NBA Offseason: Brooklyn Nets

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.

It's a good thing that when they go to their bench that Jason Terry is the only guy that likes to shoot (kind of an understatement). The rest of their key players are too young to command the ball (Taylor & Plumlee) or highly unlikely to take shots away from the better players on the team (Kirilenko & Evans).

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.

Other NBA Offseason Posts:

Boston Celtics

New York Knicks

NBA Offseason: Boston Celtics

Making All the Right Moves

When Rajon Rondo went down with his season-ending knee injury I envisioned that this would likely be the last day of the big 4 Celtics. Now looking back at that piece the future of the Celtics is in Rondo's hands along with new head coach Brad Stevens.

As someone that grew up a New York sports fan, I've learned to hate Boston sports more than any other town and all I can do is applaud them for everything they've done this offseason. Instead of sticking with old players that aren't going to win them another championship they realized the time was perfect to blow up everything.

I know Celtics fans are angry about the trade that sent Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn and the trade that sent Doc Rivers to Los Angeles, but would you rather have a team that finishes with one of the last spots in the NBA Playoffs for two years or take those two years and start building around something new?

The Trade:

Brooklyn Nets Receive:

Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry

Boston Celtics Receive:

Gerald Wallace, Kris Kardashian Humphries, MarShon Brooks, Keith Bogans and Kris Joseph

Nets 1st Round Picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018

None of those picks will likely be lottery picks as the Nets will likely be one of the best teams in the East for the next five years, but the Celtics will likely be able to trade some of those picks to move up in any future drafts.

Of the players they actually received in the trade, Brooks is the only player that might actually have a future in Boston as the other four players won't likely be brought back when their contracts expire. Humphries will be gone after the season and when Wallace's contract is up in three years who knows how bad he might be by then. Bogans and Joseph might not make the team this year.

The Future:

Potential Celtics Starting Lineup:

Point Guard: Rajon Rondo

Shooting Guard: Avery Bradley

Small Forward: Jeff Green

Power Forward: Jared Sullinger

Center: Kelly Olynyk

Key Bench Players:

Guard: Courtney Lee

Guard: MarShon Brooks

Forward: Kris Humphries

Forward: Gerald Wallace

Forward: Brandon Bass

This looks like a very solid lineup where another addition or two could bring the Celtics back to being a strong contender in the East. I don't know if Bradley, Sullinger or Olynyk are future all-stars but the three of them can be key role players if they have the right star(s) around them.

This team is going to be Rondo's for the next five years so Boston fans have to hope he stays healthy and learns to control his attitude better. It would also help if he developed a jump shot. 

When I look at the lineup around Rondo and Green I wouldn't be shocked if they somehow made the playoffs next year if they were all healthy. There's enough talent on this team that they'd be better than at least five teams in the East and could likely contend for the final spot.

But!!! This is the Boston Celtics who tanked the 1996-1997 season to attempt to get Tim Duncan so don't be shocked if players are sitting with "unknown injuries" or "personal reasons." Rondo will probably sit out for the majority of the season as the Celtics won't rush him back either. Here's a preview of why the Celtics might tank again 17 years later:

He looks kind of good right? Andrew Wiggins will likely be the best player in the country next year and if he was allowed to enter the NBA out of high school he would have been this year's first pick in the NBA Draft. Wiggins will be playing at Kansas for coach Bill Self next season and he is already on every NBA team's radar. His talent and potential are being compared to LeBron James and Kevin Durant so enjoy watching him for one year at the collegiate level.

Next year's draft should be much stronger than this year's so if the Celtics miss out on Wiggins they'll have options. Outside of Wiggins the Celtics will likely look at Duke's Jabari Parker, Kentucky's Julius Randle, Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart and Arizona's Aaron Gordon. Those five players will likely be at the top of next year's NBA Draft.

The Coach

Wow! The Celtics might have just stolen one of the best collegiate coaches and set their team up for the next 10 years. Brad Stevens should be given at least four or five seasons before the front office starts to think about deep playoff runs and if they allow him to build a solid foundation he's a coach that can definitely the Celtics to a championship.

Congrats, Danny Ainge, on hiring Brad Stevens. He has the demeanor of a composed leader. Hope he’s got the hide of a rhino for NBA grind.
— Phil Jackson (@PhilJackson11) July 4, 2013

In Stevens' six years at Butler the Bulldogs went 166-49 and made the NCAA Tournament five of those six years. He led the Bulldogs to two straight NCAA Championship games, but fell short both times in 2010 and 2011. Most people probably can't even tell you what state Butler actually plays in and he managed to get such a small school to the championship two seasons in a row. Had Stevens stayed at Butler I think he could have actually turned that school into a basketball powerhouse for a long time.

The one thing that worries me about the Stevens signing is how him and Rondo are going to coexist. I'm not sure if Stevens will be able to handle the ego that Rondo has and this could end up being a disaster. Rondo might not actually show him respect because Stevens has never coached or played at the NBA level before and because Stevens is relatively young.

If Rondo and the Celtics are able to build with Stevens coaching then this team has a future. As a Knicks fan I hope there isn't one, but from the looks of it in five years the Celtics will be back knocking on the door. For now they will likely be enjoying the life of an NBA lottery team, but at least they still have all those championships they can think about.

The Last Day of the Big 4 Celtics

Today will probably mark the last time Rajon Rondo gets to suit up with teammates Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. With Ray Allen on the court for the visiting Heat this is more than likely the last time all four of these players will share a court together.

Before the game Celtics fans were hoping that Rondo had only a minor injury but during today's game between the Miami Heat and Boston Celtics it was announced that Rondo had torn his ACL and will miss the rest of the season. This the Celtics chances of possibly contending for another title went out the window with the injury. The big question is what will the Celtics look like next season?

Doc on Rondo injury: "Obviously the Rondo news is tough. I knew before the game, I didn't tell anyone. Obviously it was pretty emotional."
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) January 27, 2013

When the first "Big 3" were brought together before the 2007-2008 season they were the team that everyone thought would win the title. That year they won their first title with a young Rondo who had a much smaller role than he does today.

Five seasons later and former starters Kendrick Perkins and Allen are now on other teams contending for a championship and Garnett, Pierce and the Celtics must now think about what stands in their future.

Coming into this season there was already talk about blowing up the team and building around Rondo, but the Celtics decided to make one final run with Pierce and Garnett. With Rondo out the rest of the season now, and more than likely part of next season as well, the Celtics will now have to decide on what to do with it's second all time leading scorer in Pierce, along with Garnett who was the key piece in what brought the Celtics their first championship in over two decades.

Garnett is under contract for next season and Pierce has a team option that they will more than likely use. I think the smart choice for them to do is to trade Pierce and Garnett to young teams and look for a young swingman like a Klay Thompson and a young big man like Kenneth Faried. These are two trades that I could see possibly happening. You put Pierce on a young Warriors team that needs a veteran leadership and they become better right away. You put Garnett on a team that comes close every year but never has enough to get too far in the Nuggets and that team also gets better.

If the Celtics were able to pull these trades off they could then build around a young team of Rondo, Bradley, Thompson, Green and Faried. They would then need to look for a center and then this team could be a team to watch in the future.

Even though the Celtics just won one of the best games so far this season, the only thing that people will remember and talk about is the injury to Rajon Rondo.