The case for LeBron James to join the Brooklyn Nets
By Alec Liebsch
Even though NBA free agency hasn’t started yet, the wheels of endless possibilities are starting to turn. Every move that happens around the NBA from July 1st on will be tied to one man: LeBron James. Here is the (very improbable) campaign for him to join the Brooklyn Nets.
For the first time since 2014, there is a tangible chance that LeBron James leaves his incumbent team. After carrying the Cleveland Cavaliers to the 2018 NBA Finals, he and his teammates got demolished by the Golden State Warriors. None of it was surprising to anyone, and therein lies the real reason James could bounce.
He can’t win in Cleveland, nor can he expand his brand any more than he already has. He owns the city, is one of the best players in the history of the game, and has nothing left to give to Cavs fans.
Where will he go? That remains to be seen. Rumors of random connections LeBron has around the league will permeate to virtually every franchises’ beats. The heavy majority of teams in the NBA will try to recruit him any way they can, and the Brooklyn Nets are certainly in that group.
Now it’s time to consider the miraculous scenario that is LeBron joining the Nets. Why would LeBron consider a team that just lost 54 games? Would it even make sense for the Nets to obtain him? What is the path that the front office must travel down to make it happen? The answers to these questions, and many others, are now at your disposal.
Roster flipping
What people tend to forget is that before LeBron got to Cleveland, the Cavs were coming off a 49-loss campaign. They had just used the No. 1 pick to select Andrew Wiggins, who they later traded (along with Anthony Bennett) for Kevin Love to improve the immediate roster. If LeBron sees a path for a bad team to change its fortunes around, he will consider the possibility.
The Nets don’t have a high draft pick like Cleveland does (ironically, Cleveland actually has the Brooklyn’s first-rounder this year), but they do have the resources to build around LeBron. Several young pieces on the roster have value around the league, and most of the others would fit well around the King.
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In the event that he does join the Nets, a trade candidate is probably Spencer Dinwiddie, whose contract expires next summer. He has subpar capabilities off the ball to this point, specifically with floor-spacing, which is a key element to coexisting with LeBron. Even if King James wants to tone down his usage as a playmaker, superior off-guard options to Dinwiddie are on the roster.
Another trade option is Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who is also entering a contract year. He has great defensive tools and a high basketball I.Q., but one crucial flaw: shooting. As a career 23.7 percent 3-point shooter, RHJ would have a hard time coexisting with LeBron unless they went super-small at the 4 and 5. As a young player with untapped upside, he can garner more value on the market than he would give the LeBron-led Nets as a specialist.
Quality role players can be acquired for these two, especially in the current NBA world where virtually no one has cap space. Dinwiddie and RHJ are on very cheap deals as young players, and the Nets can milk their respective values as expiring contracts too. Neither of them have ever had higher trade value, so if the path to signing LeBron is there, the front office will take a hard look at trading guys like them.
Preferably, these players net malleable veterans who can slide between positions and shoot off the catch. A stretch-big who can hold his own defensively is certainly an archetype to target. Players of this caliber include Al-Faroq Aminu, James Johnson, and a supercharged Hollis-Jefferson. It’s arguable that Aminu or Johnson would not suffice in value for these youngsters. However, that is the price you pay to build around an all-time great; the Cavs traded a first round pick for Channing Frye.
One condition that must be stated is that the team will have to renounce its cap holds on certain players, such as Jahlil Okafor, Nik Stauskas, Dante Cunningham and Quincy Acy. Cry me a river.
Additionally, the Nets finally have legitimate draft resources at their disposal. I said last week that the Nets should stand pat with these picks, but if LeBron freaking James is coming, it’s imperative to accommodate. The draft does happen before free agency, but players can be traded 30 days after being picked. At worst, the Nets can use these picks on high-I.Q. role players to fit around the King. At best, they can package them with larger, unnecessary contracts to create the requisite space to sign LeBron and, ideally, re-sign Joe Harris.
Not to mention, veterans will naturally gravitate to LeBron. After all, he is the best player in the world (for now). Players take discounts to play on great teams, and the Nets will certainly be in that elite group with a guy like James.
Another important element to all this is the market power of New York City. LeBron has, and always will be, about marketing himself. Brooklyn is a great place to aggrandize his brand, and arguably a better place to do so than Los Angeles.
New world order
Now that the path to building around LeBron is out of the way, it’s time to look at how he fits with this newly-constructed roster. It’ll be doused with shooters and cutters, many of whom were acquired before adding LeBron was even a thought.
Guys like Allen Crabbe and Joe Harris would be the biggest beneficiaries. With an otherworldly passer like LeBron running the show, they will get some of the best looks of their careers. Granted, Harris did have a stint with the King once before, but it wasn’t a long one. He fluctuated between the G League and the end of the bench before the team moved on from him.
With a few more years of legitimate experience under his belt, Harris will undoubtedly be up to the task. Crabbe himself has some intense playoff experience after playing with Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers, so he will certainly be prepared to step up.
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Another huge beneficiary of adding LeBron is DeMarre Carroll. Carroll has already proven to be a valuable playoff contributor with the Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors, and now he can coexist with the man who ousted those teams in the past. As a pair of big wings, they can hold their own on the defensive end and switch seamlessly. LeBron won’t have to cover the best player on the other team, as Carroll can take care of that. Their synergy could be dynamic on both ends; Carroll’s offensive looks will get a lot easier next to an elite passer like James.
Speaking of seamlessness, this iteration of the Nets would have some of the best lineup flexibility LeBron has ever been a part of. They could go small with LeBron and Carroll in the frontcourt, big with Jarrett Allen and an aforementioned veteran, and various other combinations in between. As LeBron ages, it behooves him to slide down a spot or two in the lineup. If he’s the point-center around athletic wings and shooters, that’s a basketball dream.
When LeBron isn’t at point-center, he can throw lobs to Jarrett Allen. LeBron hasn’t had too many rim-runners as athletic as Allen, so their pick-and roll tandem could become one of the best in the league. The transition opportunities with Allen and James would light the NBA on fire, in case people forget about the Nets. Allen’s finishing capabilities are only going to improve around an elite passer like LeBron; put three shooters next to them and just watch the magic unfold.
Another crucial element to LeBron’s existence on this roster involves something he was desperately missing in Cleveland: a scorer. James does almost everything, but he really missed another shot-creator in these Finals. D’Angelo Russell has the potential to be that guy with his fearless scoring aggression.
He isn’t the most efficient scorer in the world as of now, but neither was Kyrie Irving before LeBron came back. There were legitimate questions over how efficient Irving could be, and whether LeBron would tolerate it. All-time great passers are quite the panaceas.
Contrary to popular belief, the current team without making any moves is probably better than the LeBron-less Cavaliers. Kevin Love is better than anyone on the Nets, but after that…sheesh. If LeBron could take that team to the Finals, he could easily do the same with these Nets.
The system in place is also beneficial to LeBron’s skill-set. The barrage of 3-point looks, pick-and-rolls, and intelligent ball movement is exactly what the King needs from his supporting cast. The pressure to succeed would certainly skyrocket, but these are NBA players. They didn’t reach this level to stay complacent; everyone in this league wants to win.
As I’ve brought up on several occasions, many of these Nets are former castaways. They’re hungry, they work their butts off, and the #WeGoHard team hashtag says it all. They want to win more than anything, and no one would quibble about a player of LeBron’s caliber joining the fight.
Next: 5 biggest takeaways from the 2018 NBA Finals
Dinwiddie might think LeBron isn’t coming, but as Kevin Garnett famously said, anything is possible. If LeBron James wants to come to the Brooklyn Nets, the door is open, and it wouldn’t be the wrong one to walk through.