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

[max215]

If the Nets win tonight, then AT WORST they tie for the 3rd worst record! Big game tonight. Please Nets, don't ruin this for us!

And of course a Nets loss and a Suns win tonight clinches 3rd worst so we can all relax a bit until the playoffs... other than keeping tabs on the Mavs pick haha.

The only thing that could make this better would be if the Mavs dropped into the lottery and then didn't get a top three pick

Fixed that for you. Being a lottery pick is fine. We just don't want Dallas to place in the top three and then have to do this all over next year.

Has a team with the worst lottery odds ever won the lottery?  Would be curious.

Nope. The least likely team to win was 9th pre-lottery IIRC.

[max215]

Wall and Beal out tonight for Washington. Bleh.

ESPN lists Robinson and RHJ out, but I didn't see mention of RHJ in the preview, only in the injury report:

http://espn.go.com/nba/preview?gameId=400829093

Mike

even with Wall and Beal out, i dont see the brooklyn team being a problem for Washington's bench.

Washington just beat Charlotte without Wall (and Beal only played for 7 minutes), so they should be able to handle the Nets.

[PhoSita]

Ima wait and see what Danny does with all these BRK picks -- i.e. hoping for no more James Youngs -- before I anoint him best GM in the business.

[tankcity!]

Ima wait and see what Danny does with all these BRK picks -- i.e. hoping for no more James Youngs -- before I anoint him best GM in the business.

His drafting scares me at times. He is good overall, but he has trouble hitting on guys that have high upside and potential to be more than role players.

However, if they get a top 2 pick in this year's draft, it could change the franchise. Interesting to see how it will all play out.

[kozlodoev]

Ima wait and see what Danny does with all these BRK picks -- i.e. hoping for no more James Youngs -- before I anoint him best GM in the business.

Yes, I'm also hoping that none of the Nets picks will be the 17th overall range.

[PhoSita]

Ima wait and see what Danny does with all these BRK picks -- i.e. hoping for no more James Youngs -- before I anoint him best GM in the business.

Yes, I'm also hoping that none of the Nets picks will be the 17th overall range.

I think you know what I mean, sir.

[fairweatherfan]

If the Nets win tonight, then AT WORST they tie for the 3rd worst record! Big game tonight. Please Nets, don't ruin this for us!

And of course a Nets loss and a Suns win tonight clinches 3rd worst so we can all relax a bit until the playoffs... other than keeping tabs on the Mavs pick haha.

The only thing that could make this better would be if the Mavs dropped into the lottery and then didn't get a top three pick

Fixed that for you. Being a lottery pick is fine. We just don't want Dallas to place in the top three and then have to do this all over next year.

Has a team with the worst lottery odds ever won the lottery?  Would be curious.

Nope. The least likely team to win was 9th pre-lottery IIRC.

It hasn't happened under the current odds set up but Orlando won the Chris Webber lotto despite having the worst odds (they traded it for the #3 pick and 3 1sts).  Part of the reason why the odds got significantly lengthened.

[celticsclay]

"The Nets will win a bunch down the stretch," they said.
"Unlike other teams, the Nets have no reason to tank," they said.
"The Nets are playing so hard," they said.

I can't wait to do this again next year.

Well played. The fellowship of the miserable could not have been more wrong on the Nets this year. Funnily enough they stuck with their viewpoints really deep into the season when it was pretty apparent the team just wasn't very good.

[PhoSita]

I understand why teams were horrified by the thought of a near-playoff team getting a superstar at the top of the draft.

I understand, too, the argument small market teams make for having a draft system weighted heavily toward the worst records.  They view the draft as their only reliable way of getting stars.

But if you're a small market team, doesn't it hurt you especially to be really bad?  Your profit margins are already slim.  Your hold on your fans is probably somewhat tenuous. 

Why wouldn't you want a system that allows you to continue putting resources into competing for a winning record without it ruining your chances of getting a star via the draft?

[alldaboston]

Ima wait and see what Danny does with all these BRK picks -- i.e. hoping for no more James Youngs -- before I anoint him best GM in the business.

So basically we got 4 nets picks in this deal, used one of them on young

How much leeway does Danny have (in terms of making a wrong pick)?
What I mean is, how many bad picks should be allowed? I'd hope that James Young would be the only one, but given Danny's rather bizarre drafting strategy, I'm scared we make another bad pick that's met with the same "huh?" reaction we got with the rozier pick

Because I can (unfortunately) definitely see danny taking someone like Jaylen Brown second overall...

[Boris Badenov]

If the Nets win tonight, then AT WORST they tie for the 3rd worst record! Big game tonight. Please Nets, don't ruin this for us!

And of course a Nets loss and a Suns win tonight clinches 3rd worst so we can all relax a bit until the playoffs... other than keeping tabs on the Mavs pick haha.

The only thing that could make this better would be if the Mavs dropped into the lottery and then didn't get a top three pick

Fixed that for you. Being a lottery pick is fine. We just don't want Dallas to place in the top three and then have to do this all over next year.

Has a team with the worst lottery odds ever won the lottery?  Would be curious.

Nope. The least likely team to win was 9th pre-lottery IIRC.

It hasn't happened under the current odds set up but Orlando won the Chris Webber lotto despite having the worst odds (they traded it for the #3 pick and 3 1sts).  Part of the reason why the odds got significantly lengthened.

The Bulls getting the #1 pick in 2008 from the 9th slot (1.7% chance) was another notable outcome.

[PhoSita]

"The Nets will win a bunch down the stretch," they said.
"Unlike other teams, the Nets have no reason to tank," they said.
"The Nets are playing so hard," they said.

I can't wait to do this again next year.

Well played. The fellowship of the miserable could not have been more wrong on the Nets this year. Funnily enough they stuck with their viewpoints really deep into the season when it was pretty apparent the team just wasn't very good.

Yup, I was one of those who was wrong.  I'm so glad I was!  I refused to buy into the narrative that the Nets were a sure-thing bottom 5 team because I really wanted to avoid being disappointed if they ended up being simply bad and not horrible. 

I thought the Nets would be a 30-35 win team.  And I think there were valid reasons for believing they might be.  They had the same core pieces that got them inexorably to the playoffs the last couple of years, minus Deron Williams, who wasn't that good for them anyway.

The Lopez injury that many assumed would ruin the Nets never came.  Lopez and Young both had really strong seasons.

Indeed, the key injuries that ruined them ended up being ones to a rookie who never missed a game in college, and a veteran point guard who was one of the most durable players in the league prior to this season.

The Nets were uncomfortably competitive at times, including a couple of games against the Celts.

Ultimately, their lack of depth -- which is a factor many focused on, and which I downplayed because I felt the strength of their top 5 was enough to get them to the high 20's / low 30's -- meant they weren't able to weather those season ending injuries to two key starters.


I'm really glad it worked out the way it did.  Here's hoping the Nets trade Lopez and Young this off-season for younger pieces and picks and embrace being terrible. 

My fear is they'll try to load up on second and third tier veterans and make a go for the playoffs again, in which case yes, we will be having this same argument all season long once again.

[Kane3387]

Just look at the roster at any point this year for the Nets. The entire time Brooke Lopez and Thad young were the two best players on the team. That's not a recipe for success and winning. Never has been and never will be. They're solid players don't get me wrong, but they're not top 30 overall guys. If you don't have a single top 30 player than you're going to lose in the NBA. Until Boston got Isaiah Thomas they were a lotto team. Lopez might be top 40. Young isn't even top 50.

The talent depletion on this team is insane. If this team doesn't get lucky in free agency they will probably have the worst record in the NBA next year unless LAL loses their pick and doesn't get lucky in free agency either. The nets highest pick is 56.

[jambr380]

Just look at the roster at any point this year for the Nets. The entire time Brooke Lopez and Thad young were the two best players on the team. That's not a recipe for success and winning. Never has been and never will be. They're solid players don't get me wrong, but they're not top 30 overall guys. If you don't have a single top 30 player than you're going to lose in the NBA. Until Boston got Isaiah Thomas they were a lotto team. Lopez might be top 40. Young isn't even top 50.

The talent depletion on this team is insane. If this team doesn't get lucky in free agency they will probably have the worst record in the NBA next year unless LAL loses their pick and doesn't get lucky in free agency either. The nets highest pick is 56.

Young may not even be top 100. Seriously. There are 30 teams in the NBA , you are basically saying that he is better than every teams's 3rd best player (on average) when giving him top 30 status. Young was decent this year, but the Nets were going to score and get rebounds and they needed somebody to do it.

[PhoSita]

If you don't have a single top 30 player than you're going to lose in the NBA. Until Boston got Isaiah Thomas they were a lotto team. Lopez might be top 40. Young isn't even top 50.

They were pretty heavily reliant on Joe / Brook / Thad last year, too, and made the playoffs.


As for the thing about top 30 players, I'm not so sure.

The Nuggets won 33 games this year despite not having a top 30 player.  I'm not sure the Magic or Bucks have a top 30 player and they won in the low 30s as well.

I think you're right that a winning record in the NBA requires some significant talent, and / or decent coaching.  But it doesn't take that much to be mediocre.