Brooklyn Nets: 2018-19 NBA season preview

2018-19 roster

Key additions: Dzanan Musa (draft), Rodions Kurucs (draft), Ed Davis (free agency), Shabazz Napier (free agency), Kenneth Faried (trade), Jared Dudley (trade)

Key subtractions: Jeremy Lin (trade), Timofey Mozgov (trade), Jahlil Okafor (free agency), Nik Stauskas (free agency), Dante Cunningham (free agency)

The front office was very hard at work this offseason, with their theme being consistent with past ones: low risk, high reward.

Starting with the 2018 NBA Draft, the Nets took swings at two young, raw European prospects. Dzanan Musa of Bosnia was the 29th overall selection, a 6’9″ scoring wing with a killer instinct.

At  No. 40, Brooklyn selected Rodions Kurucs, a lanky Latvian of the 3-and-D mold who also happens to be 6’10”. You can read about my draft analysis here, but in summation both picks were solid risks to take, with upside to significantly outperform their draft positions.

After adding those two to the docket, Marks was far from done. When July 1 hit and free agency took off, the Nets did too, re-signing Joe Harris and adding Ed Davis before you could blink.

A few days later, Marks retooled the guard rotation by shipping out Jeremy Lin and Isaiah Whitehead and receiving Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur (later traded for Jared Dudley).

Draft picks were also sent Brooklyn’s way, most importantly the 2019 protected first-rounder from the Denver Nuggets.

Faried and Davis are sure to make impacts as energy bigs, and they both fortify a weakness that pained the Nets all of last season: rebounding. Their inabilities to shoot will complicate lineup combinations, but Kenny Atkinson  has made two-big lineups work in Brooklyn.

The shooting from positions 1-3 will matter significantly in such quintets.

That’s where the team’s next signing comes in: Shabazz Napier. Napier shot 37.6 percent from downtown with the Portland Trail Blazers last season while also running the offense quite nicely.

This duality as a lead guard and off-ball guard will be valuable next to both of Brooklyn’s main playmakers.

The best part about each addition was how little risk was involved. Davis and Napier combine for a cap hit of $6.4 million; the Nets got draft capital for incurring Faried’s and Arthur’s (later Dudley’s) contracts.

Best of all, their contracts all come off the books after the upcoming season (Napier’s deal is non-guaranteed for 2019-20). So not only does the team retain flexibility for next summer, but these vets can also be used as trade bait for a contender if they play well.

Overall the Nets have a pretty balanced roster, which is quite unique for an up-and-coming team. They can run a myriad of different lineups thanks to the varying skill sets the roster has, and no one looks like a hindrance to the on-court product.

With that balance comes a small issue though. No one player sticks out as a genuine star; D’Angelo Russell probably has the best chance to get there, but it’s far from a guarantee.

This makes the storylines as amorphous as the roster, but they are a fun exercise to outline nonetheless.