there a year, and never a full season, debuts at #40.  See the above to see how it can happen!

That’s basketball!

We welcome your input and comments and as always, we thank you for your support.

The complex history of James Harden had a brief stop in Brooklyn, where as tumultuous as he might be, “The Beard” was still one of the top performers in Basketball.

After years of All-Star seasons, all with growing frustration that his Houston Rockets could not make the Finals, Harden asked for a trade in the 2020 off-season. Eight Games into the year, Harden obtained his wish, traded to the East with the Brooklyn Nets, who formed a new “Big Three” with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant. The promise was there, but the results did not matriculate.

The trio were rarely on the floor together due to rotating injuries, but Harden always sparked for the Nets when he played.  An All-Star in 2021, Harden was still a potent scorer, averaging 24.4 Points per Game for Brooklyn over 36 Games.  The following year, Harden was still scoring well, with a 22.5 PPG in 44 Games, but Harden again was frustrated, and asked for a trade, with Philadelphia being his landing point.

Harden never had a full season for Brooklyn, but the game of Basketball is a star’s contest where the elite dominate. Even with under 100 Games as a Net, the numbers don’t lie, even though it was overall a failed experiment.

Kevin Durant went down with a torn Achilles in the 2019 Finals when Golden State lost to the Toronto Raptors.  He made his intent clear to leave GSW for the Nets, and a sign-and-trade was engineered though Durant had to sit out the entirety of the 2019-20 campaign during injury.  

Making his return to the court in December of 2020, Durant was joined by James Harden three weeks later and along with Kyrie Irving, this was the next “big three” that would win it all!  That didn’t happen, and Harden barely lasted a year, but the Nets problems can not be traced to Durant’s performance (when healthy).  Durant was a Second Team All-NBA Selection lin 2021-22, but the cracks around the bg three formed.  After Harden left, Kyrie had his issues with off-court comments and his refusal to get vaccinated.  Durant and Irving were both unhappy, but despite their frustrations, they were still elite players, especially Durant.  Irving and Durant both wanted out of Brooklyn, and they got it, with KD traded to Phoenix.

As tumultuous as his run in BRK was, Durant was still a top-tier player, averaging 29.0 Points per Game, which was higher than he did anywhere else.  This is why he is still ranked so high despite the expecations in a Championship not being met.