2016-17 Finish: 50-32

Season Highlight:

Playoffs baby! It’s been a rough few years for Nets fans and while the appointment of GM Wizkid was met with loud applause, this rebuild was always going to take some time. Last season it all came together; the juggernaut Wiz had been working on since rejoining the league finally came together as they went on to have a 50-win season and hit the playoffs as the 5^th seed. The streets of Brooklyn were cheering in joy and to some, just making an appearance was deemed a success.

Season Lowlight:

After such misery for the past few years it’s hard to pick out a lowlight in such a good season. I guess not living up to the potential and being beaten in the first round. With the talent on board I would’ve expected a decent run. In saying that though they did get beaten by the eventual eastern conference finals representatives the New York Knicks. If that’s the lowest light of your season, you’ve done well I reckon.

Best Trade:

Nets Receive:  DeAndre Jordan and James Ennis
Nets Send: Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson and Al-Farouq Aminu

While the Nets gave up a lot of solid depth here, they landed a stud in Jordan. The plan was for the Nets to run a twin towers setup and it seemed to work for the most part. They did suffer an early round playoff exit and his front court buddy Boogie Cousins has been moved since but I think this is a success because guys like Jordan don’t come around too often. It also led to the option of moving Cousins for more players to round out the squad which I will touch on later.

Worst Trade:

N/A

Sorry NLL land, I don’t see a bad trade here. A solid offseason/season of positive moves had Wizkid living up to his name.

Other Notable Trades:

Nets Receive: DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Love, Mason Plumlee, Tony Snell, Shabazz Muhammed, Indiana 2018 2^nd round pick and Utah 2017 2^nd round pick.

Nets Send: DeMarcus Cousins, Danilo Gallinari, Khris Middleton, Terrence Jones, Glenn Robinson III, Jordan McRae and Tim Quarterman

While the Nets gave up the best player and 2 above average role players in Gali and Middleton they landed 2 all-star talents and decent role players like Plum, Snell and Muhammed. Cousins had a better individual season with the Nets but this deal was kind of the turning point in the season, the all-round attack the Nets could throw at you after this deal was tough for a lot of teams to deal with.

Nets Receive: Dion Waiters

Nets Send: Austin Rivers

Waiters became quite an effective player in the NBA last season and was a part of a deal that ended up seeing the Nets land big man DeAndre. Austin Rivers is well…. still Austin Rivers.

Best FA Signing:

Danilo Gallinari

The Net’s didn’t sign any big time free agents but it was more resigning guys from their previous season. Gali was a welcomed return as he was a part of them bringing in DeRozan and Love. Rumour has it though he’s returning to the team for Love this offseason, crazy, right?

Worst FA Signing:

N/A

Star:

DeMarcus Cousins

Ok… So, he got traded, but the stats for the previous season are gone and I’m sure DeRozan and Love only played 20ish games. Boogie was in serious contention for MVP which made the midseason trade a little puzzling, but you can see why the trigger was pulled. Anyway, Boogie was the best big man, heck best player not named Anthony Davis for the majority part of the season. Off the top of my head he was hitting 30/12/3/1/1 with a high FG%.

 
Surprise:

Caris LeVert

Hmmm most the Nets players played as expected… Caris was a bit of surprise as a late first round pick doesn’t normally give you a lot of impact. While his sample size was small (30 odd games) he made a nice contribution to a playoff team. Health pending, I would expect an even better season in year 2.

Goat:

Eric Bledsoe

Sorry Bled… I love you as a player but last season was a disappointment. 40% from the field and 26% from three when you’re surrounded with the amount talent on the books, not good enough. He did provide over 7 assists per game but his points, and steals weren’t at a Bledsoe level unfortunately. Luckily enough for sport players there is always next season. A bit of pressure on Bled to improve on last season’s disappointment but I believe he’s more than capable.

Draft Report Card:

N/A

Brooklyn resisted the urge to have a hand in this year’s draft.

Looking to the Future:

Brooklyn have invested a lot of money into this team. DeRozan, Jordan, Gallinari, Bledsoe and Middleton will take up almost $100m of their salary cap…. The limit is $99m. Add in the pay rise and likely return of Mason Plumlee into the mix and the Nets are pushing Lux territory with 6 players and don’t forget Jabari Parker will be joining the fold with his 6+ million. If the team becomes hard capped then the pressure rises even more to win a championship, you don’t put that type of money into a squad without expecting a top return and top return in the NLL is that trophy. Money aside, this Nets team is talented and I would say expectations in Brooklyn are that of challenging for the title. Parker is expected back by January and additions like Nance, RHJ and the return of Middleton this Net’s team is a top 3 contender from the East for me.

Upcoming Free Agents:

Mason Plumlee (RFA) – Mason is expected to return and is demanding about 13m per season… is he worth that as a backup? Mason contributes quite a lot offensively as a post playmaker and finisher but his defensive awareness is poor and is only passable because of his athleticism. A big decision here though for Brooklyn, resign him and trade him for a cheaper option should be on their minds to ease the salary and potential hard cap burden. Though, keep him and you’ve got yourself a solid player… but is he worth being hard capped?