Brooklyn Nets: Star power lands as Nets look to rise in 2019-20

Storyline 2: A tale of two centers

Though the addition of DeAndre Jordan made sense to satisfy the superstar duo, it makes a little less basketball sense. Jarrett Allen is already a solid starting center; why’d they need to get Jordan?

Granted, the Nets did this last offseason too by signing Ed Davis, a quality big, to a one-year deal. But Jordan is better than Davis and might cut into Allen’s minutes (and development) more than the Nets should want.

To be fair, both bigs have different strengths. Jordan is an excellent finisher (seventh-highest effective field goal Percentage among qualifiers) and rebounder (fourth-highest rebounding percentage), while Allen is a better rim protector (ninth-highest block percentage).

Kenny Atkinson likes to have multiple tools at his disposal, so based on the matchup he might use them differently.

Another layer to this may be Allen’s shortcomings against Joel Embiid last postseason. Jordan could be an attempt to *try* and contain the 7’2″ Cameroonian better than Allen can.

Jordan’s name value only goes so far at age 31. His decline has already begun, though his peak was pretty damned high, so he’s still a quality big in this league, especially with his strengths.

Like Davis last year, Jordan is likely just insurance and a matchup alternate for Allen. The Nets have invested a lot into the 7-footer from Texas and it’s unlikely they’re going to curb that now.

If they do turn to Jordan, it’s probably an Allen problem more so than a Nets problem.