Brooklyn Nets Season Preview : Living in the high post

The arrival of the new project

When goikiri arrived in Brooklyn in offseason, he found a considerably less productive players than he did in other leagues. The 2013/14 season had been bad, with Brook injured during a large part of the year and without manager the last months. That means that most of stats may in no event be taken into consideration. It was necessary to start almost from zero with clear and precise ideas.  



Trades

Initially, all player were OTB. Dapralbe took a deep interest in Dorrell Wright for his defensive abilities, and the Nets adquired Marshon Brooks, Phil Pressey and a 2nd round pick in 2014 draft. Orangeparka's stubborn insistence in McAdoo has pressured goikiri to trade for young players(Erick Green, Tony Snell and Adreian Payne + Pat Mills). The last movement was exchange three great players but with bad contracts (JJ, Tony Allen and Michael Beasley) for expirings (Boozer, Artest and Gay) and good players in high post offensive IMO.

Draft

Only one pick, draft pick 22 of the 2nd round, Matthew Dellavedova. Blind choice, without scout.



Free agency

The main objective was to sign Kwame Brown using LLE. The limited ability of Brooklyn to rebounding was the key of this adquisition. The offers by Amare Stoudemire, Dirk Nowitzki and Andrei Kirilenko for MLE were below. Finally, Evan Fournier signed a minimum contract. Other promising young player.

Players


RAJON RONDO

Rondo needs to have more touches per game (only 87.9 last year). With the trade of JJ (75 touches pg), Rajon should have control of the Nets offensive with aproximately 100 touches per game, especially when Fournier play with him. Playing defense, he has good stops %, very important if goikiri change zone defense for man to man or full press defense.


PATTY MILLS

Excellent 2013/2014 season in Miami. He won the championship with tremendous 56.5%
in FG, Patty is a shooter and could be SG in specific situations. Great stats in ball handling (3.1 in A/TO), his biggest problem is defensive skills (only 71% stops and 1.0 in PA/SF)


PHIL PRESSEY

Phil was the third PG in Summer League. Too early to draw conclusions, Pressey will play in D-League.


MARSHON BROOKS

The best Net player in Summer League ( 19.6 pts, 7.4 reb, 3.0 ast) and with near perfect percents (54% FG and 47% 3P), Marshon need to improve in defense, for example he never play with Mills in man to man, but Brooks can be used in full court defense, good stealing rating.


EVAN FOURNIER

In case you need a shooter, don't hesitate to contact Evan Fournier. The solution against zone defenses (sorry but I don't have Evan's stats)


ERICK GREEN

In Summer League, Erick Green was the PG of the team with good numbers (14.8 pts, 8.8 ast) but normally, he will play like SG (3.6 TO and 38.5 3P%) in regular season. He will fight with Brooks and Fournier to be considered a starting SG. It is not clear to goikiri what player use.  


RUDY GAY

The best important player, the possibility to fight against other teams to enter in playoffs depends on the performance of Gay. His "new" position (more post play) must allow his to take advantage and improve the FG %


METTA WORLD PEACE

Defense, defense, defense. Now he is 12th player. Few posibilities for play minutes.


TONY SNELL

Good Summer League of Tony in defense (0.7 in PA/SF and stops) and offense percents (62% FG, 80% 3P, 100% FT). Snell has been ahead Metta in the rotation of Nets. He can be a surprise of the season.


CARLOS BOOZER

The role of Carlos Boozer (12.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg) in Chicago Bulls has not yet been sufficiently highlighted. Goikiri thinks that Boozer will improve his numbers in Brooklyn playing in two positions : PF and C, thanks to his quickness and passing ability.


ADREIAN PAYNE

Payne did not show anything in Summer League. He would have to shoot less jumper shoots and ensure his post play.


BROOK LOPEZ

Today it is not even still known if it will return in perfect conditions but there are many hopes deposited in the if, and several of their teammates they have encouraged him for it. Before the injury, the Nets were in first position in Atlantic Division and he averaged 18.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 2.3 bpg.


KWAME BROWN

Some managers also considered that this would require more effective players to rebounding, One of the biggest problems in Brooklyn and Brown will help in this.

In conclusion, we hope that this year will be a year of change, or at least a start to the change that we desire

Good read. I fear this team is a lotto candidate at this stage. Do you think you will improve on the 33 wins from last year? Relatively weak division will certainly help

andrei (POR) wrote:Good read. I fear this team is a lotto candidate at this stage. Do you think you will improve on the 33 wins from last year? Relatively weak division will certainly help

You're right. I have my two first games versus Boston and Toronto. If I win those two games...

Boston will fight till death to beat Brooklyn!
Wanna see our friends in white/orange/blue taking the first see in our Division

I have to admit there's definitely some talent across the bridge. Rondo is a top5 PG, and I'm sure he'll prove it once again this year. Brook is also a rare talent, and although the league might have forgoten how good he can be due to his absence last season, I'm sure he'll be back at his best level this year.

Having your PG and C as your best players doesn't hurt anyone, and is a nice starting core. Then there's Gay and Boozer. Personally I would try using Rudy as a great defensive weapon, specially useful in the east with Durant and LeBron playing SF. But you need him not to shoot as much as he used to in Chicago, cause he destroyed their offensive efficiency with it.
As for Boozer, he could be a great player next to Brook. With Rajon running the show, you should be able to put the ball in the post most posesions so that both Carlos and Brook can dominate the paint.

Appart from that this team may lack the depth needed to reach the postseason in the even east conference, but If you play your cards wisely you could be able to surprise many and demand a spot into the top 8. Again, Rondo + Brook equals top talent in the league, so you need to make them work.

DennisJ (BOS) wrote:Boston will fight till death to beat Brooklyn!
Wanna see our friends in white/orange/blue taking the first see in our Division

That's it!! You now I'll be rooting for you Celtics, and spcecially against the Nets!   
Thanks we have an ally in Boston.. at least until you develop your young core and dominate the Atlantic! Hopefully we have a 2 year window before that  

I don't see this team competing for a playoff spot this year and will definitely be sellers at the deadline trying to shed cap space.

Perhaps undersold here, Brooklyn's ability to get out from under some bad contracts is one of the biggest moves this offseason.

I think this squad is definitely a lottery team, but by shifting some pieces around I think they could put themselves into a great position this upcomong offseason.

I wouldn't be so quick to completely write them off, goikiri is a good gm and Rondo running the show with some very competent players they have an outside shot to compete and make things tough in the East.

Yeah, this team did nice with a GM last year, as they even leaded the Atlantic at the time. If they do things right I'm sure they have a chance.

It's going to be tough in the east this year, but it woulnd't be the first time I see some talented teams underperform or be weakened by injuries as it happened to the Nets last season. Make Lopez or Rondo out for season and it's no playoffs for the Nets. But same can happen to any team in the east if their star player goes out looking at how even and deep the conference looks.

Even with the glaring hole at SG, a team of Rondo/Gay/Boozer/Lopez should be good enough to make the playoffs. Defense might be lacking inside but there's a lot of talent here.