Brooklyn Nets: Back to the Dark Days

The Brooklyn Nets are going to have a rough 2015-16 NBA season, and it doesn’t look like things will improve anytime soon

If you’re a fan of the Brooklyn Nets, you’re probably not looking at the 2015-16 squad with much hope. Sure, you’ve got two quality starters, but with no stars and a supporting cast of role players, the light that once crept into Barclay’s Center has all but vanished.

It wasn’t that long ago that the Nets were a really good team. From 2001-2007, the then-New Jersey Nets made the NBA Finals twice, went to the Eastern Conference Semifinals three times and bowed out in the first round the other year. Six consecutive playoff appearances is something a team like the Minnesota Timberwolves would take in a heartbeat.

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Then, the dark days came. The Nets missed the playoffs five years in a row, winning just 126 games in five years. With a brand new arena and a new borough to call home, the Nets crept back into the discussion as a relevant team in the Eastern Conference.

It may not feel like it, but the Nets are on a three-season streak of making the playoffs and have won 131 games in the last three seasons. They’ve had four different coaches (Johnson, Carlesimo, Kidd, Hollins) and to say they were ever a stable, consistent force would be a stretch, but hey — postseason play makes a lot of difference for a franchise and a fanbase.

Unfortunately, those times are going to look like the glory days compared to what’s ahead.

DRAFT DISTRESS

Generally, teams that aren’t very good usually will get high lottery picks and can draft a star-in-the-making or at least guys with enormous upside. The Nets haven’t had that luxury, partially due to trades they’ve made and partially due to poor decisions. The only pick in the last seven drafts where they’ve chosen in the top-10 was Derrick Favors in 2010 — who was then shipped off via trade in his rookie season.

Let’s take a quick glance at the other first-rounders drafted since then:

2015, No. 29, Chris McCullough
2014, No First Round Pick
2013, No. 22, Mason Plumlee
2012, No First Round Pick
2011, No. 27, JaJuan Johnson

It gets better, right? Wrong. The Nets owe their 2016 first-rounder to the Boston Celtics. They have a condition on their 2017 first-rounder where the Celtics can swap with the Nets. Their 2018 pick belongs to Boston. So, let’s recap — the Nets almost certainly won’t have a top-10 pick until 2019 at the earliest.

THANK GOD FOR MONEY — IF YOU CAN USE IT

With the rising cap and a billionaire owner that’s willing to use all of it, the Nets only hope of improving lies in free agency. Joe Johnson‘s massive contract comes off the books after this season, leaving approximately $45.3 million in guaranteed salaries. There’s potential there for two quality starters to be signed, but therein lies a problem…who wants to take huge money to play in Brooklyn right now?

Kevin Durant isn’t coming to Brooklyn, so cross that off your list. LeBron James isn’t taking his talents to Jay-Z’s doorstep. Dwight Howard (player option) plays the same position as Brook Lopez. Andre Drummond and Bradley Beal‘s offers will almost certainly be matched, as they’re both restricted free agents and Kobe Bryant isn’t a difference-maker anywhere but the accounting sheets these days.

What’s more likely is the Nets will have to throw an exorbitant amount of money towards a second-tier free agent, in hopes that they can lure them out East. That means Al Horford (who’d have to play the four), Mike Conley (if they can rip him from Memphis’ cold, dead hands), Al Jefferson or Hassan Whiteside look like the next-best players.

The major problem here is that the glut of players that the Nets could likely make a serious run for are centers, which they don’t need. They’d likely want to move Lopez, who is owed $21.1 million in 2016-17 and $22.6 million in 2017-18, which isn’t desirable for a center that doesn’t defend especially well and is a terrible rebounder for his position.

Here’s a thought — arguably the best free agent the Nets have ever signed was….Travis Outlaw.

THEY DO HAVE A LITTLE TALENT, RIGHT?

Not so much. Only the most jaded Nets fan looks at a lineup of Jarrett Jack, Bojan Bogdanovic, Joe Johnson, Thaddeus Young and Brook Lopez and gets excited. As far as young players who could blossom into something great, Bogdanovic is already 26, Thomas Robinson is playing for his fifth team in four seasons and former No. 1 pick Andrea Bargnani is, well, Bargs.

Shane Larkin is on his third team in three seasons, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson slid down draft boards when teams realized he had no elite skill and 2015 first-round pick Chris McCullough may not even play this season, due to a knee injury.

They got younger and more athletic in the offseason, but that’s not going to translate to more wins. They took a flier on a number of journeymen in hopes they’d have the proverbial light switch turn on, but that’s like playing the Powerball.

The dark days are back in Brooklyn and even a fancy new practice facility isn’t going to make a difference. The franchise is and always will be in the shadow of the New York Knicks and that’s going to be more obvious than ever when the Knicks reload and the Nets return to the cellar.

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