NBA: 2015-16 Eastern Conference Projections
By Shane Young
14. Brooklyn Nets: 24-58
Weakest month: March — 15 games, .418 (29th)
Hardest month: October/November — 17 games, .558 (4th)
Overall strength of schedule: 27th
After winning 38 games and inching by the Pacers for the final playoff berth last season, Brooklyn appears ready for a step back.
Deron Williams departed for the Dallas Mavericks — a marriage that’s about three years too late — and the athletic freak, Mason Plumlee, joined the the cataclysmic situation in Portland.
Using solid rationale, the Nets shouldn’t be appointed a 14-game decrease just from losing a point guard past his prime and an underdeveloped center. On the other hand, there’s just too many red flags that signify a downhill season in New York, for both of the city’s insufficient franchises.
Brooklyn’s biggest hurdle will continue to be on the defensive end. This is still ironic for the Nets to be a defensive mess since their head coach, Lionel Hollins, specialized in powering the strenuous Grizzlies’ defense for five seasons. 38 wins last year were the lowest Hollins has achieved since his first full year in Memphis (2009-10) when he led a 40-win charge.
Most of the Nets’ young roster is known to have defensive issues, and doesn’t it make it even worse to bring along Andrea Bargnani? The 7-foot draft bust from 2006 is still roaming through the league, dragging a trail of poor defense and decision-making behind him. Now he’s in Brooklyn, mixing with Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young, and Thomas Robinson in the frontcourt.
None of those three are stellar defenders for big men, neither. Lopez isn’t quick enough in most cases, and lacks the athletic ability to stop versatile players in today’s game. Young is a hell of an offensive motor when he chooses, but always had trouble stopping other small and power forwards.
Hollins must get a wonderful season out of all his bigs in order to reach the 30-win mark, and that’s easier said than done with today’s commonality of injuries. Lopez did play in 72 games last year, but he also missed 65 games during the 2013-14 campaign. He’s not necessarily at risk, but 7-footers (getting closer to 30) that have injury-related pasts are the ones you consider “prone.” If he’s there for 72 or more again this season, Brooklyn should have a better offense — they lost their ball distributor in Williams, but I like the idea of getting Lopez a few more touches and shot attempts in the paint.
Playing time for Jarrett Jack also has to play into the win expectation. He’s taking over starting point guard duties, which is something Hollins has been extremely optimistic about. Hollins believes that just because Jack started 27 games for Brooklyn last year and 31 for Cleveland the year before, the 32-year-old is a handy starting point guard.
Jack’s time on the floor last season didn’t give Hollins much of a leg to stand on. During the minutes Jack played, the Nets were a collective -7.0 in offensive rating compared to his minutes off the floor. They were scoring 108.3 points per 100 possessions with Jack on the bench, which would be 8th overall in the NBA (behind five title contenders). When Jack played, the Nets stumbled to a 101.3 offensive rating, which drops them to 28th overall. That’s a 20-rank difference just by having one guy in the game.
The sad reality is that Joe Johnson’s career is fading out of importance the longer he stays with Brooklyn. Just turning 34, Johnson will enjoy collecting his $24.8 million next season while reminiscing about his trips to the playoffs.
Next: 13th