While the Nets may never match up with the Knicks in terms of their arena, brand, and history, they’ve clearly surpassed their New York rivals on the court and in the front office in recent years. It had to feel good for Brooklyn to secure commitments from two superstars with NBA championships on their résumés at the same time the Knicks were sending out a statement acknowledging their fans’ disappointment and insisting they were still upbeat about their rebuilding plans.
Once the free agency celebration died down and the hangover wore off, a clear-eyed look at the Nets’ roster did leave us with some questions.
As we mulled over those questions, the Nets’ offseason took a turn for the worse, as newly-signed forward Wilson Chandler was suspended for 25 games for violating the NBA’s PED policy and second-year forward Rodions Kurucs faced accusations of domestic violence.
Those developments put a bit of a damper on what should have been a victory lap for the Nets, and Durant’s absence means the team likely won’t to get to fully reap the rewards of its free agency success until the 2020/21 season.
Still, the franchise deserves kudos for the way it has reshaped its roster. After all, it feels like just yesterday that the 2015/16 Nets completed a 21-61 season with no promising young prospects on the roster and no lottery draft picks on the horizon due to that infamously lopsided trade with the Celtics.
Key offseason losses:
When it became clear that Irving and Durant were heading to Brooklyn, the Nets essentially had no choice but to move on from Russell, who would have been impossible to retain in restricted free agency. It had to be a bittersweet turn of events for the Nets, who acquired Russell as a distressed asset in 2017 and saw him evolve into one of the Eastern Conference’s best point guards.
The 2018/19 season was Russell’s best as a scorer (21.1 PPG), shooter (.369 3PT%), and play-maker (7.0 APG), though he had trouble scoring efficiently in the playoffs when he faced increased defensive pressure. Irving, one of the league’s best shot creators, will be an upgrade in that area.
None of the other players the Nets lost in the offseason were stars, but DeMarre Carroll, Ed Davis, Jared Dudley, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson were all rotation pieces. So were Allen Crabbe, Shabazz Napier, and Treveon Graham, when they were healthy.
It’ll be interesting to see how all that turnover among the Nets’ supporting players affects the team’s win-loss record in 2019/20. Only a handful of teams had less roster continuity from the end of last season to the start of this season than Brooklyn, and players like Carroll, Davis, Dudley were the kind of hard-nosed veteran glue guys who thrive in complementary roles, even if their numbers don’t jump off the page.
The Nets will also have plenty of outside shooting to replace as a result of their offseason departures. Russell led the team in three-pointers per game, while Crabbe, Carroll, Napier, Graham, and Dudley all ranked in the top nine in that category.
Key offseason additions:
If he were healthy, Durant wouldn’t have just been the Nets’ most important offseason acquisition — he would’ve been up there with Leonard and Anthony Davis as the most impactful additions made by any team this summer. Due to his injury situation though, Durant will essentially become a 2020 offseason addition for the Nets unless his rehab process moves much quicker than anticipated.
That leaves Irving as Brooklyn’s top offseason signing, and he’s certainly worthy of that title. Things went south in Boston for Irving last season due to chemistry issues, but his first year with the Celtics was a success and he’ll likely be on his best behavior in Brooklyn to shake the problematic reputation he earned last year.
All that off-court drama in Boston overshadowed just how good Kyrie can be on the court — he averaged 23.8 PPG on .487/.401/.873 shooting in 67 games last season, with new career highs in APG (6.9) and RPG (5.0). His 50-point outburst in his first regular-season game as a Net showed he’s ready to pick up right where he left off.
Irving and Durant are joined by Jordan, whom the Knicks carried through the end of the season in 2018/19 in the hopes that he’d help recruit his friends to New York — that plan technically worked, albeit not how the Knicks envisioned.
A four-year, $40MM investment in the veteran center is a little scary if the Nets get the version of Jordan we saw in Dallas and New York last season. If he’s rejuvenated by playing in Brooklyn, Jordan probably still has a few effective years as an above-average rebounder and rim protector left in him, but there’s a risk that contract could become a negative asset before it’s over.
The Nets used their room exception to bring aboard Garrett Temple, who has been a solid three-and-D contributor in recent years. He’ll likely play some of the minutes that guys like Carroll, Crabbe, and Dudley got last season.
Other candidates for those minutes includes Taurean Prince, a reliable three-point shooter who signed a contract extension with the Nets before his first regular season game with the team, and Chandler, once he returns from his 25-game suspension. Brooklyn will be eligible to add a 16th man after for 20 games during that ban, as Chandler can be moved off the active roster after five games.
David Nwaba, Theo Pinson, and Nicolas Claxton round out the Nets’ notable offseason additions, though I don’t expect Pinson or Claxton to see regular minutes.
Outlook for 2019/20:
While it’s disappointing that we likely won’t see Durant suit up for the Nets until the 2020/21 season, it also lowers the stakes for the team in 2019/20 to some extent. If Brooklyn falls short of expectations this season, the team can rest assured that things will get better once it can add one of the best basketball players in the world to its lineup.
Still, no one in Brooklyn wants to see a worst-case scenario play out this season — especially since post-Achilles-tear KD may not be the cure-all that Warriors-era KD would have been.
After winning 42 games and earning a playoff spot in 2018/19, the Nets will count on increasing that number and returning to the postseason next spring, positioning themselves to ascend to bona fide contending status once Durant gets healthy.
Salary information from Basketball Insiders was used in the creation of this post. Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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