Brooklyn Nets: Tankapalooza and its impact on next season
By Alec Liebsch
Because the Brooklyn Nets retain control over their own first round pick starting next season, the new trends in the NBA standings must be analyzed.
Unsurprisingly, the Brooklyn Nets are a few leaps and bounds away from contention. The pain from realizing this fact is compounded with the knowledge that Brooklyn will once again not have its own first round pick for the 2018 NBA Draft.
The Nets are sandwiched between franchises attempting to lose on purpose. Tanking has been around for decades, but this season’s basement is exceptionally clustered. Arguably nine teams are trying to maximize their lottery odds by throwing games.
This comes as no surprise to most basketball followers. If a team has no chance to make noise in the playoffs, its next best option is to do an about-face in order to maximize its ping pong balls for the lottery. Building through the draft is the most cost-effective way to build a roster, and the better one’s lottery odds are to move into the top three, the easier a rebuild can become.
The most recent example of this is the Philadelphia 76ers. At 42-30, the Sixers are loaded with upside in three of their starters. All three have been drafted since 2014, and one of them started in the All-Star game this season.
As a result, other teams pounced on this idea, leading to the congestion in the NBA’s basement. Fans often find themselves on Tankathon.com (including yours truly), observing the race to the bottom.
The Nets should join this group next season, but there is a newfound problem they will encounter.
Too many cooks
As most draft pundits know, prospects typically fall into tiers. Depending on context and philosophy these tiers can be amorphous, but most mock drafts are similar near the top.
If there are more bad teams than there are top-level prospects, is it really worth it to throw games? Some owners would value the butts in the seats over outwardly tanking, especially when said team’s odds will not shift drastically by losing on purpose.
More from Brooklyn Nets
- Why the new-look Brooklyn Nets are guaranteed to surprise
- NBA Trades: This Mavs-Nets deal may lead to Dallas adding a third star
- 5 NBA players everyone should be keeping a close eye on in 2023-24
- 5 NBA players facing do-or-die 2023–2024 seasons
- Is Mikal Bridges the Brooklyn Nets next star?
The back end of the lottery is especially notable for this conundrum. The lottery odds flatten with the better (worse?) teams, causing an inflection point for many front offices.
Additionally, most drafts are not deep enough to feed the mouths of tanking teams if they fall outside the top 10. Few prospects selected in the teens become superstars.
If the Nets cannot lose enough to remain in the top tier of the draft, then outwardly tanking might not be worth it, especially if the cellar is as populous as last season. Why lose on purpose for only the 10th pick when they can be “competitive” for the 12th?
This quandary does not arise for teams like the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic. Those teams are in desperate need of future cornerstones, and need to tank for the chance to obtain such players.
Fork in the road
Thankfully, Brooklyn has shrewdly climbed its way out of that dreary group. As I have previously outlined, the Nets have quite a few notable youngsters. Tanking is preferred, but only if the context allows for it. Heck, the Nets might even be competitive enough to avoid that bottom-feeding tier altogether.
No matter which road the front office takes this summer, they are in a confusing position. Certain players’ futures with the franchise must be analyzed despite limited sample sizes, and the cap situation is not as open as one would think.
Next: NBA Rookie of the Year ladder - Week 24
At the same time, however, the team can also be patient and let the market dictate itself. If players hold more value to other teams than they do to the Nets, general manager Sean Marks will be proactive. If not, they can play out the 2018-19 season like Daoists and go with the flow.