The Bruce Brown Jr. Decision

[MrDollarBills]

So, Bruce Brown will be a free agent this summer.

Do you resign him? Yes or No. We have his bird rights so we can pay him whatever we want

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/brownbr01/splits/2022

Take a look at his splits. Bruce is really starting to kick it into gear with some very nice production, and he fits our team better than he would elsewhere. I say yes, we keep Bruce Brown and offer him a raise to keep him here for this championship window.

I offer Bruce 3 years, $20 million with the 3rd year a team option.

[Stone]

If we had to make that decision today, I would say yes. He fits in our system very well. Like someone said in the game thread (MDB?) BB is a Swiss Army Knife. That is a very accurate description. The man has a knack for the ball. Plays above his height. Does so many intangibles.

I don't see who we are going to get in BB price range that would be worth the risk of letting BB walk.

[Prokorov]

I dont think we can "pay him whatever we want".

Harden for Ben reduces salary a bit, but we still are way in the tax with more important free agents. I don't even acknowledge a call from Brown's agent until Mills and/or Drummond are signed. Love what Bruce is giving but we have 3-4 higher priority signings

1. Kyrie extension
2. drummond
3. patty
4. Claxton?

[TheNetsFan]

So, Bruce Brown will be a free agent this summer.

Do you resign him? Yes or No. We have his bird rights so we can pay him whatever we want

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/brownbr01/splits/2022

Take a look at his splits. Bruce is really starting to kick it into gear with some very nice production, and he fits our team better than he would elsewhere. I say yes, we keep Bruce Brown and offer him a raise to keep him here for this championship window.

I offer Bruce 3 years, $20 million with the 3rd year a team option.

Last year the Nets (& Brown) thought his market was going to be much hotter than it was. Teams thought he was a gimmick player, and were not sure how he'd fit outside of the system. The first part of the season supported that. If he can continue to hit 3s though, his market will get red hot. I'm not sure the Nets are willing to pay a ton of luxury tax for Brown, especially if they want to bring back most of Claxton, Mills, Dragic, Drummond, etc.

A lot will depend on whether Kyrie ends up costing the full max and/or Harris gets moved.

[MrDollarBills]

I dont think we can "pay him whatever we want".

Harden for Ben reduces salary a bit, but we still are way in the tax with more important free agents. I don't even acknowledge a call from Brown's agent until Mills and/or Drummond are signed. Love what Bruce is giving but we have 3-4 higher priority signings

1. Kyrie extension
2. drummond
3. patty
4. Claxton?

Well, I did say 3/20 seems pretty reasonable for Bruce. But I wasn't thinking about the luxury tax + Kyrie.

I don't think we are going to be able to retain both Drummond and Mills. Unless Patty opts in of course because he likes playing here so much lol

[MrDollarBills]

So, Bruce Brown will be a free agent this summer.

Do you resign him? Yes or No. We have his bird rights so we can pay him whatever we want

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/brownbr01/splits/2022

Take a look at his splits. Bruce is really starting to kick it into gear with some very nice production, and he fits our team better than he would elsewhere. I say yes, we keep Bruce Brown and offer him a raise to keep him here for this championship window.

I offer Bruce 3 years, $20 million with the 3rd year a team option.

Last year the Nets (& Brown) thought his market was going to be much hotter than it was. Teams thought he was a gimmick player, and were not sure how he'd fit outside of the system. The first part of the season supported that. If he can continue to hit 3s though, his market will get red hot. I'm not sure the Nets are willing to pay a ton of luxury tax for Brown, especially if they want to bring back most of Claxton, Mills, Dragic, Drummond, etc.

A lot will depend on whether Kyrie ends up costing the full max and/or Harris gets moved.

With Seth here I think Joe might get moved.

I mean it would be a luxury to have both but realistically if we can shed some salary Joe is the guy that probably goes.

[Prokorov]

I dont think we can "pay him whatever we want".

Harden for Ben reduces salary a bit, but we still are way in the tax with more important free agents. I don't even acknowledge a call from Brown's agent until Mills and/or Drummond are signed. Love what Bruce is giving but we have 3-4 higher priority signings

1. Kyrie extension
2. drummond
3. patty
4. Claxton?

Well, I did say 3/20 seems pretty reasonable for Bruce. But I wasn't thinking about the luxury tax + Kyrie.

I don't think we are going to be able to retain both Drummond and Mills. Unless Patty opts in of course because he likes playing here so much lol

Drummond is still getting pistons money, like blake. if he is happy, he could take a 1+1 mmle deal like patty took last year. Our ability to have patty opt-in increase when adding ben. if he opts out, he is gone.

3/20 for brown is a good price, but i dont think we can pay it. you can give brown 7 million or you could give someone like bembry 1.8 million and get similar production and that cuts tens of millions in taxes.

I think you get the following:

Ben, KD, Curry, Harris, JJ, LMA, Blake on their deals plus kyries extension.

Drummond if he takes a 1+1 deal for the small MLE (pattys deal from last year)

Patty if he opts in

the rest is minimum contracts. sorry clax, sorry brown. its not in the budget.

[Prokorov]

So, Bruce Brown will be a free agent this summer.

Do you resign him? Yes or No. We have his bird rights so we can pay him whatever we want

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/b/brownbr01/splits/2022

Take a look at his splits. Bruce is really starting to kick it into gear with some very nice production, and he fits our team better than he would elsewhere. I say yes, we keep Bruce Brown and offer him a raise to keep him here for this championship window.

I offer Bruce 3 years, $20 million with the 3rd year a team option.

Last year the Nets (& Brown) thought his market was going to be much hotter than it was. Teams thought he was a gimmick player, and were not sure how he'd fit outside of the system. The first part of the season supported that. If he can continue to hit 3s though, his market will get red hot. I'm not sure the Nets are willing to pay a ton of luxury tax for Brown, especially if they want to bring back most of Claxton, Mills, Dragic, Drummond, etc.

A lot will depend on whether Kyrie ends up costing the full max and/or Harris gets moved.

With Seth here I think Joe might get moved.

I mean it would be a luxury to have both but realistically if we can shed some salary Joe is the guy that probably goes.

Need to keep 2 of Curry/Joe/Mills. if mills opts out you keep Joe

[gigantes]

Bruce has done nothing but bust it since he got here, but "Too Early to Say" needed to be the 3rd option, yeah?

We're quite possibly looking at a new coach this offseason, new system, major turnaround of players, etc. Bruce could be as useful as a Vets Min all the way to giving him a good bump, depending.

It needs to see IMO.

[TheNetsFan]

I dont think we can "pay him whatever we want".

Harden for Ben reduces salary a bit, but we still are way in the tax with more important free agents. I don't even acknowledge a call from Brown's agent until Mills and/or Drummond are signed. Love what Bruce is giving but we have 3-4 higher priority signings

1. Kyrie extension
2. drummond
3. patty
4. Claxton?

Patty is interesting. I want to keep him, but with Curry & Simmons both being capable ball handlers & Harris returning from injury, Patty is a luxury. Brown balances the roster better. Mills has a team option. We can't give him much of a bump if he opts out. I can definitely see a team willing to give him at least the full MLE or a team with cap space throwing even more at him. We have to hope the Aussie connections are strong enough to convince him to stay.

Unless we're willing to use some or all of the taxpayer MLE, Drummond is getting a minimum deal or walking. I'm not confident we can retain him. His minimum is estimated to be $2.7mil next year.

[Prokorov]

I dont think we can "pay him whatever we want".

Harden for Ben reduces salary a bit, but we still are way in the tax with more important free agents. I don't even acknowledge a call from Brown's agent until Mills and/or Drummond are signed. Love what Bruce is giving but we have 3-4 higher priority signings

1. Kyrie extension
2. drummond
3. patty
4. Claxton?

Patty is interesting. I want to keep him, but with Curry & Simmons both being capable ball handlers & Harris returning from injury, Patty is a luxury. Brown balances the roster better. Mills has a team option. We can't give him much of a bump if he opts out. I can definitely see a team willing to give him at least the full MLE or a team with cap space throwing even more at him. We have to hope the Aussie connections are strong enough to convince him to stay.

Unless we're willing to use some or all of the taxpayer MLE, Drummond is getting a minimum deal or walking. I'm not confident we can retain him. His minimum is estimated to be $2.7mil next year.

I think drummond gets our entire MLE. KD loves the guy. gushed about him long before we traded for him. mentions him unprompted all the time on his podcast. im sure they will push to bring him back.

Mills is more then a player. He is an investment in Ben Simmons. If Ben is gonna be here you gotta keep Patty around. if he takes more money not much you can do, but I think we ask him to opt in and give us one more year to help with Ben.

[TheNetsFan]

I dont think we can "pay him whatever we want".

Harden for Ben reduces salary a bit, but we still are way in the tax with more important free agents. I don't even acknowledge a call from Brown's agent until Mills and/or Drummond are signed. Love what Bruce is giving but we have 3-4 higher priority signings

1. Kyrie extension
2. drummond
3. patty
4. Claxton?

Well, I did say 3/20 seems pretty reasonable for Bruce. But I wasn't thinking about the luxury tax + Kyrie.

I don't think we are going to be able to retain both Drummond and Mills. Unless Patty opts in of course because he likes playing here so much lol

Drummond is still getting pistons money, like blake. if he is happy, he could take a 1+1 mmle deal like patty took last year. Our ability to have patty opt-in increase when adding ben. if he opts out, he is gone.

3/20 for brown is a good price, but i dont think we can pay it. you can give brown 7 million or you could give someone like bembry 1.8 million and get similar production and that cuts tens of millions in taxes.

I think you get the following:

Ben, KD, Curry, Harris, JJ, LMA, Blake on their deals plus kyries extension.

Drummond if he takes a 1+1 deal for the small MLE (pattys deal from last year)

Patty if he opts in

the rest is minimum contracts. sorry clax, sorry brown. its not in the budget.

I can't see Blake sticking around after getting DNPed for most of the year. I also don't know about giving Drummond the full $6.5mil. He's probably worth it, but he needs to get in shape & be able to play 30 minutes per night.

The Nets would be justified in playing some hardball with Irving. He's missed a lot of time over his first 3 seasons with the team, and no team has the cap space to offer a full max. Irving opting out & bumping his starting salary up to about $42.5mil will force a lot of tough tax decisions. If they can shave 10-15% off of that, they may be able to bring an extra person back.

That being said, everybody beyond the 8th or 9th guy in the rotation should be on a rookie deal or a minimum. You don't pay meaningful money and a lot of tax for 3rd stringers.

If you assume KD, Kyrie, Simmons, Curry and Harris are all back, that leaves about 3 guys that can get paid assuming they're not passed by one of this year's rookies on the depth chart. One of Drummond/Claxton needs to be brought back. Drummond likely costs the taxpayer MLE, which means we can't use it on anybody else. In that scenario, Bird rights on Claxton & Brown would be the only thing left for us beyond minimums.

[Prokorov]

I can't see Blake sticking around after getting DNPed for most of the year.

I think it depends on who is back. Claxton likely signs for more money elsewhere and LMA could easily retire. that makes blake a 20 mpg backup center. In that scenario, which i think is the most likely, he stays.

I also don't know about giving Drummond the full $6.5mil. He's probably worth it, but he needs to get in shape & be able to play 30 minutes per night.

I think this is a KD signing, not a Marks signing. Like Deandre Jordan only Drummond is still only 28 and can play.

The Nets would be justified in playing some hardball with Irving. He's missed a lot of time over his first 3 seasons with the team, and no team has the cap space to offer a full max. Irving opting out & bumping his starting salary up to about $42.5mil will force a lot of tough tax decisions. If they can shave 10-15% off of that, they may be able to bring an extra person back.

Justified? sure. will they? I highly doubt it. Kyrie isn't a guy who really succumbs to "hardball". They played hardball with him on the vaccination, that did not go so well. KD also wont want to F around after the Harden thing. Lock up your 2 stars and move on. shaving tax is nice for things like letting claxton walk. you have KD and what appears to be Peak Kyrie. lock that up. dont mess around with it. dont get cute.

If you assume KD, Kyrie, Simmons, Curry and Harris are all back, that leaves about 3 guys that can get paid assuming they're not passed by one of this year's rookies on the depth chart. One of Drummond/Claxton needs to be brought back. Drummond likely costs the taxpayer MLE, which means we can't use it on anybody else. In that scenario, Bird rights on Claxton & Brown would be the only thing left for us beyond minimums.

I'd expect...

Kyrie | Patty (PO)
Curry |Cam
Ben | Harris
KD | Edwards
Drummond (mMLE) | Blake (PO) | Sharpe

The rest is rookies and minimums. I'd guess LMA retires and dragic walks.

I can see us doing sign and trades with Claxton/Brown to get them to an over the cap team. but otherwise, not brought back.

[TheNetsFan]

I dont think we can "pay him whatever we want".

Harden for Ben reduces salary a bit, but we still are way in the tax with more important free agents. I don't even acknowledge a call from Brown's agent until Mills and/or Drummond are signed. Love what Bruce is giving but we have 3-4 higher priority signings

1. Kyrie extension
2. drummond
3. patty
4. Claxton?

Patty is interesting. I want to keep him, but with Curry & Simmons both being capable ball handlers & Harris returning from injury, Patty is a luxury. Brown balances the roster better. Mills has a team option. We can't give him much of a bump if he opts out. I can definitely see a team willing to give him at least the full MLE or a team with cap space throwing even more at him. We have to hope the Aussie connections are strong enough to convince him to stay.

Unless we're willing to use some or all of the taxpayer MLE, Drummond is getting a minimum deal or walking. I'm not confident we can retain him. His minimum is estimated to be $2.7mil next year.

I think drummond gets our entire MLE. KD loves the guy. gushed about him long before we traded for him. mentions him unprompted all the time on his podcast. im sure they will push to bring him back.

Mills is more then a player. He is an investment in Ben Simmons. If Ben is gonna be here you gotta keep Patty around. if he takes more money not much you can do, but I think we ask him to opt in and give us one more year to help with Ben.

Projecting next year's depth chart:
G:Irving-Mills(?)-Dragic(?)
G:Harris-Curry-Thomas
F:Simmons-____-Edwards
F:Durant-______-______
C:Drummond/Claxton-_____-Sharpe

It's clear forward depth is a critical need. If we retain Drummond using the exception, then Brown almost becomes a necessity unless we want minimums behind Simmons (Harris can probably slide over) and KD. If we retain Claxton instead of Drummond, then we can use the exception towards a forward.

[Born_Ready]

Considering he’s one of the better defenders the Nets have, wouldn’t it be advantageous to keep him around?

At a respectable salary?

[Prokorov]

Patty is interesting. I want to keep him, but with Curry & Simmons both being capable ball handlers & Harris returning from injury, Patty is a luxury. Brown balances the roster better. Mills has a team option. We can't give him much of a bump if he opts out. I can definitely see a team willing to give him at least the full MLE or a team with cap space throwing even more at him. We have to hope the Aussie connections are strong enough to convince him to stay.

Unless we're willing to use some or all of the taxpayer MLE, Drummond is getting a minimum deal or walking. I'm not confident we can retain him. His minimum is estimated to be $2.7mil next year.

I think drummond gets our entire MLE. KD loves the guy. gushed about him long before we traded for him. mentions him unprompted all the time on his podcast. im sure they will push to bring him back.

Mills is more then a player. He is an investment in Ben Simmons. If Ben is gonna be here you gotta keep Patty around. if he takes more money not much you can do, but I think we ask him to opt in and give us one more year to help with Ben.

Projecting next year's depth chart:
G:Irving-Mills(?)-Dragic(?)
G:Harris-Curry-Thomas
F:Simmons-____-Edwards
F:Durant-______-______
C:Drummond/Claxton-_____-Sharpe

It's clear forward depth is a critical need. If we retain Drummond using the exception, then Brown almost becomes a necessity unless we want minimums behind Simmons (Harris can probably slide over) and KD. If we retain Claxton instead of Drummond, then we can use the exception towards a forward.

Johnson would probably take the minimum again and Harris would play the 3 not the 2. i have it looking more like:

Irving/Mills
Curry/Thomas
Simmons/Harris
KD/Johnson/Edwards
Drummond/Blake/Sharpe

Bembry, Caleb & Cody Martin, Wes Matthews, Stanley Johnson, Semi Ojeleye are a few names who could be had for the minimum for depth at the 3/replace Brown.

We also may have a pick in this draft, or could combine picks with sharpe to get a better fitting low salary SF.

[Prokorov]

Considering he’s one of the better defenders the Nets have, wouldn’t it be advantageous to keep him around?

At a respectable salary?

it comes at the cost of someone else. Drummond or Mills likely.

Joe Harris being traded for somone making 40% less makes alot of sense

[Born_Ready]

Considering he’s one of the better defenders the Nets have, wouldn’t it be advantageous to keep him around?

At a respectable salary?

it comes at the cost of someone else. Drummond or Mills likely.

Joe Harris being traded for somone making 40% less makes alot of sense

Yeah, true. Would you be willing to let Patty walk if we know 100% Curry will sign an extension next year?

I don’t know if the Nets can hold on to Dre long term. That’s a whole other episode.

[Prokorov]

Considering he’s one of the better defenders the Nets have, wouldn’t it be advantageous to keep him around?

At a respectable salary?

it comes at the cost of someone else. Drummond or Mills likely.

Joe Harris being traded for somone making 40% less makes alot of sense

Yeah, true. Would you be willing to let Patty walk if we know 100% Curry will sign an extension next year?

I don’t know if the Nets can hold on to Dre long term. That’s a whole other episode.

i need 2 of curry/harris/mills. who the 2 are matters less to me.

[TheNetsFan]

it comes at the cost of someone else. Drummond or Mills likely.

Joe Harris being traded for somone making 40% less makes alot of sense

Yeah, true. Would you be willing to let Patty walk if we know 100% Curry will sign an extension next year?

I don’t know if the Nets can hold on to Dre long term. That’s a whole other episode.

i need 2 of curry/harris/mills. who the 2 are matters less to me.

Curry & Mills are very similar players (size, skillset, etc), with Curry being 2 years younger and an amazing shooter versus Mills who is a very good to great shooter. Harris is the youngest and best shooter of the 3, and offers better roster balance because of his size. If you need 2 of the 3, Mills is the odd man out (unless you're using Harris's contract in a trade). It also pains me to say this, because I love Mills on this team. We can definitely find minutes for all 3, but resources may be better allocated to other positions.