Heading into the 2016/17 season, the Nets were widely expected to be the NBA’s worst team. As our recap of the preseason’s over/under lines shows, only three teams were projected for below 30 wins, and no club had a lower over/under line than the Nets, at 20.5. Still, in the early going this season, Brooklyn has managed to scratch out a few victories, and while the Nets’ 6-15 record is hardly impressive, it puts them on track to go over 20.5 wins. It also has them fourth in our Reverse Standings, as they “trail” the Sixers (5-18), Mavericks (5-17), and Timberwolves (6-17).
Let’s check in on a few Nets notes as they prepare to face the Spurs in San Antonio…
- Jeremy Lin, who returned to practice this week, is on the verge of getting back on the court for the Nets, and his return won’t come a moment too soon, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post. After Brooklyn’s two big summer offer sheets for RFA targets were matched, Lin ended up being the team’s marquee signing, and he looked good in the early going before he was sidelined by a hamstring injury.
- The “youth movement” vision of Nets general manager Sean Marks is starting to pay dividends for the franchise, Lewis writes in a separate piece for The Post. While former GM Billy King never attended a single D-League game, the Nets under Marks are serious about player development, according to Lewis, who points to Sean Kilpatrick as a nice find, and suggests that Chris McCullough and Anthony Bennett are benefiting from D-League stints.
- The Nets have had their eye on Spencer Dinwiddie for some time, and brought him into the fold this week. As Bryan Fonseca of Nets Daily writes, Dinwiddie is grateful for the chance to return to the NBA. “This is a team that said they’ve liked me from the draft process, from my first couple of years in the league, it’s just amazing to be here honestly,” Dinwiddie said. “I’m very blessed for the opportunity. I don’t know what the immediate future holds for me as far as ‘role,’ or playing time or anything like that. I’m just here to get to work and obviously I want to earn time on the floor, for sure.”