Roster - Brooklyn Nets

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The Nets are 6-3 since the deadline blockbuster. Some things have gone better than expected and other worse - it's tough to tell how things are going to unfold for this team - eventhough we're in week 18 of 20.

On the good side, they've won more games than they've lost, continued to put pressure on the Celtics for the 5th seed in the East, and Kevin Love has returned from injury a couple of weeks ahead of the initially anticipated date. On the bad side, the team inexplicably shut down a healthy Eric Bledsoe until the playoffs and their GM managed to brutally tear his Achiles while playing a basketball game of his own.

Until the playoffs, the only real pursuit is keeping hold on the six seed and trying to track down the five. They're currently six games up on the Bulls, and playing reasonably well, it seems like they'll probably be able to maintain that position. The Celtics have a two game lead on the Nets for the fifth seed, but have a couple significant injuries of their own to deal with. But the real question may be - does it matter? There are a clear top 4 in the East - and it's not at all clear what order they'll finish in. The difference between #8 and #5 is playing against the Sixers and the Knicks - with the Bucks and Cavs falling in between. It's still possible that the Nets could win or tie their season series with all of Eastern Conference playoff teams, so it's not that they can't win a series against them - it's just that the reward for the fifth seed isn't really any better than that of the sixth or seventh seeds.

Even without Bledsoe for the next three weeks, the team will be attempting to round into playoff form and figure out what will work best for the new mix of players. Kevin Love took the practice floor with the team over the weekend, and the coaching staff is thrilled with how the frontcourt of DeAndre, DeMar, and Kevin is looking. There have even been discussions of putting Bledsoe back into his super-sixth man role when he returns and allowing Dragic to bring the ball up and play alongside one of their many 3&D wings, with the offense running through Kevin and DeMar.

The biggest source of optimism lately has been the team's outlook on their blockbuster deal. There was a healthy amount of skepticism about trading the potential MVP along with two great starting wings. But with how well DeMar has taken over, Kevin getting back early, and various injury news - it seems that the team's worst fear (giving up a chance to win it all prematurely) is probably not the case. Bledsoe being out a few weeks, along with Cousins and Gallo missing time for the Magic has reminded the team that they need to continue to build for the long run - so having a pile of draft picks, two more stars under contract, and contract control of most of the team for the next few seasons has been reassuring.

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