Nets are NBA's Most Hopeless Franchise

[PhoSita]

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2015/5/2/8534673/brooklyn-nets-hopeless-bleak-sad-nba-playoffs-2015

I'm sure we all feel really bad for them.

[rondohondo]

[ManUp]

This article just brightened my day.

Just knowing we have their pick for the next 3 years gives me warm fuzzies inside.

I highly doubt they make the play-offs next year or the year after that. I expect seeds 1-7 to go mostly unchanged maybe swap out a couple teams for Indiana and/or Miami.

[WeMadeIt17]

LOL seriously. You sometimes don't realize what snake deal that was by Danny. I mean really! Celtics are in a very, very nice spot for the future.

[mahonedog88]

The Nets need multiple miracles to fix what they've gotten themselves in.  Depending on what they look like in the next 4-5 years, that Pierce/Garnett trade may turn out to be one of the dumbest, most lopsided trades in NBA history.  And that's no exaggeration.

[LGC88]

What a doom's day article.
Can I give a TP to the writer?

[LarBrd33]

That's all well and good, but they could win 50 games next year and I wouldn't be surprised.   Just depends on what happens with Lopez and Thadeus.   With both those guys healthy, they should be a playoff team again next year.

[rondohondo]

That's all well and good, but they could win 50 games next year and I wouldn't be surprised.   Just depends on what happens with Lopez and Thadeus.   With both those guys healthy, they should be a playoff team again next year.

they couldn't even win 40 this year and have no way of improving . How are the going to win 10+ more games next season ?

[Ilikesports17]

That's all well and good, but they could win 50 games next year and I wouldn't be surprised.   Just depends on what happens with Lopez and Thadeus.   With both those guys healthy, they should be a playoff team again next year.

they couldn't even win 40 this year and have no way of improving . How are the going to win 10+ more games next season ?

LarBrd is an admitted pessimist. He sees worst case scenarios. Thats why he picked us to win 15-25 games this year, why he thinks Smart will probably be a defensive role-player, and why he wouldnt be surprised to see Brooklyn win 50 games.

Dont confuse pessimist with troll.

With a healthy Brook Lopez and the addition of Thad Young this team played rather well down the stretch and in the playoffs. If Young and Lopez return along with some improvement from Mason Plumlee and Bogdanovich and a resurgence of Williams and Johnson (at least if they dont fall apart like wed hope them too) along with the destruction of Miami/Toronto and no other team making a huge improvement in the East then Brooklyn is a good bethas fighting chance to win 50 games.

However nearly all of these things need to happen for Brooklyn to sniff 50 wins. The biggest key is a healthy Lopez and he seems to be leaning towards opting out and if he doesnt what are the odds he stays healthy. The next key is a resurgence or at least treading water type performance from Williams and Johnson. It is more likely that they continue to get worse and worse. As for the young talent Bogdanovich is 26 and Plumlee is 25(although I like him a lot), they are getting close to evening out and I dont expect a huge breakout from either.

It is more likely that Lopez opts out, the old guys get worse, and this team finishes just ahead of the tank army that will probably occupy the majority of the bottom 10.

[bopna]

That's all well and good, but they could win 50 games next year and I wouldn't be surprised.   Just depends on what happens with Lopez and Thadeus.   With both those guys healthy, they should be a playoff team again next year.

they couldn't even win 40 this year and have no way of improving . How are the going to win 10+ more games next season ?

What he said!!
they barely made the 8th seed this yr and were lucky to have nipped the Pacers at the finish, and any team relying on lopez's knee to limp to 50 wins is goin to be extremely disappointed.

[PhoSita]

That's all well and good, but they could win 50 games next year and I wouldn't be surprised.   Just depends on what happens with Lopez and Thadeus.   With both those guys healthy, they should be a playoff team again next year.

Yup.  I agree.  People seem so sure that those future BRK picks are gonna be gold, but the Nets have no incentive to be bad and they still have those core guys who seem to find a way to win 35+ games every season.

The only way the Nets really go into the crapper is if they re-sign Lopez to a big deal and then he suffers a foot injury that ends his career.

The fact is, in the horrible East, it's just not very difficult to put together a 30-40 win team if you are willing to spend the maximum possible money to do it.

[GreenFaith1819]

Potential Auerbachian moves by Danny.

As others have said in the thread, BKN could win 50 games next season and the pick will be moot.

But they could also miss the playoffs entirely....no certainty with BKN at all.

If we could get a few big or mid-tier names soon, make the playoffs again next year, AND have lottery picks that would be GREAT.

This would remind me of the mid 80's when Red Auerbach swung those deals that turned into Len Bias...the amazing thing is that as I look back we had "just" won Banner 16 AND we had the number 2 pick.

This time around, won't be any sad stories. Smooth sailing ahead THIS time around.

[Ilikesports17]

That's all well and good, but they could win 50 games next year and I wouldn't be surprised.   Just depends on what happens with Lopez and Thadeus.   With both those guys healthy, they should be a playoff team again next year.

Yup.  I agree.  People seem so sure that those future BRK picks are gonna be gold, but the Nets have no incentive to be bad and they still have those core guys who seem to find a way to win 35+ games every season.

The only way the Nets really go into the crapper is if they re-sign Lopez to a big deal and then he suffers a foot injury that ends his career.

The fact is, in the horrible East, it's just not very difficult to put together a 30-40 win team if you are willing to spend the maximum possible money to do it.

30-40 is not 50. 30-40 is possible and I would say probably (leaning closer to 30) but 50 is an absolute everything goes perfectly best case-scenario.

The east is bad but it of its top 6 teams only Toronto and Atlanta figure to step back and I expect both to remain in the top 6 next year anyway. We were better this year and have much easier avenues for improvement. As for the teams the finished ahead of:
Indiana: returns Paul George
Miami: very plausibly could return Dragic, Wade, Deng, Bosh, Whiteside, top 10 pick
Charlotte: not great but full of young talent wouldnt be surprised to see a reasonable improvement
Detroit: Returns Jennings, but could lose Monroe still hampered by Smith
Orlando: Payton, Oladipo, Gordon, Vucevic, #5 pick, cap space will be better
Philly: lots of assets but no plans on being good
New York: Returns Melo, top 5 pick, big FA destination
I made the teams in green those who are improving and could reasonably leap frog Brooklyn.
---------------
The east is getting better, not worse. This is why we need to temper the expectations for the C's if they end up just running it back this year, but at least we have good talent. Brooklyn who is more likely to get worse than better was just 2 losses away from the tenth worst record in the NBA conversely nearly the entire East figures to get better.

I dont expect a top 6 pick. Thats tanker territory, but I do think 2016 Brooklyn is most likely to wind up in the 7-12 range which would be about 30 wins.

[PhoSita]

30-40 is not 50. 30-40 is possible and I would say probably (leaning closer to 30) but 50 is an absolute everything goes perfectly best case-scenario.

True, I agree.

But 30-40 wins in the East, at best, gets you into the 10-15 range of the draft.  Always a nice asset to have, but it's not the golden goose that it's been made out to be around here.


I've often seen the sentiment "We don't need to tank because the Nets will do it for us!"  Maybe not said exactly in that way, but that's the idea.  I don't think that's going to happen.

[BDeCosta26]

That's all well and good, but they could win 50 games next year and I wouldn't be surprised.   Just depends on what happens with Lopez and Thadeus.   With both those guys healthy, they should be a playoff team again next year.

They have a punchers chance of sneaking back into the 8th seed next year. But they're certainly not winning 50 games. We have a much better chance at that than they do. Just about every team in the east should improve next season. Not only will us and Milwaukee be in the mix for the late seeds, Indiana will have George back (they would've bumped BK out this year if they had him), Miami will be healthy and competitive. Charlotte, Detroit, Orlando will all improve. Both Lopez and Thad have the opportunity to go on the market. Even assuming they both come back. How in the world is Thad Young and Lopez getting that team to 50 wins? They'll be lucky to get ANY kind of production from Williams and a 39 year old Joe Johnson. Can't see that happening.

Your pessimism knows no bounds man. How can a Brooklyn team who snuck into the playoffs with a worse record than we did somehow improve to 50 wins we the same exact core group of guys, two of which are on sharp declines and the other two may not even come back. But even if they do, who says Lopez stays healthy all year? They pretty much can't make any moves, no flexibility. How do they get to 50 wins but a Celtics team with a core group of 5 or so guys all 26 or under and a ton of flexibility who went 24-12 to end the year and a brilliant young HC will be lucky to reach the same 40 wins they got this year? You gotta really reach to produce a scenario where that happens.