The Brooklyn Nets have hit a wall recently, going from the Steady Eddie performances of Spencer Dinwiddie carrying them to wins to a seven-game skid after Tuesday's loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Los Angeles Lakers forward and former Net Jared Dudley isn't concerned with this letdown, considering what the team has been able to achieve without their core two players:

“If I were to tell you that they were to sign (Kevin) Durant, Kryie (Irving) was going to miss 70 percent of the season, Caris (LeVert) was going to miss six, seven weeks, I would have told you the exact position they're in,” said Dudley, according to SNY's Ian Begley. “They don't have that firepower. Plus moving compartments, that's a whole new team, whole new identity. I'd tell you exactly where they're at, (which is) around .500. I think that Spencer (Dinwiddie) is right there around the All-Star cusp.”

Dinwiddie has been a large part of the reason the Nets are even toying with playoff contention, and his recent struggles are now showing just how badly this team can hurt when he's not having a good night. The Nets are 16-20 after Tuesday's overtime loss to OKC, but Dudley envisions this team doing a lot better if Kyrie Irving was around to give the team a much-needed jolt:

“I think that if they would have had a Kyrie, I would have put them in there with Indiana, 4-5 (playoff seed),” said Dudley. “I thought early on, they'd be a four seed, win one round of a series and return in the second round. Now, they'll probably be on the back end just because of the (injured) bodies but it's going to take them a while.”

“I knew it was a two-year plan. It's a bridge-gap…. I mean this time next year when Kevin Durant, Kyrie is there and they're a top two or three seed we're not even going to be worried about this year for them.”

The Nets are trying to make the most of this season, and while they have overachieved at times, a sense of perspective is required. Most franchises wouldn't give Brooklyn a shot to make the playoffs without Irving and Durant, making the fact that they're even on the playoff bubble under these circumstances a nice surprise. It's unclear if Irving will be back this season, so the Nets are just going to have to make the best of it.