Free Agency or Draft: How Should Brooklyn Nets Fill Biggest Offseason Needs?
Brooklyn Nets fans continue to panic about their team's future with talk of "not having their own first-round pick" surrounding all offseason discussions. But that doesn't mean the Nets are missing a first-rounder all together.
The Nets actually do have one of those this year, and they have moves to make in free agency. They'll have to succeed in both areas, though, to improve on a 38-44 season that ended after a first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks.
Speaking of the Hawks, the Nets own their first-round selection after Atlanta activated a pick swap resulting from 2012's Joe Johnson trade. Brooklyn, who would've had the 15th selection otherwise, will go 29th.
Nowadays, trading Johnson is something the Nets have on their minds; it's a move that they could make in conjunction with others in order to improve both in the present and down the line. For an organization whose future looks bleak, offseason strategy has to take both next year and the years after that into account. The Nets have to use every avenue they can to get better in both of those areas.
Gaining Athleticism
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Brooklyn had one of the least athletic rosters in the NBA this past season. That's a reflection of both the age stashed on this team and the style.
Coach Lionel Hollins' teams have never been ones to play fast, but they also never really had the personnel for it. The Memphis Grizzlies weren't going to be running wild with Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph as two of their most important offensive players, and the Nets probably aren't going to do it with a partially decrepit or perennially injured team.
Brooklyn did play a faster game once Thaddeus Young arrived and Markel Brown stepped into the starting lineup, but the Nets still finished 24th in pace this past season.
That doesn't necessarily need to change. Plenty of the best teams in the NBA play low-paced games, but the most dominant ones don't always playing slow. They're moving quickly, making immediate decisions and beginning sets early in the shot clock, none of which the Nets do often.
Brooklyn could use a serious infusion of athleticism. Not just on the wings. Anywhere.
Inserting Cory Jefferson into the rotation couldn't hurt. He showed off some useful skills during his rookie season but didn't get much of a chance to make an impact. Still, prioritizing athleticism when the Nets pick 29th in the draft is going to be key.
They could go with the Brazilian George Lucas, who won't be ready for a few years, but whose dimensions are comparable to Reggie Jackson's, long and tall for a point guard. Robert Upshaw is a possibility. So are any of Montrezl Harrell, Christian Wood, Rashad Vaughn or Chris McCullough.
For all the criticism general manager Billy King has received (and that he's deserved), he's actually drafted quite well over the last few years. Both second-round picks from last season (Brown and Jefferson) seem like they could form into rotation guys. If the Nets are as successful this year, it could go a long way.
Bringing Back the Important Ones
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The Nets can't go out and sign loads of big names because of their cap situation, so it's essential they actually bring back the quality they already have on the roster. After all, there is no point in being bad and tanking for a first-round pick when you don't actually have a first-rounder at all. (The Nets' initial 2016 selection goes to the Celtics as a result of the trade for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.)
Brook Lopez will likely become a free agent, something which will happen if he decides to pass on the $16.7 million player option he could pick up for next season. Young, who has a player option also, could do the same and find himself floating into the open market.
King has already stated as clearly as possible that bringing back both Young and Lopez is No. 1 on the Nets' list of priorities.
"Internally, the next big step is to keep Brook and Thaddeus here," King said at the end of the season, according to ESPN.com's Mike Mazzeo. "They both have shown indications they want to be here in their exit interviews, and we want them here, so it's incumbent on us to get that done."
Alan Anderson will be an essential cog to sway into a return as well. He may not have the gaudy numbers or the impact that Lopez or Young does, but he is Brooklyn's most reliable defender on the wings, given his consistency guarding both on and off the ball. He had the best-shooting (full) season of his career in 2014-15, too, draining 35 percent of his three-pointers.
If the Nets can convince all three of those free agents to return, they'll have the start of a potentially respectable core—if they can, of course, improve in other areas.
Finding Pick-and-Roll Personnel
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Hollins has created a reputation for not running schemes that are congruent with modern-day NBA offense, but that's not true for everything. Even though he picked up that rep when he was implementing an attack through Gasol in Memphis, he actually ran a decent amount of pick-and-roll when he was there. He's brought that to Brooklyn.
This year's Nets offense looked most effective during the second half when Deron Williams and Lopez were jelling in the screen-and-roll.
It makes sense that Brooklyn would want to move forward with that strategy in mind. Young is a fitting complement next to Lopez if the Nets want to play like that, picking and rolling with shooters around the perimeter. If that's the case, Brooklyn needs to find personnel to slot into those spots.
The team could use an extra shooter, someone who isn't ball-dominant. Mostly, it could use someone who can run off screens off the ball.
There's a chance that player could be Bojan Bogdanovic. The rookie has developed a noticeable understanding for how to cut. It especially showed during the second half of the season. But Bogdanovic still gets most of his points either in stand-still, catch-and-shoot situations or off basket cuts. He's not exactly running off screens and swishing off curls.
If he can progress into a player who can affect the game both moving to and from the basket while away from the ball, Brooklyn's offense would have a new dynamic. But either way, the Nets might be prudent to prioritize that sort of player to slot either in or around a starting unit that should love itself some pick-and-roll.
Improving the Future
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What do we hear about all the time as soon as someone mentions this organization?
The Nets have no future!!!
You know why we're hearing it? Because people are yelling it. They're screeching so loud that they're using three exclamation points. Three!
Brooklyn may not select with its own first-round draft pick until 2018. It employs a roster mostly of older and unathletic players, though it did get both younger and sprier once acquiring Young and upping Brown's minutes.
Still, with each signing the Nets make, they have to consider youth and future as a big part of it, just as they obviously did last summer.
The good for Brooklyn is it actually does have some youth already in the locker room. As mentioned before, Brown and Jefferson could both transition into rotation players. The 26-year-old Bogdanovic, meanwhile, was just named Second-Team All-Rookie and is bound to get a chance to make a major impact next season. Whether he actually capitalizes on that opportunity is up for debate.
Brooklyn has to add to that, even if it's just by going after free agents who aren't big names. The Nets, after all, aren't exactly in a financial position to spend big money on free agents. That's not a possibility.
Even non-contracted players like Kyle Singler and Al-Farouq Aminu could find ways to help the Nets, and they would be able to contribute two or three years down the line too (though the suggestion here is obviously not to give them long-term contracts). At some point, the 2015 Nets have to think about the 2017 Nets. This is probably that moment.
Trade Joe Johnson
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You could say the Nets would be better off trading Williams than anyone else. And you know what? You'd be right. But that's exactly why they probably won't be able to deal him.
No one in the NBA is untradable. That word has no meaning in a league in which we've seen Johnson, Rudy Gay and Andrea Bargnani unloaded over the past few years. Anyone can be moved if you add enough grease to the deal.
Throw in some draft picks or young talent, and you can find a way to move the NBA's worst pacts. The problem for the Nets, though, is they don't have any of that oil to help slip Williams' contract (two years, $43 million remaining) through to another squad.
Johnson, though, would be more likely.
The Nets wing has only one year left on his deal, even if he is owed $25 million. Still, expiring deals are often moveable.
It's not like Johnson is a bad player. Actually, he was one of the three best Nets this past season and was probably the most consistent one on a night-to-night basis (considering Lopez underperformed during the first half of the year and Young didn't even come to Brooklyn until February).
King has said he wants to move either Johnson or Williams, so look out for the J.J. rumors on the horizon. The teams to keep in mind are the Charlotte Hornets, Sacramento Kings and Detroit Pistons.
All quotes obtained firsthand. Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current as of May 19 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
Follow Fred Katz on Twitter at @FredKatz.
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