Brooklyn is going to be terrible- We really could get a top 5 pick this year...

[fairweatherfan]

I think the floor is higher for the Celts, but the ceiling for the Celts isn't much higher than the Nets.  Both teams are pretty mediocre.

I agree with this, though I'd also say we're in a stronger position to acquire a roof-raiser or two this season.

They literally have two maybe three guys who would start on playoff teams being Johnson and Lopez. Young is solid and would start for some poorer NBA teams but not unless he's the 4th/5th option.

It's literally D Leaguers and some washed up starting caliber guys.
Take a look...Try and put together a team that wins over 30 games from this car crash, let alone can handle one injury to any position.

www.nba.com/nets/roster

Oh I've looked, and they're pretty bad.  I just think the bottom 10 in the East, excluding Philadelphia, are all mediocre enough that they could finish in nearly any order.  I'd put Brooklyn towards the bottom of that group on average, but it doesn't take many breaks - good for you or bad for them - to find yourself in the middle of a pack like that.

[Vox_Populi]

Johnson isn't a bordeline all-star and hasn't been one for years.  The only thing Johnson was ever exceptional at was scoring and that has been on a serious decline over the past three seasons.

If you want to be a contrarian wet blanket, is it too much to ask that you AT LEAST base it on facts?

Jesus Joe was an All Star in 2014? He's also still one of the best late game scorers in the league, shooting a higher percentage over the past three seasons in close, end-of-game situations than Lebron, Curry, Melo, Kobe, even our guy Pierce.

Come on, let's not let facts get in the way.

You honestly believe that? Johnson shooting better in late game situations than Curry or LeBron? The guy's hit his share of game winners, but so has Rudy Gay.

Last 3 seasons average FG% in final 5 Mins.
Johnson 39%
LeBron 44.6%
Curry 40.1%
Melo 38.6%
Pierce 41.1%

And Johnson's All-Star bid in 2014 was argued at the time and was pretty much solely due to a hot streak in January. For what it's worth, Hibbert was an All-Star as recently as 2014 too.

[PhoSita]

They literally have two maybe three guys who would start on playoff teams

. . .

It's literally D Leaguers and some washed up starting caliber guys.

I could easily see a person from New York making a similar argument about the Celtics.

[kraidstar]

nets look to me a lot like last year's knicks. one scorer, and a bunch of no-defense guys and d-leaguers. i predict they finish bottom-8.  won't be surprised if it's bottom-3.

this is an 82-game schedule, and their 6-12 guys are d-league caliber. their team has little athleticism and almost zero young talent. when injuries hit (and they will), the  nets will be giving multiple d-leaguers heavy minutes.

lopez is an elite scorer who does little else.

JJ is 34, and has lost a lot of athleticism and efficiency.

young is an OK cast-off from the sixers and wolves.

their 4th-best player is an ineffecient jarrett jack, who struggled running their offense last year.

 their 5th-best player is bargnani, who is struggling to stay in the league.

when lopez and barg are on the court together their rebounding and defense will be legendarily bad.

that team is going to suck.

[Moranis]

They literally have two maybe three guys who would start on playoff teams

. . .

It's literally D Leaguers and some washed up starting caliber guys.

I could easily see a person from New York making a similar argument about the Celtics.

They returned 4 starters from their playoff team last year and the other starter this year was their 6th man last year and has started 4 playoff games in his career. 

[PhoSita]

They literally have two maybe three guys who would start on playoff teams

. . .

It's literally D Leaguers and some washed up starting caliber guys.

I could easily see a person from New York making a similar argument about the Celtics.

They returned 4 starters from their playoff team last year and the other starter this year was their 6th man last year and has started 4 playoff games in his career.

Are you agreeing with me?  Are you talking about the Nets or the Celts?

The two teams really aren't that different.  The Celts just have a greater quantity of mediocre-but-not-terrible players.

[BDeCosta26]

I wouldn't count on Brooklyn sucking.  They finished the season strong.  Brook Lopez and Thad Young made a difference.  I think our pick from them will end up in the 12-17 range.

This is exactly what I thought too. Then they traded Plumlee, KG left, Teletovic went down, Johnson got older and had his 5th straight season of decline.

I'm getting pretty bored of this topic, but i'll just briefly touch on this.

- Plumlee was irrelevant in the second half of the season.
- Swapping KG for Thad Young gave them a major positive Jolt
- Teletovic?  Lol
- Johnson... eh... still a solid player
- Lopez was beasting over the past three months of the season.  That makes a difference as a healthy Lopez is a force down low.

Agree to disagree.  Hope you guys end up right.

I hope you see the irony in saying 'lol' to Teletovic and Plumlee but somehow have faith in Bargani, Larkin and Willy Reed whilst the rest of the East gets considerably better? lol

Their starting PG is Jarrett Jack. Their back up is Larkin- not a typo.
Their starting SG is Johnson. Their back ups are Markel Brown and Wayne Ellingtion with some Karasev thrown in.
Their SF is Bogdanovic with Karasev and Quincy Miller.
Their PF is Thadeus with Bargani, Willy Reed and Thomas Robinson.
Their C is Lopez with Bargani and Willy Reed. That's not a typo. Bargani and Willy Reed.

That is arguably the poorest line up in the NBA or is definitely in the conversation and it's a bottom 5 defense.

They are going to be terrible. They are an injury away from being a genuine dumpster fire.

I think people are looking at this team and think "If last years team made it, this years has a good chance of making it too", but that fails to recognize the apparent shift in their overall thinking from "We need to maximize the chances of our current core of Williams/Johnson/Lopez" to "We need to regain flexibility so we can be a halfway legitimate player in FA, we need to try and use our current guys (See: Plumlee, Johnson) before they lose all value to get ourselves back into the draft, and we need to get some young guys in here that we think can play and help us I'm the future"

As you said Chambers, they have almost no depth. If Bargani is your best player off the bench and is your back-up for an oft-injured Brook Lopez, your in big trouble. As is, assuming they don't trade anyone mid-season, how can we do worse than a top 10 or so pick. One legit injury or trade to Lopez or even Thad Young or Johnson, and that's an absolute bottom feeder. And is anyone really gonna bet on Lopez staying healthy all year and playing 32+MPG, because they'll need that to happen to even sniff the playoff race.

It's entirely possible that the Celtics get one pick in the Top 5-7 picks, one in the 8-12 range and another in the 14-18 range. Personally I think at this point (which is obviously quite early) I'd say that seems like the most likely scenario. I don't think we could hope for a much better outlook on these picks after this past summer. I'm thrilled to have those picks.

[Monkhouse]

I wouldn't count on Brooklyn sucking.  They finished the season strong.  Brook Lopez and Thad Young made a difference.  I think our pick from them will end up in the 12-17 range.

This is exactly what I thought too. Then they traded Plumlee, KG left, Teletovic went down, Johnson got older and had his 5th straight season of decline.

I'm getting pretty bored of this topic, but i'll just briefly touch on this.

- Plumlee was irrelevant in the second half of the season.
- Swapping KG for Thad Young gave them a major positive Jolt
- Teletovic?  Lol
- Johnson... eh... still a solid player
- Lopez was beasting over the past three months of the season.  That makes a difference as a healthy Lopez is a force down low.

Agree to disagree.  Hope you guys end up right.

I hope you see the irony in saying 'lol' to Teletovic and Plumlee but somehow have faith in Bargani, Larkin and Willy Reed whilst the rest of the East gets considerably better? lol

Their starting PG is Jarrett Jack. Their back up is Larkin- not a typo.
Their starting SG is Johnson. Their back ups are Markel Brown and Wayne Ellingtion with some Karasev thrown in.
Their SF is Bogdanovic with Karasev and Quincy Miller.
Their PF is Thadeus with Bargani, Willy Reed and Thomas Robinson.
Their C is Lopez with Bargani and Willy Reed. That's not a typo. Bargani and Willy Reed.

That is arguably the poorest line up in the NBA or is definitely in the conversation and it's a bottom 5 defense.

They are going to be terrible. They are an injury away from being a genuine dumpster fire.

This pretty much sums it.

Williams was infinitely better than Jack, and Larkin failed to garner minutes on a team that really sucked, before getting traded.

Bargnani may bounce back, but him averaging over 5 PPG is considered an upgrade to how terrible he was with the Knicks.

I mean I see the Nets doing pretty badly this year, but not bad enough to justify a top 5 pick. I think we'll end up around 7-10. 3-5 being the best case imo.

[D.o.s.]

Also, what is this real basketball talk doing happening in early September?

[JumpingJudkins]

I mean I see the Nets doing pretty badly this year, but not bad enough to justify a top 5 pick. I think we'll end up around 7-10. 3-5 being the best case imo.

I honestly don't see six teams with worse rosters than the Nets. The Sixers, sure. Probably the Lakers and Knicks. Maybe the Nuggets and Kings, but not for sure.

[ImShakHeIsShaq]

I mean I see the Nets doing pretty badly this year, but not bad enough to justify a top 5 pick. I think we'll end up around 7-10. 3-5 being the best case imo.

I honestly don't see six teams with worse rosters than the Nets. The Sixers, sure. Probably the Lakers and Knicks. Maybe the Nuggets and Kings, but not for sure.

Kings may lose b/c of conference and end with a worse record but on what planet is their roster close to being worse? I can't believe you are questioning it.

[PhoSita]

The Nets are a decently coached team that plays slow and tends to keep games relatively low scoring and close.

At the end of a reasonably close game, the Nets will probably trot out a lineup featuring Jarrett Jack, Joe Johnson, Thaddeus Young, and Brook Lopez.

That should be good enough to grind out possessions and come away with wins against young, inexperienced, generally crappy teams.

They aren't going to be anything resembling "good," but unless the aforementioned players miss a significant number of games, the Nets are going to win a lot closer to 30-35 games than 20-25. 

So, again . . . pray that Brook Lopez suffers another major injury.

[Evantime34]

The Nets are a decently coached team that plays slow and tends to keep games relatively low scoring and close.

At the end of a reasonably close game, the Nets will probably trot out a lineup featuring Jarrett Jack, Joe Johnson, Thaddeus Young, and Brook Lopez.

That should be good enough to grind out possessions and come away with wins against young, inexperienced, generally crappy teams.

They aren't going to be anything resembling "good," but unless the aforementioned players miss a significant number of games, the Nets are going to win a lot closer to 30-35 games than 20-25. 

So, again . . . pray that Brook Lopez suffers another major injury.

I am praying that Brook Lopez has another major injury. The thing is if Lopez's career is any indication it's more likely than not that he gets hurt.

Brooklyn is so thin that really any extensive injury probably puts them in the 20-25 win area.

If everyone stays healthy on the Nets I agree that they will win closer to 30-35 games, but I think it is likely that someone will get hurt forcing a bad player into a starting role and really hurting their win total.

[Moranis]

I mean I see the Nets doing pretty badly this year, but not bad enough to justify a top 5 pick. I think we'll end up around 7-10. 3-5 being the best case imo.

I honestly don't see six teams with worse rosters than the Nets. The Sixers, sure. Probably the Lakers and Knicks. Maybe the Nuggets and Kings, but not for sure.

Kings may lose b/c of conference and end with a worse record but on what planet is their roster close to being worse? I can't believe you are questioning it.

DMC is clearly the best player on either team, but the kings and nets on the whole match up pretty evenly. 

[hwangjini_1]

They literally have two maybe three guys who would start on playoff teams

. . .

It's literally D Leaguers and some washed up starting caliber guys.

I could easily see a person from New York making a similar argument about the Celtics.

not quite sure of your point here. are you saying you agree with this hypothetical NY guy you created? if so, why not say so directly yourself? if not, then why bring up a make-believe figure to make a point?