The Official 2016-2017 Brooklyn Nets Season Watch Thread (20-62, #1)

[TheSundanceKid]

We're really counting on a Brook Lopez injury or trade, aren't we?

Sean Mays / Kenny Atkinson doing good work so far, all things considered.

We are.

This is all Obama's fault.

Mike

Theyll still be bottom 5 with Lopez healthy. If he goes down they'll challenge Philly fornworst record.

Maybe not.  They were only bottom 5 last year, because half their roster got ravaged by injuries.  Starting to see the impact of having healthy RHJ and a mediocre supporting cast around Lopez.

Pretty certain that argument got shot down when you made it last year. Last year RHJ was out for some time (a rookie) and they lost Jarrett Jack which probably did affect them. However that is just 2 players with serious injuries, not even half of their starting lineup. Seriously, we've suffered more this year than they did last year.

The Nets will still finish in the bottom 5 when it all shakes out. Even if they don't we should appreciate the fact that we are contending whilst getting a lottery pick

[moiso]

We're really counting on a Brook Lopez injury or trade, aren't we?

Sean Mays / Kenny Atkinson doing good work so far, all things considered.

We are.

This is all Obama's fault.

Mike

Theyll still be bottom 5 with Lopez healthy. If he goes down they'll challenge Philly fornworst record.

Maybe not.  They were only bottom 5 last year, because half their roster got ravaged by injuries.  Starting to see the impact of having healthy RHJ and a mediocre supporting cast around Lopez.

Pretty certain that argument got shot down when you made it last year. Last year RHJ was out for some time (a rookie) and they lost Jarrett Jack which probably did affect them. However that is just 2 players with serious injuries, not even half of their starting lineup. Seriously, we've suffered more this year than they did last year.

The Nets will still finish in the bottom 5 when it all shakes out. Even if they don't we should appreciate the fact that we are contending whilst getting a lottery pick

That argument gets shot down at least a couple times a week to this day.

[The One]

With all the talented frosh...this might not be a bad year for the pick to be between 5 and 10.

If the pick is kept, there is some nice talent there.

[hwangjini_1]

We're really counting on a Brook Lopez injury or trade, aren't we?

Sean Mays / Kenny Atkinson doing good work so far, all things considered.

We are.

This is all Obama's fault.

Mike

Theyll still be bottom 5 with Lopez healthy. If he goes down they'll challenge Philly fornworst record.

Maybe not.  They were only bottom 5 last year, because half their roster got ravaged by injuries.  Starting to see the impact of having healthy RHJ and a mediocre supporting cast around Lopez.

Pretty certain that argument got shot down when you made it last year. Last year RHJ was out for some time (a rookie) and they lost Jarrett Jack which probably did affect them. However that is just 2 players with serious injuries, not even half of their starting lineup. Seriously, we've suffered more this year than they did last year.

The Nets will still finish in the bottom 5 when it all shakes out. Even if they don't we should appreciate the fact that we are contending whilst getting a lottery pick

The nets winning percentage before and after the injuries was very similar. They were bad last year from start to finish.

This year? Harder to say. I think Lopez gets moved and the incentive is to play youngsters and see how they fit into the future of the team. I am thinking they will still be a bad team. How bad is the only question.

[GreenShooter]

I can't believe some people are panicking that the Nets won a few games (4!). Even with their torrid pace they are exactly"2" games ahead of the 3rd worse record in the league. Their schedule for the next 6 games (@Lakers; @Clippers, @OKC; vs Portland, vs. C's; @Indiana) is not all that promising for their continued dominance over the league, as only 1 team has a worse record by 1/2 game (Indiana). I see a back to reality moment for the Nets over the next two weeks.

[Denis998]

I can't believe some people are panicking that the Nets won a few games (4!). Even with their torrid pace they are exactly"2" games ahead of the 3rd worse record in the league. Their schedule for the next 6 games (@Lakers; @Clippers, @OKC; vs Portland, vs. C's; @Indiana) is not all that promising for their continued dominance over the league, as only 1 team has a worse record by 1/2 game (Indiana). I see a back to reality moment for the Nets over the next two weeks.

They have like a quarter of the wins that they had last season, all within the first 1/8 of the season.

[chambers]

We're really counting on a Brook Lopez injury or trade, aren't we?

Sean Mays / Kenny Atkinson doing good work so far, all things considered.

We are.

This is all Obama's fault.

Mike

Theyll still be bottom 5 with Lopez healthy. If he goes down they'll challenge Philly fornworst record.

Maybe not.  They were only bottom 5 last year, because half their roster got ravaged by injuries.  Starting to see the impact of having healthy RHJ and a mediocre supporting cast around Lopez.

Ravaged?
They lost a rookie who had little impact on the W/L column and Jarret Jack about half way through the season. Injuries had absolutely nothing to do with their result, the fact that they had one of the worst rosters and benches in the NBA was why they sucked lol.

You sound like one of those climate change deniers who just won't relent.

[Granath]

I can't believe some people are panicking that the Nets won a few games (4!). Even with their torrid pace they are exactly"2" games ahead of the 3rd worse record in the league. Their schedule for the next 6 games (@Lakers; @Clippers, @OKC; vs Portland, vs. C's; @Indiana) is not all that promising for their continued dominance over the league, as only 1 team has a worse record by 1/2 game (Indiana). I see a back to reality moment for the Nets over the next two weeks.

They have like a quarter of the wins that they had last season, all within the first 1/8 of the season.

*shrug*

At one point they won 4 out of 5 last season which is far better than 4 out of 9. They still finished with 21 wins. The 4 best teams in the East right now are Cleveland, Charlotte, Atlanta and Toronto. The 4 best teams in the West right now are the Clips, Warriors, Spurs and Trail Blazers. They've faced exactly one of those teams during this time. No one they've beaten has a winning
record right now. 

So they're sub-.500 against a weak schedule. Big Deal. Here's the rest of the schedule for the month:

@LAC
@LAL
@OKC
POR
BOS
@IND
SAC
LAC

Every team besides Indy has a winning record. If they go 3-5, then worry. But that looks to me like (at best) a 2-6 or perhaps even 0-8 (and if they do that, they have the same record as they did at this time last year!).

Brooklyn looks like a bad team. Things even out. Relax.

[footey]

I disagree with Granath. I have watched a few of their games this year. They seem more together as a team.  I think they will easily surpass their win total of last year, barring an unforeseen trade (Lopez) or injury.

[celticsclay]

We're really counting on a Brook Lopez injury or trade, aren't we?

Sean Mays / Kenny Atkinson doing good work so far, all things considered.

We are.

This is all Obama's fault.

Mike

Theyll still be bottom 5 with Lopez healthy. If he goes down they'll challenge Philly fornworst record.

Maybe not.  They were only bottom 5 last year, because half their roster got ravaged by injuries.  Starting to see the impact of having healthy RHJ and a mediocre supporting cast around Lopez.

Ravaged?
They lost a rookie who had little impact on the W/L column and Jarret Jack about half way through the season. Injuries had absolutely nothing to do with their result, the fact that they had one of the worst rosters and benches in the NBA was why they sucked lol.

You sound like one of those climate change deniers who just won't relent.

Got to agree that this comment ranks pretty high in the theater of the absurd. The Nets were one of the healthiest teams in all of the NBA last year. Brook Lopez and Thad young stayed 100% healthy all season. Joe Johnson, despite being 35 years old remained healthy the entire time he was on their roster. Losing a late first round pick for a chunk of the season and a middling (should be backup) point guard on the back end of his career for half a season is an extreme abuse of the word "ravage". It is unfortunate they stayed so healthy last year or we could very well have ended up with Simmons on our team.

Edit: Do people realize the Celtics have already dealt with more meaningful injuries this season in the first 9 games than the Nets did the entirety of last season? We are missing our 2nd and 4th and 7th best player. The worst the Nets had to deal with was missing arguably their 4th and 5th best players for a stretches. Let's put that foolishness to rest. 

[LarBrd33]

We're really counting on a Brook Lopez injury or trade, aren't we?

Sean Mays / Kenny Atkinson doing good work so far, all things considered.

We are.

This is all Obama's fault.

Mike

Theyll still be bottom 5 with Lopez healthy. If he goes down they'll challenge Philly fornworst record.

Maybe not.  They were only bottom 5 last year, because half their roster got ravaged by injuries.  Starting to see the impact of having healthy RHJ and a mediocre supporting cast around Lopez.

Ravaged?
They lost a rookie who had little impact on the W/L column and Jarret Jack about half way through the season. Injuries had absolutely nothing to do with their result, the fact that they had one of the worst rosters and benches in the NBA was why they sucked lol.

You sound like one of those climate change deniers who just won't relent.

You're talking about a team that made the playoffs two straight years and lost some depth that was then exposed when they saw their star rookie limited to 29 games, saw their starting PG limited to 32 games, saw their former star guard limited to 57 games.  It was a perfect storm of disaster for Brooklyn and we benefited by landing a decent Tier-3 prospect with some theoretical potential out of it.   Here's hoping they end up ravaged by injuries again this year.   If the season ended today, the pick would be #14 right now.   It's concerning... especially when Linsanity returns from injury.   I'm worried that celticsclay might need to retroactively change the topic of his "The most talked about inconsequential trade?" thread to be about the highly regarded KG/Pierce to Brooklyn deal.  If all we get out of it is James YOung, a rookie averaging 7 points, and some mid-to-late first round draft picks, it'll be a big disappointment... especially if you subscribe to the idea that Boston was still a contender when KG and Pierce were moved, which I do not.

[tazzmaniac]

I can't believe some people are panicking that the Nets won a few games (4!). Even with their torrid pace they are exactly"2" games ahead of the 3rd worse record in the league. Their schedule for the next 6 games (@Lakers; @Clippers, @OKC; vs Portland, vs. C's; @Indiana) is not all that promising for their continued dominance over the league, as only 1 team has a worse record by 1/2 game (Indiana). I see a back to reality moment for the Nets over the next two weeks.

They have like a quarter of the wins that they had last season, all within the first 1/8 of the season.

*shrug*

At one point they won 4 out of 5 last season which is far better than 4 out of 9. They still finished with 21 wins. The 4 best teams in the East right now are Cleveland, Charlotte, Atlanta and Toronto. The 4 best teams in the West right now are the Clips, Warriors, Spurs and Trail Blazers. They've faced exactly one of those teams during this time. No one they've beaten has a winning
record right now. 

So they're sub-.500 against a weak schedule. Big Deal. Here's the rest of the schedule for the month:

@LAC
@LAL
@OKC
POR
BOS
@IND
SAC
LAC

Every team besides Indy has a winning record. If they go 3-5, then worry. But that looks to me like (at best) a 2-6 or perhaps even 0-8 (and if they do that, they have the same record as they did at this time last year!).

Brooklyn looks like a bad team. Things even out. Relax.

The Kings also do not have a winning record.  The Nets look more competitive this year and there seem to be more bad teams this year (Lakers 8th in the West).  Three of the Nets losses are 5 points or less.  They are also shooting 16 more 3s per game and scoring 8 more PPG while their defense is basically the same.  Going into the season, it looked like the Nets were a lock for bottom 3 team.  Now it appears they are more like a 5th to 10th worst team. 

[celticsclay]

We're really counting on a Brook Lopez injury or trade, aren't we?

Sean Mays / Kenny Atkinson doing good work so far, all things considered.

We are.

This is all Obama's fault.

Mike

Theyll still be bottom 5 with Lopez healthy. If he goes down they'll challenge Philly fornworst record.

Maybe not.  They were only bottom 5 last year, because half their roster got ravaged by injuries.  Starting to see the impact of having healthy RHJ and a mediocre supporting cast around Lopez.

Ravaged?
They lost a rookie who had little impact on the W/L column and Jarret Jack about half way through the season. Injuries had absolutely nothing to do with their result, the fact that they had one of the worst rosters and benches in the NBA was why they sucked lol.

You sound like one of those climate change deniers who just won't relent.

You're talking about a team that made the playoffs two straight years and lost some depth that was then exposed when they saw their star rookie limited to 29 games, saw their starting PG limited to 32 games, saw their former star guard limited to 57 games.  It was a perfect storm of disaster for Brooklyn and we benefited by landing a decent Tier-3 prospect with some theoretical potential out of it.   Here's hoping they end up ravaged by injuries again this year.   If the season ended today, the pick would be #14 right now.   It's concerning... especially when Linsanity returns from injury.   I'm worried that celticsclay might need to retroactively change the topic of his "The most talked about inconsequential trade?" thread to be about the highly regarded KG/Pierce to Brooklyn deal.  If all we get out of it is James YOung, a rookie averaging 7 points, and some mid-to-late first round draft picks, it'll be a big disappointment... especially if you subscribe to the idea that Boston was still a contender when KG and Pierce were moved, which I do not.

Wait. So RHJ was a "star rookie" averaging 5.8 points, but Brown is "only" averaging 7 points. You really walked into that one... LOL

[GratefulCs]

We're really counting on a Brook Lopez injury or trade, aren't we?

Sean Mays / Kenny Atkinson doing good work so far, all things considered.

We are.

This is all Obama's fault.

Mike

Theyll still be bottom 5 with Lopez healthy. If he goes down they'll challenge Philly fornworst record.

Maybe not.  They were only bottom 5 last year, because half their roster got ravaged by injuries.  Starting to see the impact of having healthy RHJ and a mediocre supporting cast around Lopez.

Ravaged?
They lost a rookie who had little impact on the W/L column and Jarret Jack about half way through the season. Injuries had absolutely nothing to do with their result, the fact that they had one of the worst rosters and benches in the NBA was why they sucked lol.

You sound like one of those climate change deniers who just won't relent.

You're talking about a team that made the playoffs two straight years and lost some depth that was then exposed when they saw their star rookie limited to 29 games, saw their starting PG limited to 32 games, saw their former star guard limited to 57 games.  It was a perfect storm of disaster for Brooklyn and we benefited by landing a decent Tier-3 prospect with some theoretical potential out of it.   Here's hoping they end up ravaged by injuries again this year.   If the season ended today, the pick would be #14 right now.   It's concerning... especially when Linsanity returns from injury.   I'm worried that celticsclay might need to retroactively change the topic of his "The most talked about inconsequential trade?" thread to be about the highly regarded KG/Pierce to Brooklyn deal.  If all we get out of it is James YOung, a rookie averaging 7 points, and some mid-to-late first round draft picks, it'll be a big disappointment... especially if you subscribe to the idea that Boston was still a contender when KG and Pierce were moved, which I do not.

Wait. So RHJ was a "star rookie" averaging 5.8 points, but Brown is "only" averaging 7 points. You really walked into that one... LOL

i realize I might be ruining it by even mentioning it, but I think lar is going for the jinx (or reverse jinx)

At least I hope so


Otherwise there's too much weight being placed in these "narratives"

[Granath]

You're talking about a team that made the playoffs two straight years and lost some depth that was then exposed when they saw their star rookie limited to 29 games, saw their starting PG limited to 32 games, saw their former star guard limited to 57 games.  It was a perfect storm of disaster for Brooklyn and we benefited by landing a decent Tier-3 prospect with some theoretical potential out of it.   Here's hoping they end up ravaged by injuries again this year.   If the season ended today, the pick would be #14 right now.   It's concerning... especially when Linsanity returns from injury.   I'm worried that celticsclay might need to retroactively change the topic of his "The most talked about inconsequential trade?" thread to be about the highly regarded KG/Pierce to Brooklyn deal.  If all we get out of it is James YOung, a rookie averaging 7 points, and some mid-to-late first round draft picks, it'll be a big disappointment... especially if you subscribe to the idea that Boston was still a contender when KG and Pierce were moved, which I do not.

Trying to be selective about your facts doesn't make your statement true. Perhaps your thought process ends with only a surface level understanding of those facts but that doesn't apply to the rest of us.

"Playoff team" - one whose win totals had dropped from 49 to 44 to 38 games.This indicates a team already on a severe downside. Add in how they vastly over-performed in prior seasons as their expected win totals were 46 to 38 to 33 and the trend is very clear. Just because you predicted they'd make a playoff run doesn't mean their decline wasn't glaringly obvious to the rest of us. When I predicted they would win about 25 games it wasn't based on a guess. It was based on a regression to the mean, the increased talent in the Eastern Conf and a continuation of an existing and obvious trend. That's how real analysis is done.

"Star rookie" - drafted 23rd. Not exactly a top 5 talent we're talking about. Said star rookie is averaging 7 ppg this season. Which happens to be the same as James Young (and the same age). I don't think anyone is calling James Young a star.

"Starting PG" - also-ran PG and the team had the same record before and after the loss. There's no quantifiable statistic that showed the loss of Jack made the team worse in any way. They sucked before him. They sucked after him.

A perfect storm would have been losing Lopez and/or Young. Instead the Nets suffered minor injuries to bad or unproven players as does every team in the NBA. Big deal. That team wasn't winning more than 25 games unless they played against D-League teams all year.

You want to insist this because you were wrong ("the Nets are going to win 35 games"), we told you that you were wrong and you decided to stick your fingers in your ears and yell LA LA LA ICANTHEARYOU LA LA LA. Now that the Wins have been tallied and you look even more foolish you want desperately to cling to the notion that somehow their season was ruined by mysterious circumstances. It wasn't. They sucked. They were always going to suck. Get over it because whatever point you're trying to make is going to get lost in the absurdity of your assertions regarding last year's Nets team.