5 Reasons New Jersey Nets Must Improve Pieces Around Deron Williams
Whether through trades or free agency, the New Jersey Nets need to somehow upgrade the roster they've currently got surrounding All-Star point guard Deron Williams.
Williams' game depends on not only his ability to put the ball in the basket, but also on his skill at finding open teammates for buckets of their own. His job is all the more difficult when his teammates simply aren't that good.
Obviously, every team wants to improve its roster.
But here are five reasons why the Nets should not only want to do so, but also desperately feel as though they need to.
24-58 Just Won't Cut It
1 of 5The first reason is perhaps the most obvious one of them all: another 24-58 season simply won't be good enough for the New Jersey Nets.
This historically proud franchise has now missed the playoffs in four consecutive seasons after making it for six straight years just prior to the run of ineptness. The Nets bottomed out in 2009-2010 when they won only 12 games.
Nets fans are used to having good, but not necessarily great, teams to root for. New Jersey's management needs to improve the pieces around Deron Williams to give the fans what they want.
Want to Please Mikhail Prokhorov
2 of 5Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov purchased a majority share of the New Jersey Nets early in 2010 with the intention of turning the franchise around and finding the glory days once more. So far that simply hasn't happened.
Prokhorov, by all accounts, is a brilliant businessman who will pull out all the stops to win. Losing simply isn't in his vocabulary, although the same can probably be said for most billionaires.
After he made such a huge investment (especially because most NBA owners are losing money in the present day), the Nets need to reward him by showing that they as well are committed to winning.
Have to Convince Deron Williams to Stay
3 of 5When the New Jersey Nets gutted their team of all young players in order to acquire the services of Deron Williams, they did so with full knowledge that the talented point guard would become a free agent at the end of the 2011-2012 season.
Was it worth it for the Nets to trade away their future for Williams if he can't help them even make the playoffs? Absolutely not.
But what if Williams actually stays with the team instead of bolting to a new team as soon as he can? Well, then it would be worth it.
But for that to happen, the team is going to have to surround Williams with a bunch of new and improved talent.
Current Pieces Just Aren't Good Enough
4 of 5While I'm a huge fan of incoming rookie Marshon Brooks, and fully expect for him to become a stud in the near future, I can't say that about any other player on the New Jersey roster.
Kris Humphries has potential, but he may not even be returning to the team. And that potential is dependent on him not getting too caught up in the distraction known as Kim Kardashian. Anthony Morrow is another intriguing young player and Brook Lopez will always be good but not great. That's about it.
The Nets absolutely need to find some talent, somewhere, somehow.
Preparing for Brooklyn
5 of 5Until the Barclays Center opens in Brooklyn, the Nets are going to remain in New Jersey. But when the new arena is finished, the team is going to relocate and change the name of the team.
The website for the Barclays Center already refers to the team as the Brooklyn Nets and BrooklynNets.com has already been registered for by the franchise. Clearly the team is going to be changing the name.
Doesn't that mean that they'd like to end their tenure as the New Jersey Nets on a high note?
The only way to do that is to improve the pieces around their one and only All-Star.
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Adam Fromal is a syndicated writer and Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter.
