Fansided

Winners and losers from Los Angeles Lakers/Brooklyn Nets trade

By John Buhler

Dec 17, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Timofey Mozgov (20) with his championship ring before the game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Los Angeles Lakers center Timofey Mozgov (20) with his championship ring before the game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Los Angeles Lakers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 10, 2017; Boston, MA, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson reacts during the first quarter against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 10, 2017; Boston, MA, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson reacts during the first quarter against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports /

Loser: Kenny Atkinson

Let’s be real. The only dude we feel any bit bad for is Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson. All he wants to do is develop basketball players into something respectful on his native Long Island and get paid millions of dollars for it. Now he’s got to deal with Mr. Snapchat himself and the immobile Mount Mozgov down low.

Atkinson will learn firsthand if Russell is an NBA point guard or not. He will probably alienate his favorite Net, point guard Jeremy Lin, in the process. Poor Jeremy. It’s not going to end well for him either. He just needs to hope that the Linsanity Trilogy gets a second installment in Houston soon. The Rockets have Mike D’Antoni and might need a point guard if they trade Patrick Beverley to unsuccessfully sign Chris Paul from the Los Angeles Clippers. That’ll be a hilarious sequence of events on Twitter in a few weeks.

Hopes for Linsanity aside, Atkinson is going to find out fast that Lin and Russell are like motor oil and swamp water playing opposite each other in the Nets backcourt. All sorts of yuck that will be. For even more displeasure, Atkinson will soon realize that Mozgov offers no offensive game out of the paint.

To make things even worse, the Nets just traded their first-round pick they had swapped by the Atlantic Division rival Boston Celtics to the Lakers along with their best player. It’s not like draft picks grow on trees in Brooklyn. Are we sure that general manager Sean Marks wasn’t part of the old regime that NEEDED Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry. We’re all pulling for you, Kenny. Just know that.

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