NBA.com has begun running through a series of “30 Teams in 30 Days,” and their analysis of the Brooklyn Nets doesn’t paint a pretty picture.
Though the details are sketchy — for example, the post asserts that the Nets still have Steve Blake, and didn’t include Alan Anderson or Mirza Teletovic in its list of departing players — the overall point is clear: the Nets shot for the moon, landed on the clouds for about two weeks in 2014, and have since skidded back to earth. Now, it’s payment time, in the form of an ugly on-court product.
From NBA.com’s Shaun Powell:
Teams that dole out dollars to buy a title are usually fine with struggling when the process runs its course and the bill comes due. Such is the price of doing business that way. But the Nets never did challenge for a title, didn’t even come close. All they did was pay the largest tax bill in league history and get dumped by Jason Kidd. And now the rubble and ashes of Mikhail Prokhorov’s pricey failed plan are threatening to keep Brooklyn in the dumps for a while.
Remember, the Nets don’t own their own first-round pick outright until 2019 because they mortgaged their future. It’ll take some clever maneuvering to compile assets, trim payroll and keep the fans satisfied, and that burden falls on general manager Billy King. To be fair to King, he spent lavishly on the orders of ownership, which wanted to make a big splash in Brooklyn when the Nets crossed the Hudson. But there was no backup plan and now the team’s a mess.
Powell also mentioned the team’s “grim point guard position” (though not by name) and asserted that four years and $50 million for Thaddeus Young might have been an overpay. But with the salary cap likely hitting nine figures in two years, it’s hard to consider any deal this offseason a huge overpay.
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This isn’t the first fire-and-brimstone article we’ve read (or written!) here at The Brooklyn Game, and with the season fast approaching and the Nets worse on paper than last year’s Zombie roster, we’re going to see a lot more of these across national websites. Brace yourself.
