Brooklyn Nets: Grading The Offseason

Overall

This summer, the Nets bought out their starting point guard in Deron Williams. They traded away a promising young big in Mason Plumlee, lost a useful wing scorer in Alan Anderson, missed out on a good three-point shooter in Mirza Teletovic and waived Earl Clark as well. With all those departures, it’s fair to assume that the 2015-16 Brooklyn Nets will be a worse team than last year’s rendition.

However, by investing in Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young — even on a combined $110 million — and adding young talent to the roster, the Nets have given themselves a chance to start over. Painful as it might have been to remember how excited everyone was about these players just a few years ago, this was the kind of roster cleanse this franchise needed.

Joe Johnson is still on the team and the Nets are one Brook Lopez injury away from being truly terrible, but Brooklyn had no incentive to tank next season since the Boston Celtics will receive their first round pick anyway. To that end, the Nets did a decent job collecting some decent talent without clogging up the books, while also adding a few future assets in the draft.

It remains to be seen whether or not a core of Lopez and Young will be enough to entice next summer’s crop of free agents, when Joe Johnson’s massive contract finally comes off the books. But with high-upside rookies like Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Chris McCullough on the roster, we’re finally starting to see the light at the end of this team’s tunnel.

Grade: C+

Next: Toronto Raptors: Grading The Offseason

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