Photo: USA TODAY Sports - Dale Zanine
Foreclosing on the Brooklyn Nets
By Joshua Riddell
Mortgaging their future for a
chance at a deep playoff run in a
weakened Eastern Conference didn’t
go according to plan and the Brooklyn
Nets are now left to wallow in their
broken dreams with little to show for
it—trading nearly every future asset
they had left them with just one playoff
win in three seasons.
collective weakness of the Eastern
Conference. They didn’t add any
immediate impacts this offseason,
and the loss of Williams—despite his
struggles in Brooklyn—leaves them
short on offensive threats.
Brook Lopez led the team in
scoring last year and is certainly
capable, but he’s struggled with injuries
The Celtics own their 2016 and
throughout his career and the NBA
is beginning to go away from the
2018 first round picks outright and
plodding post scoring Lopez excels
have the option to swap in 2017,
leaving the Nets in the midst of a failed at. He may not be the type of player a
team that is starting from scratch wants
rebuild with few pieces to pick up.
as their best player. The 34-year old Joe
With Joe Johnson’s contract
Johnson continues to be a consummate
coming off the books next summer and
professional, but his usage is already
Deron Williams’ salary stretched over
beginning to dip and he might not be
the next five seasons, they may be able
able to withstand a full season as a top
to build through free agency again;
offensive weapon. Thaddeus Young is a
but there will be plenty of competition
great complementary player, but seems
with the increase in the salary cap. All
to fit better as the last piece on an
the Nets have to play for is the here
already developed roster, not the first
and now, and that gets bleak quickly.
in a rebuild.
The team struggled offensively
There’s some role player potential
and defensively last season, managing
somewhere in the midst of Shane
to sneak into the playoffs due to the
Larkin, Quincy Miller, Bojan
Bogdanovic, and rookies Rondae
Hollis-Jefferson Chris McCullough, but
no potential stars. These players should
get plenty of opportunity to develop
and the organization will need to parse
out whether any of these players are
assets going forward.
The rebuild has to start somewhere
and the Nets will need to start small,
trying to find a diamond in the rough
deep on a roster that isn’t built for the
playoffs, without a first round pick to
show for their inevitable struggles.
Any glimpse of potential from a young
player or appreciation that can be
gained from the play of Johnson, Lopez
or Young will be clung to with a firm
grip as the organization and its fans
look toward the future.
Their plan to get rich quickly
crashed and burned. Now they are left
to start a new chapter in the franchise,
one that might be prolonged before
they return to the playoffs.
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