Brooklyn Nets

Brooklyn Nets

2019-20: 35-37 (4th in Atlantic, 7th in Eastern Conference, 14th in NBA)

Lost to Toronto 4-0 in First Round

2019-20 Individual Stats	2019-20 Team Stats	Head Coach Profile
Points: Kyrie Irving (27.4)Rebounds: DeAndre Jordan (10.0)Assists: Spencer Dinwiddie (6.8)Steals: Kyrie Irving (1.4)Blocks: Jarrett Allen (1.3)3-Point %: Joe Harris (42.4%)Free Throw %: Kyrie Irving (92.2%)	Points: 111.8 (16th)/112.3 (19th)FG %: 44.8% (24th)/44.6% (5th)3-Point %: 34.3% (26th)/35.0%) (9th)Free Throw %: 74.5% (25th)Offense Rating: 22ndDefense Rating: 9thTurnovers: 15.3 (24th)/12.8 (28th)	Steve Nash – First season with Brooklyn (0-0)

The Nets were playing with house money for all of 2019-20. Their Big Three spent more time in the training room than they did on the court. Kevin Durant spent all year trying to rehab from a ruptured Achilles in the 2018-19 NBA Finals; DeAndre Jordan struggled with injuries all year and then got COVID, and Kyrie Irving had season-ending surgery after only playing in 20-some-odd games.

And now they’ve started over with a Hall of Famer at head coach in Steve Nash, who had zero coaching experience before being named the Nets’ coach. He hadn’t even spent time as an assistant coach. He definitely knows the game well, but this seemed like quite a stretch. But if those Big Three, plus the good depth the Nets have, can all stay healthy and be back to their dominant ways, the Nets should be good enough to contend for a playoff run. But it will come down to what Steve Nash can draw up as to whether they can make noise in the playoffs.

G Garrett Temple	Chicago	G Landry Shamet	L.A. Clippers
F Dzanan Musa	Detroit	F Jeff Green	Houston
F Wilson Chandler	Free Agency	F Bruce Brown	Detroit
F Theo Pinson	New York	G Elie Okobo	Phoenix
G David Nwaba	Houston	G Jordan Bowden	Tennessee (UFA)
G Iman Shumpert	Free Agency	F Nate Sestina	Kentucky (UFA)
F Justin Anderson	Philadelphia
F Lance Thomas	Free Agency
C Donta Hall	Free Agency
C Henry Ellenson	Toronto
G Jamal Crawford	Free Agency

NBA Draft

(2, 57)

F Reggie Perry

Mississippi State

Projected Roster

SF	Taurean Prince	Solid two-way player averaged 12 points and 6 rebounds per game last year. Starting SF is still up in the air. Could be Prince, Durant, LeVert.
PF	Kevin Durant	Can he return to MVP level after ruptured achilles? Many players are never the same. If so, Durant is still arguably the best player in the world.
C	DeAndre Jordan	Injuries derailed last season, was still averaging 8 points and 10 rebounds per game.
SG	Joe Harris	Great 3-point shooter in the regular season. Got cold in the playoffs. He’ll need to find that next level for the postseason.
PG	Kyrie Irving	One of best all-around players in the league, averaged 27 points per game last season. But does he have team-first mentality?
F	Caris LeVert	One of most underrated players in the NBA. He has that slasher mentality and can get any shot he wants.
F	Jeff Green	Veteran forward signed for experience and 3-point shooting.
C	Jarrett Allen	Good shot-blocker and rebounder in post. Will help keep Jordan fresh.
G	Landry Shamet	Solid perimeter defender and 3-point shooter received in trade with Clippers.
G	Spencer Dinwiddie	Had best season of career in 2019-20, with 21 points and 7 assists per game, most of which filling in for injured Kyrie.
F	Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot	Had good season as reserve, now poised to fill out rotation on much better team.
F	Rodions Kurucs	Good stretch four who can also play positions 2 and 3.
C	Nicolas Claxton	Last year’s rookie was out most of the season with injuries, now has chance to play good minutes.
G	Bruce Brown	Signed from the Pistons, athletic wing can play 2 or 3.
G	Tyler Johnson	Gives point guard depth even more experience.
G	Elie Okobo	Gives even more point guard depth, coming over from the Suns.
F	Nate Sestina (R)	Sestina played four years at Bucknell and averaged 16 points and 9 rebounds in final season before transferring to Kentucky.
F	Reggie Perry (R)	SEC Co-player of the year in 2020 averaged double-double of 17/10.
G	Chris Chiozza	Only played 18 games last year, and is now in crowded PG room.
G	Jordan Bowden (R)	4-year starter for Volunteers has good leadership experience and athleticism.
G	Jeremiah Martin	Played just 9 games, unlikely to stick.

Question #1: The NBA has a long history of recently retired players becoming head coaches and those coaches not being able to have success.  Will it be any different with Steve Nash?  As one of the greatest “team strategists” in NBA history, will he put the right strategy together in order to change that trend?	Answer: It’s definitely not a good history for Steve Nash to do well. Jason Kidd, Derek Fisher, even as far back as Wes Unseld and Sam Mitchell, all flamed out pretty quickly. I’m not sure if Steve Nash will be able to be judged as quickly, because if they all stay healthy, they should win games, and make Nash look good. So I think we all will hold off on judging until the first real obstacles happen, where Nash’s coaching is the real issue, and not a bunch of great players playing basketball. Let’s see what happens in the playoffs.
Question #2: A ruptured Achilles tendon is no small matter. In many cases, players have never fully recovered. Players like Dominique Wilkins, Chauncey Billups and Kobe Bryant were never the same after those injuries, and DeMarcus Cousins hasn’t been anywhere near his same level of dominance since his injury. Do you think Kevin Durant can return to his same level of play? What should we expect from him this year?	Answer: In addition to the ruptured achilles, Kevin Durant just turned 32 this year.  He will be slower, the athleticism, speed and verticality will be significantly lessened.  We can look at some of the great scorers of the past and how they adapted when in their 30s.  Like them, we probably won’t see many one-man fast breaks, space creating double moves, interior finishes  or towering jams.  But we will see more jumpers, pick-n-pop plays and corner fade moves.  With KD’s already lethal stroke, that could help him retain his effectiveness.
Question #3: KD and Kyrie are both ball dominant, heavy dribbling, isolation scorers.  Will there be a contention for isolation scoring opportunities?  Will Steve Nash’s strategy give both players enough of those opportunities to keep them happy?	Answer: For Kevin Durant, I think this is easy enough for him to do. He just spent a few years sharing the ball with Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and the Warriors, and this is normal to him. He just wants to win, and he’ll have his opportunities to score. It might be a little more challenging for Kyrie, because while he has played with LeBron James before, he got out because he wanted to be the guy. There might be some challenges at first. But I’d see Steve Nash’s strategy a little bit like his own days with Amar’e Stoudemire in Phoenix. Both guys can thrive if they have a team-first approach.
Question #4:We’ve never seen this team play together as a whole yet. There were a lot of predictions that this is a Finals team when they all came together, but injuries, getting late in their careers, and coaching changes throw that into the unknown. How good can this team be realistically in their first year together? What is a realistic expectation?	Answer: Very few teams in NBA history have succeeded in the aged all-star ensemble championship strategy.  A lot of that has to do with age, injury and ultimately the salary cap restricting the team’s ability to fill the floor with quality players who can win a championship.  KD and Kyrie use 47% of the Nets Salary cap.  It’s hard to get another 10-12 championship level players to fill in the remaining spots with only half the money that you started with.  If the “money” can stay healthy and the other players produce at a premium, then yes, this is a top team in the East.