Don't Despair, New Jersey

Hi, New Jersey.

You may remember me. A couple of years ago, me and my cousin came to the Shore with fake IDs.

For the record – you should tell your bouncers to keep the names of famous Indian cricketers on hand. Don’t let in any Indian kid who carries an out-of-state Drivers License' with the names Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sunil Gavaskar (among others) and a non-American accent. Heaps fun anyway.

A lot of people mock your state. I don’t.

I like New Jersey.

I love your Italian food, although it doesn’t quite compare to the food from Italy or Norton St back home

Your roads are the only ones I’ve driven on and felt at home amongst thousands of other crazy, reckless drivers who think everything can be justified by yelling at the guy who tried cutting him off. 

Plus, you gave me and the world the Jersey Shore, both the place and the incomparable TV show.

And you have the Nets.

Every time this year when I’ve been despondent and thought that God hates the Warriors, I’ve consoled myself by remembering that God clearly hates the Nets more. 

However, the silver lining was closer for you guys than it was to us. Not only were you bought out by a mad Russian with more money than your average small African nation (no disrespect to small African nations or anyone from them), but you had the best shot at the first overall pick.

We all know how that turned out.

God must really hate you guys.

Or does he?

In not giving the Nets the first pick, the big man upstairs may just have done them a huge favour.

Yes, yes, I know what you guys are thinking. You lost John Wall.

Alright well deal with it! If you took Wall, you would have either had to trade him or trade Devin Harris. And who’s to say you would have plugged your main hole (power forward) with a Harris trade?

You probably lost Evan Turner. You guys have three young wings (Courtney Lee, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Terrence Williams) who are only gonna get better.

You do, however, have a shot at getting Derrick Favors. With a bow on.

This pick is near-perfect for the Nets. Favors isn’t predicted to be automatically NBA-ready, but every scout worth his salt is raving about his upside. Comparisons to Dwight Howard on defense and Amare Stoudemire on offense are the order of the day with Favors.

Drafting Favors allows him to learn on the job as a starter from day one. So what if he makes a few mistakes as a rookie? He gets the chance to develop a pick-and-roll combo with Harris that could match anyone out there if given a chance to truly reach their potential together.

Plus, the Nets still have Brook Lopez as a consistent double double threat and a low-post scorer. Once he learns to pass out of double teams a bit better, he’ll be knocking on the door of the best centers in the league.

If Favors can develop his 12-20 foot jump shot, the Nets are left with an inside-outside threat from their young forwards. What team couldn’t use that?

Plus, your wing talent isn’t too shabby either. Terrence Williams will be a perpetual triple-double threat in a couple of years. CDR can flat out score when he’s feeling it – if he improves his range to behind the arc, he will be an even greater threat. Courtney Lee is a solid glue guy, the type of player who could be a great sixth man.

If Harris continues to improve as a playmaker and further develop as a pointguard, he  and Yi coming off the bench to stretch the floor, along with a decent three point shooter and another big man, you have a nine man rotation that could well become the Bennett City Hijackers of the East in a couple of years.

That is, a young, talented team with great chemistry that will only continue to develop and get better.

If Prokhorov can bring in a couple of free agents (massive salaries and a lifetime’s supply of Russian vodka are quite tempting), all the better for you guys.

But even if he can’t, just ponder the future for a second.

In two years, the team moves into Brooklyn. You have the best pick and roll duo in the league since Steve Nash retired. Your center dominates in the paint and is a consistent 20-10 guy. Your wings are triple-double threats who could go off on any given night. Everyone on the team is buddy-buddy and there’s a great vibe hanging around.

If you love basketball and want to see your team win, who wouldn’t want that?

Maybe God doesn’t hate the Nets that much.