Official 2015-16 Brooklyn Nets Season Watch Thread (21-59, 3rd slot as of 4/12)

[JBcat]

The Suns waived Kris Humphries. Even Philly doesn't seem as bad as the Suns. What a pathetic franchise.

Self destruction at its best. At least Philly has a plan. Suns was supposed to be a playoff team that decided to blow up the building in the middle of the season.

Just look at their franchise last year (this is all the players that played for them).
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2015.html

The steps to self- destruction:

1. Re-sign Bledsoe for a 70 mill 5 year deal, when you already have a ****load of PGs. In 2013-4 they had Barbossa, Dragic and Ish Smith (hey, with hindsight this guy doesn't look that bad, if only they had given him playing time...). And then they got IT. I don't remember the exact order of the moves here, but clearly offering a fat contract  to Bledsoe when you can have IT and Dragic ... No wonder both IT and Dragic wanted out....

2. Trading IT for a stale bagel (follows naturally from 1 but still  )

3. Trading Dragic for two first rounders of questionable value: Miami's 2017 (1-7 protected, 2018 unprotected) and 2021 unprotected. First thing to notice here is that 2021 is a bit far away  , second that it doesn't take much to realize Riley's evil plan is to hand them two non-lottery picks and have a good laugh.

4. Trading the first Morris brother, p---ing off the other one to no end, and then being forced to trade the other one too.

The Brandon Knight deal was the only one that was not outright awful, but all they have achieved so far is wasting an elite player in a mega-tanking team. (and this at the cost of a high value LAL pick, Ennis and Plumlee) If this continues, expect Knight to ask to get traded soon enough

Arguably, the worst front office performance in the last couple of years.

I actually think the Heat picks could be gold for them.  The Heat don't have much for young talent, and once their older players fall off a cliff they could be in a world of hurt.  Plus Riley is up there in age.  There is no guarantee he is still steering the ship a few years from now.

[Evantime34]

The Suns waived Kris Humphries. Even Philly doesn't seem as bad as the Suns. What a pathetic franchise.

Self destruction at its best. At least Philly has a plan. Suns was supposed to be a playoff team that decided to blow up the building in the middle of the season.

Just look at their franchise last year (this is all the players that played for them).
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2015.html

The steps to self- destruction:

1. Re-sign Bledsoe for a 70 mill 5 year deal, when you already have a ****load of PGs. In 2013-4 they had Barbossa, Dragic and Ish Smith (hey, with hindsight this guy doesn't look that bad, if only they had given him playing time...). And then they got IT. I don't remember the exact order of the moves here, but clearly offering a fat contract  to Bledsoe when you can have IT and Dragic ... No wonder both IT and Dragic wanted out....

2. Trading IT for a stale bagel (follows naturally from 1 but still  )

3. Trading Dragic for two first rounders of questionable value: Miami's 2017 (1-7 protected, 2018 unprotected) and 2021 unprotected. First thing to notice here is that 2021 is a bit far away  , second that it doesn't take much to realize Riley's evil plan is to hand them two non-lottery picks and have a good laugh.

4. Trading the first Morris brother, p---ing off the other one to no end, and then being forced to trade the other one too.

The Brandon Knight deal was the only one that was not outright awful, but all they have achieved so far is wasting an elite player in a mega-tanking team. (and this at the cost of a high value LAL pick, Ennis and Plumlee) If this continues, expect Knight to ask to get traded soon enough

Arguably, the worst front office performance in the last couple of years.

1. Bledsoe was very good this year before he got hurt. If he can eventually put these injuries behind him I think he will be worth every penny of that deal.

2. This was admittedly terrible, but the thought process behind it wasn't as bad. They realized that the situation of having 3 starting level pg is untenable long term so when they targeted Knight they decided that they needed to move Thomas. Even though Thomas is better, Knight fits the Suns timeline better.

3. He was leaving anyway at the end of the season. That they got two firsts for a player they were 100% going to lose for nothing in a couple months. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

4. Even though there were issues with the Morris twins, in the end the value that they got for the 2nd one was pretty good. A first for a guy that was making it clear didn't want to be there.

5. They now have a very real chance at Ben Simmons. You add him to their team and they have a quality young player at every position. They have tanked the end of this season, which shouldn't be the end of the world since this is the first time they did that since McDonough was hired. After this offseason they could easily be a team on the rise. A healthy Knight, Bledsoe back court will make them much better next year. They will also have a bunch of quality developing prospects in Len, Warren and Booker.

[greece66]

The Suns waived Kris Humphries. Even Philly doesn't seem as bad as the Suns. What a pathetic franchise.

Self destruction at its best. At least Philly has a plan. Suns was supposed to be a playoff team that decided to blow up the building in the middle of the season.

Just look at their franchise last year (this is all the players that played for them).
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2015.html

The steps to self- destruction:

1. Re-sign Bledsoe for a 70 mill 5 year deal, when you already have a ****load of PGs. In 2013-4 they had Barbossa, Dragic and Ish Smith (hey, with hindsight this guy doesn't look that bad, if only they had given him playing time...). And then they got IT. I don't remember the exact order of the moves here, but clearly offering a fat contract  to Bledsoe when you can have IT and Dragic ... No wonder both IT and Dragic wanted out....

2. Trading IT for a stale bagel (follows naturally from 1 but still  )

3. Trading Dragic for two first rounders of questionable value: Miami's 2017 (1-7 protected, 2018 unprotected) and 2021 unprotected. First thing to notice here is that 2021 is a bit far away  , second that it doesn't take much to realize Riley's evil plan is to hand them two non-lottery picks and have a good laugh.

4. Trading the first Morris brother, p---ing off the other one to no end, and then being forced to trade the other one too.

The Brandon Knight deal was the only one that was not outright awful, but all they have achieved so far is wasting an elite player in a mega-tanking team. (and this at the cost of a high value LAL pick, Ennis and Plumlee) If this continues, expect Knight to ask to get traded soon enough

Arguably, the worst front office performance in the last couple of years.

1. Bledsoe was very good this year before he got hurt. If he can eventually put these injuries behind him I think he will be worth every penny of that deal.

2. This was admittedly terrible, but the thought process behind it wasn't as bad. They realized that the situation of having 3 starting level pg is untenable long term so when they targeted Knight they decided that they needed to move Thomas. Even though Thomas is better, Knight fits the Suns timeline better.

3. He was leaving anyway at the end of the season. That they got two firsts for a player they were 100% going to lose for nothing in a couple months. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

4. Even though there were issues with the Morris twins, in the end the value that they got for the 2nd one was pretty good. A first for a guy that was making it clear didn't want to be there.

5. They now have a very real chance at Ben Simmons. You add him to their team and they have a quality young player at every position. They have tanked the end of this season, which shouldn't be the end of the world since this is the first time they did that since McDonough was hired. After this offseason they could easily be a team on the rise. A healthy Knight, Bledsoe back court will make them much better next year. They will also have a bunch of quality developing prospects in Len, Warren and Booker.

This is off-topic, so I'll try to keep it short. IMO Suns will stay at the bottom of the Western Conference for at least a couple more years, and here's my reasoning.

The Suns seem to me to be the classic case of a bad front office putting the blame on the alleged bad attitude of the players: Dragic was too picky, Markieff had issues etc. IMO, it's the opposite: that several players openly said they are dissatisfied with the management speaks volumes about how the team was falling apart.

Even if they get the first pick (15.6% if they finish third); and even if their two other first rounders give them good players, it will take them a long time to see again playoffs. Sota had 2 first round picks in its roster this season and I'm not counting A.Benett  Wiggins and Towns are among the best talents in the NBA today; it also had a solid supporting cast but still it was far and away from making the playoffs.

For comparison purposes, look at the other rebuilding teams in the West: LAL has more talent and a better organization, I already mentioned Sota, , NOP has issues but they still have AD -who is worth more than Bledsoe, Knight and Len put together, Sac also has issues but has Cousins and despite lots of messy last minute decisions, they did put together a decent roster. Denver is the only team that seems to be in a dead end similar to that of the Suns, but my feeling is they will deal better with their situation, they did not make all these questionable trades and have a more stable roster + drafting Mudiay at 7 was a steal. Again, by comparison, it seems to me the Suns have a rather bad front office.

[Kane3387]

What is up with Brooklyn?! Come on Clippers.

[csfansince60s]

Clips up 9 with 3 to go!

[Kane3387]

Clips up 9 with 3 to go!

Yeah. Brooklyn back where they belong. In the Loss column. Hopefully the rested lakers can get the better of Brooklyn on the 2nd night of a B2B.

That make up for the Utah win.

[Quetzalcoatl]

There is a scary run right now for the Nets:

@ LA Lakers who are 2-8 in their last 10, aka hot garbage
@ Nuggets who just lost Gallo and are 4-6 in their last 10
@ Timberwolves who are 5-5 in their last 10, so they could actually hold them off
@ Raptors (luckily Toronto should win this one)
@ 76ers - they are 1-9 in their last 10, but the Nets might lose just based on law of averages
homes vs Bucks - who are trying to win games and are 2-0 vs the Nets, but they're still a bad team
home vs 76ers - they're probably going to win this one
@ Bulls - the Nets are 1-1 vs them already, so who knows
@ Pistons - the Pistons should win, but they're still a sloppy team
home vs the Hornets - again, the Hornets should win, but I don't fully trust them

Then they have 12 more games after that, including 2 vs the Cavs and 1 vs the Raptors.

This is becoming scary because the Nuggets are only at 23 wins, as are the Pelicans.  The Nets schedule has a super easy run and they could easily win vs the Lakers, Nuggets, Wolves, Bucks, Sixers and then Sixers again.

They have 17 wins, so if the Nets win all of those 6 easy games vs tanking teams, they will be ahead of Minny and tied with two other teams.  Ugh.  If the Nets lose one of them though, I will feel a lot better.  Lets go Lakers.

It's unclear is Kobe will be playing tonight: http://nypost.com/2016/02/29/no-guarantee-nets-will-get-one-last-glimpse-at-kobe/

[Celtic Fan Forever]

That awkward moment when you have to root for the Lakers tonight...

[fairweatherfan]

They have 17 wins, so if the Nets win all of those 6 easy games vs tanking teams, they will be ahead of Minny and tied with two other teams.  Ugh.  If the Nets lose one of them though, I will feel a lot better.  Lets go Lakers.

This is only true if all those teams go winless during that same period.  This isn't likely, and it's completely impossible if any of them are playing each other.  So it's not as bad as all that.

[86MaxwellSmart]

I would Bet that Brooklyn wins by at least 15 tonight...Lakers are losing games on purpose because they HAVE to.

[apc]

I would Bet that Brooklyn wins by at least 15 tonight...Lakers are losing games on purpose because they HAVE to.

Kobe is not playing. good or bad???

[slamtheking]

They have 17 wins, so if the Nets win all of those 6 easy games vs tanking teams, they will be ahead of Minny and tied with two other teams.  Ugh.  If the Nets lose one of them though, I will feel a lot better.  Lets go Lakers.

This is only true if all those teams go winless during that same period.  This isn't likely, and it's completely impossible if any of them are playing each other.  So it's not as bad as all that.

right - NO and Minny have been playing .500 ball lately so I don't see them dropping behind Brooklyn.  Denver is still 6 wins up on Brooklyn so they really do have a leg up on Brooklyn for a while.  I'm not quite worried (yet) of Brooklyn not being a top 5 pick

[mef730]

I would Bet that Brooklyn wins by at least 15 tonight...Lakers are losing games on purpose because they HAVE to.

Kobe is not playing. good or bad???

He's one of the few players who can score, even if it is only because he takes 40 shots per game.

What's sad is that I have to think about Wayne Ellington.

Mike

[Bucketgetter]

I would Bet that Brooklyn wins by at least 15 tonight...Lakers are losing games on purpose because they HAVE to.

Put $20 on it then.

[CelticSooner]

There is a scary run right now for the Nets:

@ LA Lakers who are 2-8 in their last 10, aka hot garbage
@ Nuggets who just lost Gallo and are 4-6 in their last 10
@ Timberwolves who are 5-5 in their last 10, so they could actually hold them off
@ Raptors (luckily Toronto should win this one)
@ 76ers - they are 1-9 in their last 10, but the Nets might lose just based on law of averages
homes vs Bucks - who are trying to win games and are 2-0 vs the Nets, but they're still a bad team
home vs 76ers - they're probably going to win this one
@ Bulls - the Nets are 1-1 vs them already, so who knows
@ Pistons - the Pistons should win, but they're still a sloppy team
home vs the Hornets - again, the Hornets should win, but I don't fully trust them

Then they have 12 more games after that, including 2 vs the Cavs and 1 vs the Raptors.

This is becoming scary because the Nuggets are only at 23 wins, as are the Pelicans.  The Nets schedule has a super easy run and they could easily win vs the Lakers, Nuggets, Wolves, Bucks, Sixers and then Sixers again.

They have 17 wins, so if the Nets win all of those 6 easy games vs tanking teams, they will be ahead of Minny and tied with two other teams.  Ugh.  If the Nets lose one of them though, I will feel a lot better.  Lets go Lakers.

It's unclear is Kobe will be playing tonight: http://nypost.com/2016/02/29/no-guarantee-nets-will-get-one-last-glimpse-at-kobe/

Definitely do not like what I'm seeing from the Nets. I still think the pick will ultimately end up top 5 but Lopez is playing really well. They are playing loose with nothing to lose. They are going to try to win every game.