Didn't See This Coming
I was really starting to enjoy having the Nets in Brooklyn until they started feeling like they had to be better than the Knicks. The rivalry is great for basketball, but face it no Knicks fan wants to see the Nets actually win.
Last year the Nets went out and brought in Joe Johnson and now they have brought in Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Jason Terry and Andrei Kirilenko. Not to mention they stole Jason Kidd from the Knicks as well (it's okay most Knicks fans are very happy to not have to watch him throw up brick after brick in the playoffs anymore).
I'm still in shock that Boston would actually give up their two best players in a trade to someone that they still have to play four times a year. The Nets really got lucky with this trade and they didn't really have to give up all that much to get it done in terms of players. If Garnett and Pierce don't work out then this trade isn't worth it as they have compromised their future in giving up three of their next five first round picks.
The under the radar move for Kirilenko was probably one of the best free agent signings of this year's free agency. With Pierce and Garnett getting up their in age Kirilenko will likely be brought in for a good amount of minutes throughout the game so that the two of them can remain fresh for an entire season. Kirilenko will be not be relied on for his scoring on this team, but he will end up being this team's version of Tony Allen. His lockdown defense will allow Johnson and Pierce to focus more on the offensive side of the ball.
The one draft pick that they had in this draft might see a good amount of minutes for the Nets. Mason Plumlee isn't going to be a superstar by any means, but if he is able to be the Nets version of Tyler Hansbrough then I think he will do just fine. Just don't expect him to be the same player he was at Duke in Brooklyn.
The Trade:
Brooklyn Nets Receive:
Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce & Jason Terry
Boston Celtics Receive:
Gerald Wallace, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, Keith Bogans & Kris Joseph
Nets 1st Round Picks in 2014, 2016 & 2018
The Nets aren't looking to the future and this trade has it written all over it. They were able to bring in Pierce, Garnett and Terry to help solidify what is probably the deepest starting lineup in the NBA right now. Along with bringing in these guys they were able to get rid of two contracts they didn't want in Wallace and Humphries (I know Jay-Z isn't there anymore, but I'm positive this deal was partially done to make Kanye happy).
The one thing that kind of turns me off in this trade for the Nets is that they might have given up too many picks. I don't know if giving up three first round picks in five years for three players that won't even be on the team come 2016 was such a good idea. I'm actually hoping for the Nets that Pierce and Garnett are retired by 2016. Pierce is only going to get fatter and slower and Garnett probably won't even be able to walk by then.
Don't get me wrong this team is trying to win NOW so this was the best move they could make to help them do it. I just don't know if crippling a team's future to bring in three guys that are at least 35 years old is a great idea. If this team is going to succeed two years from now they will likely have to make a similar move to this. They will have to re-up on talent with picks that they just don't have anymore.
The Coach:
Jason Kidd went from playing point guard for the New York Knicks to jumping to the other borough as the new head coach of the Brooklyn Nets. Is anyone else completely shocked that they would bring Kidd in? I was shocked enough that his name came up as a rumor early on and then even more shocked when they actually hired him.
Kidd will end up being the major reason why this team will not win this season or the next. He just isn't ready to be a head coach. If you are going to be a head coach you should probably have to spend some time on the bench as an assistant before ever getting control of a team. This was easily the Nets worst move of the offseason.
He just finished playing a couple of months ago and will now be taking over a team that has players that he's recently played with and against. While I believe that Kidd can end up being a great head coach, I just don't think it will be in time for Garnett and Pierce to win a title with the Nets.
Brooklyn should have gone after George Karl who was recently fired from the Denver Nuggets. That would have easily been the best coach they could have brought in for this team. He's a well-respected coach that just won the NBA Coach of the Year Award. Somehow they thought that Kidd was the better choice and this will be why they don't hang up any banners in Brooklyn for a few years. It would have made a lot more sense to bring in Karl as the head coach with Kidd helping him as an assistant.
This Season:
Potential Nets Starting Lineup:
Point Guard: Deron Williams
Shooting Guard: Joe Johnson
Small Forward: Paul Pierce
Power Forward: Kevin Garnett
Center: Brook Lopez
Key Bench Players:
Guard: Jason Terry
Guard: Tyshawn Taylor
Forward: Andrei Kirilenko
Forward: Reggie Evans
Center: Mason Plumlee
Try and name a team with a deeper starting lineup than that right now. Just imagine how fun it will be to play as this team in NBA Live 14 (the best basketball video game is finally back). All five guys could end up being all-stars next year. This is basically the same exact thing that the Lakers tried to accomplish last season with stacking their starting lineup with former all-stars. Didn't exactly work out all that well for them. Great teams on paper don't usually live up to what they are supposed to be on the court.
The main problem with their starting lineup is that none of those guys are role players. Who is going to take the last shot? Outside of Garnett who will be relied on to defend the best player on the opposite team in crunch time?
Williams is a shoot first point guard, Johnson and Pierce like to shoot 15-20 times a game and I'm sure Garnett and Lopez are going to want their shots in the post as well. Do I think they are a better team than last year? Absolutely. That doesn't mean they are going to actually win a championship anytime soon. Miami is the best team in the East, Indiana and New York will be back next year, and that guy in Chicago (not MJ, this other guy: video) will be healthy again.
I'm looking forward to seeing this team play next year and will likely watch them every chance I get. I just think they might have tried to hard to win now and may have compromised their future. Mikhail Prokhorov did a lot of great things for the Nets as the owner of this team so far, but saying that they would definitely win a championship within his first five years might have been the worst thing he could have ever done.
No comments:
Post a Comment