Kyrie Irving thinks the Brooklyn Nets still need to add one or two more pieces in order to compete with the best teams in the league. Following Wednesday night’s 117-106 loss in Philadelphia, Irving told reporters that he knew what he signed up for coming into this season, and that the team’s needs are “glaring.”

When asked about how much work needs to be done to compete with the top teams in the Eastern Conference, Kyrie explained that the current goal is to “do the best with the guys that we have in our locker room now” and worry about moving the pieces (in other words, pulling off trades) to compliment him and KD this summer.

Irving’s full comments, per ESPN:

“I mean, it’s transparent. It’s out there. It’s glaring, in terms of the pieces that we need in order to be at that next level.”

“I’m going to continue to reiterate it. We’re going to do the best with the guys that we have in our locker room now, and we’ll worry about all the other stuff, in terms of moving pieces and everything else, as an organization down the line in the summer.

“It’s just something that we signed up for. We knew what we were coming into at the beginning of this season. Guys were going down left and right for us. [Garrett Temple] is out, [DeAndre Jordan] just got hurt tonight, Wilson [Chandler] is just coming back. We have complementary young guys as well that have done a great job the last three years.

“Collectively, I feel like we have great pieces, but it’s pretty glaring we need one more piece or two more pieces that will complement myself, [Kevin Durant], DJ, GT, Spence [Dinwiddie], Caris [LeVert], and we’ll see how that evolves.”

As a result of Wednesday’s defeat, the Nets now sit at 18-22 as we near the midway point of the season. Despite the sub.500 mark, Brooklyn is still four games up for control of the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. 

Up next for the Nets are a pair of home games against some of the Eastern Conference’s top teams, including a matchup against the NBA-leading Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night and another date with the Sixers on Monday.