by Jordan Fickling, Christopher Petronella and Mohammed Kazmi
Jason Kidd and the Nets had a great season last year, however coming into this season, the Nets are going to have difficulties coming even close to the playoffs.
Their last season trades are now gone from the Brooklyn. Shooting guard Jason Terry and small forward Paul Pierce have joined the Houston Rockets and the Washington Wizards respectively. Kevin “Big Ticket” Garnett will be warming the bench for the coming games.
Two Fantasy Basketball draft “busts”, Deron Williams and Brook Lopez still remain on the team. Both players are looking to have another adequate season, that is until they inevitably get injured.
“AK47” Andrei Kirilenko is a great backup small forward, not a starter. Kirilenko was rumoured to start for the Brooklyn Nets however, the team is going to use Joe Johnson as their starting small forward. This can lead the team in getting dominated on the court. Without any stars on the team, the Nets will not make it far in the season.
Although the Nets possess a talent that can score, drive, and defend, it seems like their offense is at times scattered and unwilling to make that extra pass to get to the basket. The Nets hope to carry out their offense on the shoulders of their stars such as Williams, Lopez, and Garnett but with these ball hungry players, getting them to pass off is a challenge in itself.
Brooklyn lost Jason Kidd, their head coach last season. This year, they overcame the loss by acquiring Lionel Hollins, an ex Grizzlies coach. Hollins led the Grizzlies to the conference finals so there is a high expectation he will help the Nets reach this goal.
Even though they have acquired a better coach, the Nets still lost a fantastic coach. Kidd had much more court experience compared to Lionel Hollins but despite this, the Nets hope to conquer this season.
Overall, Brooklyn will probably not make it to the playoffs. They’re still trying to rebound from losing Pierce, Terry and point guard Shaun Livingston. There are several teams that can simply outrun, score, and rebound the Nets. These teams include the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls.