Predicting the final records of each NBA team

Brooklyn Nets

The 2014-2015 season for the Brooklyn Nets is almost entirely tied to the health of their two most dynamic players.

Brook Lopez appeared in only 17 games last season, but the talented center is easily the best offensive option for the Nets this season, and Brooklyn lost a nice piece behind him when Andray Blatche exited stage left. The 26-year-old Lopez certainly isn’t past his prime by any measure, and the reports have been positive in the early going, but the seven-footer has diagnosed foot issues at this point, and with two full seasons in which he appeared in less than 20 games, there is every reason to worry.

On the perimeter, Deron Williams was an active participant in 64 regular season games and 12 playoff games for Brooklyn last season, but visions of the player who was once cast as a candidate for “best point guard alive” were few and far between. The now 30-year-old point guard averaged just 14.3 points and 6.1 assists per game with peripherals that place him as merely an average starting point guard, and that won’t cut it for a team that is in desperate need of offensive creators.

The Nets certainly have talent on the surface, and with a starting five that includes Joe Johnson, Andrei Kirilenko and Kevin Garnett, Brooklyn would win any battle if this game was played five years ago. However, Garnett and Kirilenko cannot be counted on as above-average starters at this point, and with the loss of Shaun Livingston and Paul Pierce in the off-season, there is real concern about their ability to be dynamic on the wing.

If Lopez and Williams can rediscover a glimpse of their respective primes, the Nets could be a 50-win team, but it would be crazy to wager on both players being healthy and productive over 82 games, and that greatly limits expectations.

Projected Record: 38-44, 9th in East