Nets – The Brooklyn Game

Andrea Bargnani Bargnani is a bit different from the three guys before him. Ellington, Larkin, and Robinson are all looking to find their NBA footing after things went south; at this point, Bargnani can only hope to prove his doubters wrong. He's still trying to find his NBA footing, but only after belief in his potential came, went, and then got pile-drived deep into the earth's core. There is not a single metric that justifies signing Andrea Bargnani to an NBA contract. He is a seven-foot center who does not defend or rebound at an NBA level. He is a stretch five that has hit well below the league average from three-point range in the last four seasons. It's hard to tell what's more laughable, his defensive rating (worst on last year's lowly Knicks), or the GIFs that show it. Bargnani has never lived up to his billing as a top overall pick in 2006, coming closest during a career-best season in 2010-11, when he averaged 21.5 points per game for the 22-60 Toronto Raptors. But if there's any silver lining here, it's this: Bargnani, who did not seem to enjoy rising to expectations, now has less expectations than ever. He's in Andray Blatche territory. Anything good he does will be a bonus. Anything else? Well, he's on a minimum deal, with no set rotation spot, and a few young guns (Robinson, Willie Reed, to name two) chomping at the bit for backup big minutes. He has the stability of a minor guaranteed contract and $72 million in career NBA earnings, but the pressure of needing to prove he belongs to stay on the floor. Is that enough? Well, probably not. Remember, we're talking about a player who posted the worst on-off court impact on the second-worst team in the NBA, who has struggled to stay healthy in recent years. But anything is possible... right?

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They've tried to make it all about big names. Deron Williams's face was plastered on billboards, subways. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett stared you down when you entered Barclays Center. They ended up with just one second-round appearance in three years, which cost the team hundreds of millions of dollars in salary, luxury tax, and eventually, buyout costs. The cost of securing those players -- and pushing the team's salary cap to never-before-seen brinks -- has also been scraping the barrel to fill out their roster with minimum or near-minimum players. The Nets have never had more than the taxpayer mid-level exception to sign new players since their move to Brooklyn, and that means picking up unproven journeyman, aging veterans, flameouts trying to find their foothold in the league: nomads who might not earn another contract if they don't make their mark. And that's the weird part: those guys have been the most fun to root for. Reggie Evans had the offensive skills of a blindfolded duck, but the crowd might not have ever cheered louder than when he beat Hack-A-Reggie by nailing two free throws. Shaun Livingston was probably on his last minimum contract until he put up the best season of his career, helping the 10-21 Nets turn in their most exciting three months in Brooklyn. Andray Blatche turned the court into his own personal jester's stage for two seasons, and parlayed it into -- what else? -- Filipino citizenship and a lucrative deal in China. These guys were captivating NBA journeymen, nomads that stepped into town and made us want to watch. Re-upping Brook Lopez & Thaddeus Young -- a foregone conclusion if there ever was one in free agency -- meant the Nets needed to go digging in the rough once more. Out came four players who project to get significant minutes on the bench, who have bounced around the NBA (some despite high expectations), and who need to find their NBA footing. When I say bounced, I mean bounced. Two of the four have averaged at least one new team per season, and one is just one team behind. Two were former top-five picks. Have the Nets found any diamonds in the rough? Scroll through to learn some more.

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