NBA: Ranking the teams in the Atlantic Division for 2017-18

5. Brooklyn Nets

The bad news is the Nets, once again, do not possess their own first round pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. This now belongs to the Cleveland Cavaliers (for now at least).

The good news is they should be much improved heading into next year.

Having lost 60 or more games each of the past two seasons, they have been unable to rebuild due to the horrible, awful, no good trade they made with their division rival back in 2013. That’s the trade that saw Brooklyn trade their future down the drain. They gave up the rights to their 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 first round picks in the deal.

Seeing as they have one more year without their pick, it’s imperative they improve their roster through other means. And that they did.

The Nets traded the 27th pick of the draft along with Brook Lopez to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Timofey Mozgov and D’Angelo Russell. It was a sly way for them to use their excess cap space in return for a promising young player.

They continued to use their cap space in order to acquire DeMarre Carroll from the Raptors and Allen Crabbe from the Portland Trail Blazers. They also received a 2018 first- and second-rounder in the deal with Toronto.

Although these transactions don’t give them a superstar, it certainly improves their depth. It also gives them some nice young talent to build around in the future.

However, the future isn’t in 2017-18.