Brooklyn Nets: The Pressure Is On In 2013-14
By Pete Schauer
Hiring Jason Kidd as the head coach was just the first step in setting lofty expectations for the Brooklyn Nets.
Unfortunately for the Brooklyn Nets, the 2013-14 season will be one that’s carefully analyzed from start to finish and not living up to the lofty expectations that have been set for them could result in a ton of disgruntled fans.
Brooklyn’s busy offseason kicked off by signing rookie head coach and former Net, Jason Kidd, as its head coach over more qualified candidates like Jeff Van Gundy and Brian Shaw. The move—which I questioned—was just the first step in which the Nets began building towering expectations for themselves this season.
Kidd could end up as an excellent NBA coach—let’s face it, he was the coach of the floor during his playing days—but it still doesn’t make sense for the Nets to have passed up on a basketball mind like Shaw.
The Nets only put more pressure on themselves when they dealt five players and three first-round draft picks for aging stars like Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry. I don’t necessarily dislike the deal for Brooklyn—it was able to free itself of Gerald Wallace’s dismal contract—but trading away three future first-round picks for big names like Garnett and Pierce certainly puts the pressure on the Nets for the upcoming 2013-14 season.
Brooklyn is looking toward an aging Paul Pierce to help deliver a championship.
(Photo Credit: Keith Allison, Flickr.com)
Also going against Brooklyn is the fact that the Nets have by far the highest team salary entering this season. And as if the expectations couldn’t get any larger for Brooklyn, Jeff Van Gundy came out and told ESPN’s 98.7 FM (h/t CBS Sports) that the Nets have the most talented starting lineup in the NBA. That would mean that the Nets are stronger than LeBron James’ Miami Heat and Kevin Durant’s Oklahoma City Thunder.
With other high-priced stars like Deron Williams and Joe Johnson also manning the floor, the pressure just keeps mounting in Brooklyn. While their roster certainly is talented enough to make a run at an NBA title, we all know that team chemistry and gelling together takes precedence over raw talent, as the Heat showed us in 2011.
Expect big things from the Nets in 2013-14. Just not too big.
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