Most of you and your friends are predicting Jay-Z and Co to go from "Worst to First" by the end of the up coming NBA season, assuming an additional move will be made that will put them over the top. Now to clarify, the Nets were not the "worst" team last season. They were good enough to win one third(22/66) of their games and finish 12th in the Eastern Conference. They did, however, finish last in their Division. They were depleted in a respect without the services of Center Brook Lopez for the majority of the season. Deron Williams' heart was not involved either, and many speculated that the three time all star would not be coming back unless Center Dwight Howard would play alongside him this season. With speculation rising high for Nets fans, the Russian Majority owner Mikhail Prokhorov along with partial owner and Rapper Jay-Z would do everything in their power to make Williams decide to stay with the Club. That being said, Howard would not join forces with the Nets, despite multiple trade attempts with the Orlando Magic, and the Nets focused their attention on resigning Centers Lopez and Kris Humphries. They would also acquire All Star Shooting Guard Joe Johnson in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks, who were looking to rebuild with draft picks and expiring contracts. A few other key acquisitions were free agents C.J Watson, Reggie Evans and Mizra Teletovic.
Not a bad summer for Brooklyn. Certainly a step in the right direction, which will help this ball club win more than 33% of its games. Possibly enough to reach the postseason. I say possibly, and here is why. Deron Williams did play last season and managed to put up All Star numbers with the Talent around him, but proved that he is more of a scoring Point Guard. Joe Johnson also needs the ball to be effective, an issue two Superstars need to agree upon in order to be successful. The last thing the Nets need is a Kidd/Carter explosion that takes them off the map. Still, it is the 2nd most dangerous backcourt in the NBA (behind Bryant/Nash). The center will be clogged with Lopez and Humphries to start the game, however the best option off the bench for either player is Reggie Evans, who never learned how to score. In the back court there is MarShon Brooks, entering his second NBA season, after a stellar Rookie campaign, he will face the dreaded "Sophomore Slump" entering his second season with the Nets. Jerry Stackhouse, Keith Bogans, Damion James and Sheldon Williams are all Veterans who are well past their primes and will not provide anything for this team, some may be cut before the first game of the season. The wild Cart here is Forward Gerald Wallace. Wallace is one of the most underrated talents of the past decade in the league. During his time with Charlotte he was able to play well enough to make an All Star appearance, and can get it all done on the floor. The issue with Wallace is the same as it is with Williams and Joe Johnson, however. All three players need the ball in their hands to be affective. If Williams is truly the Point Guard we have come to believe that he is then he will find a way to make the others play well without the ball.
The final issue for this adversely driven franchise comes from the coaching staff. Third year coach Avery Johnson has had previous success in his tenure with the Dallas Mavericks. They entered two NBA seasons as the team favored in the league to win the Larry O'Brein Trophy. Each year they made it one step closer to the goal; the first year losing in the NBA Finals to the underdog Miami Heat in 2006, followed by a 2007 season where Dirk Nowitzki would be crowned MVP of the league and the Mavericks finished with the number one overall seed, only to lose in the first round to the number eight Golden State Warriors, the first time that ever took place in a 7-game series. Johnson was then fired and after one season hiatus would be named New Jersey Nets head coach. Since joining the Nets in 2010, he has faced many different lineup changes, as the team has been searching for its identity ever since. Of course not one season has been a winning one. Now the pieces are in order for Johnson to be the man to make his stars align and work together. Is he the right man for the job? Or is Johnson a coach like Mike Brown who is put in a position to win and makes poor choices on how to execute his game plan? My money's on the latter.
Although last season was a struggle, the Nets have significantly improved. They were unable to land Howard, however kept their pieces in order and added significant role players to make a postseason run. Some experts pick them to go far, far enough perhaps to a showdown with the Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals. Conventional wisdom will tell you otherwise. They will be the most exciting team in the Eastern Conference to watch this coming season, they will win close to double the games they did last season, realistically between 38-44 games, and be strong enough to find themselves somewhere between a 6-8 seed in the Conference. In a very competitive Atlantic Division that features the Boston Celtics who got stronger this offseason, the New York Knicks who have all the pieces but need to gel, the up and coming Philadelphia 76ers who have the East's most dominant big man in Andrew Bynum, and Dwayne Casey's Toronto Raptors who look to be deeper this season than last, the division looks to be the toughest in all of Basketball. Very seldom do teams go from last in the division to first, and from a more inside look at this team, the hype is there, the talent is in line, the skill will take some time. Don't buy a high seed just yet, Brooklyn fans. Be happy with the progress you made this offseason and don't set the bar too high.
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