Kevin Durant and the Brooklyn Nets are the favorites to win it all this season. There's no denying, however, that the whole Kyrie Irving situation has served a major blow to their title hopes. For his part, Atlanta Hawks star John Collins believes that his team stands to take advantage of this development.
Collins has never been short on confidence. At this point, he believes that his Hawks should be considered as a real threat to the Nets in the Eastern Conference. Collins also admitted that the fact that Kyrie Irving might end up missing the entire season for Brooklyn is something that will work in the favor of Atlanta:
“I feel like we’re real contenders,” Collins said, via Chris Kirschner of The Athletic. “I definitely feel like we can get to the Finals. The East is loaded. Not to say we don’t want to see Kyrie (Irving) play, but it helps us when we don’t have to see a guy like Kyrie on the court. As a team, for us, staying healthy, adding depth, adding experience and chemistry (this offseason), we’re not going to shorten the expectations for ourselves.
“Our goal is to get to the Finals. Losing is always a failure in our minds. If it’s not a championship, it won’t be good enough.”
Kyrie Irving addressed the public on Wednesday via Instagram Live. Based on his statements, it doesn't look like he has any intention of getting vaccinated anytime soon. The stand-off continues, and the possibility of the All-Star point guard sitting out the entire year is becoming more of a reality.
Other teams from around the league will definitely look to capitalize on this unfortunate development for the Nets. As Collins said, it's not as if he's praying that Irving doesn't play this season. However, Atlanta won't exactly be sad if he didn't.
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