Hardwood Paroxysm presents: Winners, losers and shockers of NBA free agency
Bargnani Deal Aside, Nets Have Had a Strong Offseason
By Derek James (@DerekJamesNBA) — Hardwood Paroxysm
The Brooklyn Nets came into this offseason in a precarious position. They had a loaded cap sheet; were swapping or owed every first round pick from this summer through 2020 to other teams; and the team had little in the way of young talent.
Not too many teams coming off of a 38-win season see themselves in this position, but the Nets weren’t just another 38-win team. A couple of summers ago they had primed themselves as contenders with Joe Johnson, Deron Williams, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. Coming into this offseason, the Nets still resembled the group that once had championship aspirations and were seemingly stuck in mediocrity in the aftermath.
Yet, the Nets have made the most of their situation. For the most part.
Billy King’s first order of business was to retain Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young, and did so on reasonable deals. Lopez got $20 million per year, but it’s only for three years which won’t hurt the team if his foot troubles worsen. Young got three years (plus a year four player option), $54 million, which is a great deal given the rising cap situation.
After being unable to move Johnson, the Nets waived Deron Williams via buyout, allowing him to play for his hometown Mavericks. Moving one of those two deals was going to be critical in determining how quickly the team could be good again. Freeing up Williams’ money, the team was able to reallocate that on younger players.
The rest of the Nets’ moves have been taken low risk, high reward fliers on players with some potential upside. Thomas Robinson — the youngest journeyman in NBA history at the age of 25 –, Wayne Ellington, and Shane Larkin each received two year deals for very little money. Trading Steve Blake for Quincy Miller is a move in a similar vein that allows the team an inexpensive one year look at an intriguing prospect. These kind of team-friendly deals allow the Nets to retain flexibility going forward as they will likely have over $40 million in space next summer.
Even in the draft, the team drafted Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to be the team’s first real prospect to be excited about in awhile. The team had room on the perimeter after Mirza Teletovic departed for Phoenix after the Nets rescinded his qualifying offer, so Hollis-Jefferson will have little resistance to getting on the court.
Of course, nothing is perfect, even the Nets’ offseason. The Nets’ only real blemish on their offseason is giving Andreas Bargnani two-years and $2.9 million dollars. Worse yet, the second year is a player option, begging the question of why you want him to make that decision. Brooklyn just invested in Young and Robinson (who may not be good, but still) with Earl Clark still on the team, so why bring in another power forward who isn’t better than the other three on the roster? Lionel Hollins already has one seven-footer whose rebounding he isn’t crazy about, so this should go great.
Overall, you can see what Brooklyn is doing: getting younger and shedding long term salary. The Nets have positioned themselves to be younger with more long term financial flexibility for next season. For a team that cannot do a true rebuild due to their lack of future draft picks, the Nets have done well this summer in creating a way for themselves to improve going forward. After all, Johnson expires after this season and the team has very little salary on the books for four years down the road.
Soon, maybe, the Nets may return to legitimacy.
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