Of all of the seasons Nets GM Sean Marks has been within the operating for Executive of the Year, this may be the yr his friends tip their hats.
Marks and crew governor Joe Tsai stared an explosive state of affairs within the face – a possible detonation of a championship franchise within the wake of Kevin Durant’s summertime commerce request – and steadied the ship by turbulent waters.
Durant stays a Net ostensibly in opposition to his will, Kyrie Irving seems motivated on what’s serving as a one-year deal, Ben Simmons each appears to be like and sounds wholesome, and the Nets, but once more, return as championship contenders powered by a Big 3 that may be the most effective in basketball.
But will it’s sufficient? History has proven, particularly for this franchise, that the expertise on paper will not be the end-all, be-all to creating a deep playoff run. Entering Year 4 of the Seven-Eleven period, the Nets have only one playoff sequence victory to indicate, with the identical variety of sweeps in addition after the Celtics dusted off the broomsticks and knocked them out of the primary spherical in disappointing vogue final season.
This time, it ought to be totally different.
The Nets are getting a clear takeoff by coaching camp and are bringing largely the identical core group again with a few new complementary faces. That familiarity will assist them within the methods the dearth of it doomed them final season. After beginning final yr with 10 new faces on the roster, seven of the ten gamers who mission to play significant minutes are getting back from final yr’s crew.
That doesn’t imply it will likely be clean crusing throughout. Here are three potential icebergs the Nets need to navigate round on a championship cruise.
Is second-year huge man Day’Ron Sharpe prepared for primetime?
Also often called ‘Do the Nets have enough size?’ While the numbers say the Nets had been statistically an OK rebounding crew final season, watching them battle for boards earlier than buying Andre Drummond within the James Harden deal was a sight for sore eyes.
The Nets had been routinely out-rebounded, particularly after a giant wing in Joe Harris was dominated out for the season as a result of he wanted two ankle surgical procedures. Drummond supplied dimension the place Nic Claxton lacked it, however the lack of a rebounding presence was totally exploited within the first spherical of the playoffs. The Celtics averaged 39.5 boards and the Nets solely hauled in a mean of 34. Those rebounds proved pricey in a sequence determined by small margins.
The Nets bought larger this summer time for positive. Royce O’Neale, whom the Nets acquired from the Utah Jazz for a commerce exception and a first-round choose, performs larger than his 6′4″ peak would counsel. He averaged 5 rebounds for his profession however has a season averaging seven boards as a 3-and-D who suits seamlessly alongside this proficient group. TJ Warren checks in at 6′8″, 220 kilos. Markieff Morris isn’t often called a rebounder, however he’s 6′9″, slightly below 250 kilos.
Not to say a wholesome Simmons is a rebounding machine with the capability to seize a board and take it the size of the ground for both a end on the rim or a dime to an open teammate.
But Drummond left for Chicago and the Nets by no means signed a professional backup middle regardless of having the cap mechanisms to take action. Instead of going after DeMarcus Cousins or Hassan Whiteside, the Nets are getting into coaching camp with second-year huge man Day’Ron Sharpe as the one different huge man on the roster except for Claxton, whose images out of coaching camp additionally counsel he has placed on extra muscle weight to his once-considered lank body.
Claxton, resulting from a wide range of accidents and diseases, has additionally solely performed in 97 regular-season video games in his first three NBA seasons, giving a heightened probability that there will probably be occasions when Sharpe is the one middle out there to play. Sharpe has confirmed to be an efficient rebounder however hasn’t adequately examined these instincts in opposition to the league’s greatest as a result of he didn’t get a lot enjoying time as a rookie.
The first few video games of the preseason and common season will dictate whether or not or not Marks’ additions have helped compensate for the Nets’ lack of a brute pressure rebounder and defender like Drummond. If Brooklyn’s rebounding struggles proceed, the Nets might have so as to add depth on the 5
Will the Nets lastly get a string of fine well being?
Speaking of Claxton’s availability historical past, the Nets have six gamers projecting to play essential minutes who haven’t been dependable for taking part in a full slate of video games. Take TJ Warren, for instance, whose dimension and scoring capability make him a wonderful choice to assist take the load off Durant’s shoulders for spurts at a time.
Until you bear in mind Warren hasn’t performed in every of the previous two seasons due to a nagging foot damage.
The damage bug festered in Brooklyn final season, and the Nets have a flamable roster with gamers who could possibly be topic to aggravating outdated illnesses. Harris hasn’t performed basketball since Nov. 14 after making an attempt to make a comeback on an ankle that wanted a second surgical procedure.
Simmons hasn’t performed basketball in a year-and-a-half and is coming off a microdiscectomy after coping with a herniated disc in his decrease again. Claxton’s availability has already been talked about and the numbers alone converse volumes for Irving, who has appeared in solely 103 video games in his first three seasons in Brooklyn and has each regular-season and playoff accidents to indicate.
Of course, there’s Durant, the basketball machine who has mentioned on a number of events to “let me die out there on the court” as a result of he desires to play as many minutes as his crew wants him to win video games. He is three seasons faraway from rupturing his Achilles – although his play makes it appear to be it by no means occurred – and suffered an MCL damage that price him a month-and-a-half on a freak play the place Bruce Brown tumbled into his knee.
Every crew’s season hinges on gamers being out there, however the Nets have had unhealthy luck in that division. Will this be the yr they lastly string it collectively?
How will Steve Nash maximize his gamers’ skills?
It’s not every single day a famous person and former league MVP goes on to the franchise proprietor and requires each the roles of his crew’s head coach and normal supervisor. And it’s actually not every single day {that a} crew proprietor says no to a famous person’s calls for – whereas additionally declining to satisfy his commerce request.
But such is the standing in Brooklyn, the place issues need to be no less than a bit of awkward after Durant requested a commerce, then reiterated that commerce request with an ultimatum – ‘either trade me or fire both Steve Nash and Sean Marks’ – that went unfulfilled.
And whereas Marks’ resume as a normal supervisor could have earned him a repute as top-of-the-line within the enterprise, there isn’t a doubt Nash – who took the Nets job two seasons in the past with no prior teaching expertise – has one thing to show.
From rotations to in-game changes and timeouts, there have been occasions the place Nash has regarded in over his head because the chief of a crew with championship aspirations, no time extra evident than when his former assistant Ime Udoka lapped him with defensive methods that clamped the Nets’ two star scorers.
This season, success for Nash will probably be dictated by how fluid the offense appears to be like and the number of methods wherein he’s in a position to unlock Simmons’ sport. Nash mentioned final season the Nets would use Simmons usually on the middle place, however his earlier head coaches used his gifted playmaking talents to begin him on the level guard. The Harden deal additionally proved the Nets want some extent guard to arrange the offense so Durant and Irving aren’t tasked with doing so.
It will probably be on Nash not solely to maximise Simmons’ skills however to get essentially the most out of everybody and set up an offense not practically as predictable because the one opponents game-planned for final season.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com