After being sent home debatably because of a foot, can the heavy handed Nets dethrone the Greek emperor and bring championship gold to Brooklyn?
Notable Additions/Subtractions:
Additions: Patty Mills (2 years, $12 million), Jevon Carter (trade with PHX), James Johnson (1 year, minimum),
Subtractions: Spencer Dinwiddie (Washington by way of a five-team deal), Landry Shamet (Phoenix)
Last Season’s Record: 48-24 (2nd in East), second round loss to Milwaukee
Projected First Two Rotations (2021-22)
Starters: J. Harden, K. Irving, J. Harris, K. Durant, B. Griffin
Second Unit: P. Mills, B. Brown, C. Thomas, D. Sharpe/D. Bembry, N. Claxton
After making quick work of the Celtics in five games to open the 2021 NBA Playoffs, the Nets were sent on vacation by a combination of Kevin Durant’s big fucking feet, and a to-be-crowned king who was on a mission from Zeus.
After assembling the three-headed monstrosity that is KD/Harden/Kyrie, the inclusion of your stand-and-shoot shooter, Joe Harris, and an athletic freak in Deandre Jordan (former athletic freak?) and third year Georgia product Nic Claxton; the Nets are as well equipped to win in the modern NBA as any team, being top heavy with the right specialists. Specialists including former second rounder Bruce Brown, as their perimeter defending bulldog (shout-out Vermont Academy).
When the absolute nonsense five-team trade that landed Russell Westbrook in purple and gold happened, the Nets lost combo guard Spencer Dinwiddie to Washington in exchange for future pick considerations; pairing him in the backcourt with star Bradley Beal. Dinwiddie of course missed most of last season after a December ACL tear. He would have undoubtedly brought depth at either guard position behind Harden or Kyrie, but the emergence of Bruce Brown and the drafting of LSU’s Cam Thomas filled those shoes without the necessary contractual obligations.
Thomas comes off an electric Summer League, pouring in 37.5ppg over 4 games played, earning co-MVP with Sacramento’s Davion Mitchell and lighting up social media with his pull-up threes. He provides a clear plug and play wing scoring option, at 6’5” and a solidly built 210 pounds. He also showed flashes of defensive potential, adding on 1.7 steals per game over the summer. The other draft pick was Day’Ron Sharpe, who came to Brooklyn by way of a trade that landed guard Landry Shamet in Phoenix. Sharpe is a monster forward from UNC, at 6’11” and 265 pounds. At one point, he had 11 rebounds in 17 minutes during a SL game, six of which were on the offensive end. He appears to be the ‘air apparent’ to Deandre Jordan, whose legs are on the back end of their careers.
The loss of Shamet is relatively negated by two years of Patty Mills, brought in as a free agent for $6m per year. This could prove to be a key move come playoff time, as Mills has spent his whole career in San Antonio, and has a ring from 2014 to show, a team where he played a major role in the second unit. James Johnson was also signed on a one-year minimum, after spending part of last season in New Orleans. Blake Griffin returned on a one-year minimum as well, which both makes me feel old as fuck and also like the Nets know they have to push in the next two to five years.
I mean what is there to say, really? The Nets are the Nets, they thoroughly ripped New York from their nerdy older brother’s hands (although that fight is back), and KD/Giannis is going to be headlining the marquee every night it happens.
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