Brooklyn Nets: 3 takeaways from the 2018 NBA offseason

1. The team wants to win right now

It’s not often that you see a team so young try to be so competitive. But alas, this is the task Marks was dealt. Since that horrid 2013 trade that I refuse to link to, Brooklyn has ceded control of its draft picks to another team. This eliminated the point of tanking, even when the team had no chance to win.

But now that the Nets have control over their own picks, they don’t seem too keen on tanking either. With boatloads of cap space at their disposal next summer and the young pieces continuing to grow, losing on purpose seems unlikely. Quite honestly, the team is too good to tank now. Not necessarily 45-wins good, but good enough to where compromising the current roster for draft picks actually compromises the future.

In a hotspot like New York City, the Nets are an attractive destination. With cap space to boot, they will be major players in free agency next summer and beyond. So it only makes sense to field a competitive roster in order to attract high-caliber players.

Given the equal-opportunity system that Atkinson has in place, most superstars would love to be a part of it. All this team has to do is display internal improvements, competitiveness, and an appealing culture. The latter two are well integrated into the franchise, and the former is much easier to produce as a result.

Worse comes to worst, they strike out on big-name guys, take fliers on one-year deals, and do it all again in 2019-20. Players won’t stray from the Big Apple for too long.