The Nets are bad. They may get the #1 pick for the Celtics

[HotelVitale]

They're really not that bad. They probably should've won that Bucks game, sort of blew it at the end, and otherwise they lost to really good teams (MEM, SAS, CHI). I stand by my old prediction: they're a really boring team that's competent but not good. Barring a Lopez injury, they should easily win 30 games and excite no one in the process.

[SF_Warriors]

They actually looked like they were going to have a couple of deep playoff runs, and then lopez gets injured..

Dwill started a steep decline maybe one or two seasons before anyone actually expected.
JJ got old fast and is unable to carry the team at all anymore.
Thad and bargnani are horrible compliments to Lopez, and the team has no depth at any position.

I think the original plan was that prok could simply keep spending to keep the team in contention after KG and PP became useless.
They wouldnt need those picks because they would be a top 4 seed in the east for each of those years.
However, the new CBA implications for trying to buy a championship by massively overpaying players was not going to work.

I remember nets fans (not all, but some) telling me Billy King was a good GM for putting together a stacked team and that prok could keep this up and continue to afford throwing money away and basically be the nba version of the yankees.
I told them that incurring the lux tax each year was a bad business model, especially with the exponential cost, but was basically laughed at like a spoiled rich kid makes fun of poor people. I hope those fans are enjoying their team now, but I digress.

Now, prok is losing huge sums of money due to lower attendance, and he cant keep overpaying guys, and no one with actual talent wants to play on that squad..
They basically have to build aorund brook lopez the next 3 seasons. By next year JJ is done, and I do not see any FAs willing to go to that dumpsterfire of a team that will make them any better than they are now.

[Han Solo]

Didn't they trade Damian Lillard for Gerald Wallace? They could have had Drummond too for that Gerald Wallace trade. Atlanta got their pick this year (and traded it).. Just a mess.

[Slartibartfast]

It's possible, but difficult. The Nets won't be tanking at the end of the year, unlike the other teams down there.

yeah this is the key point. Brooklyn isn't very good, but will at least be trying to win. Other teams that are out of the playoff mix will be actively trying not to win. We saw some epic tank jobs by teams last year trying to hold on to picks with protections or just trying to increase their ping pong balls.

Boston is in great shape with those picks for sure, but I wouldn't concede worst record in the league to Brooklyn just yet.

Yeah, I think this is finally the year that Philly brings home the holy grail, but to your broader point, the tank landscape is a lot different this year.

For one, Brooklyn isn't the only lotto-team without control of their pick. The only reason for some of these teams to tank is altruism (the Brotherhood of the Outsource Tank is always accepting new members).

The Lakers have only top 3 protection on their pick, so unless they think they have a shot at out-tanking Philly, the best they could do is a 56% chance of keeping their pick as the 2nd worst team in the league. Even with a hardcore tank last year they were only able to secure the 4th worst record, which would have left them with only a 37% chance of getting into the top 3. They might just be awful regardless, but it's worth keeping in mind.

Another tanker from last year - NYK - has absolutely no protection on their pick. And if they are awful regardless, their ineptitude relieves the tanking burden from another lotto team in Denver (who would owe their own pick to Toronto if they took NYK's higher pick).

Even peripheral lotto teams have little reason to give up on the playoffs unless they get off to truly horrific starts - Dallas would need to self-sabotage pretty extensively to get in the top 7 to secure their pick, and Sacramento gave pick swap rights to Philly so their incentive to tank is limited.

Beyond those teams, a number of long-time lotto dwellers are fed up with tanking and are pushing for more wins. Orlando and Detroit with fatter payrolls and win-now coaches, Minny with a healthy Rubio and a bunch of veteran hands to cushion their green young guys, and a seemingly hardline anti-tanking regime in Charlotte.

There's always the possibility that injuries push some more talented teams into the mix, but that's no more likely than something happening to Brook Lopez and making the Net tank virtually invincible (From Brook to Bargs would be the most delightfully awful transition since From Justin to Kelly).

[robbie84]

If we look at the teams in the East, particularly depth to cover injuries-they are completely screwed. Their bench is just atrocious and they lack 3 point shooting. Young is okay and Lopez could/is arguably a top 20 player but even with him are they any better than last years Knicks with Melo?
In the East it looks like only the 76ers will be worse and maybe the Magic.
In the West the Lakers have a tougher schedule but are a better team overall.
Are they better than Minny?
The only teams they are slightly better than/*maybe* better than are:
Magic
76ers
Minny
Nuggets

And if they lose Lopez they're almost a lock for bottom 2 with Philly.

[Sixerscan]

It's possible, but difficult. The Nets won't be tanking at the end of the year, unlike the other teams down there.

yeah this is the key point. Brooklyn isn't very good, but will at least be trying to win. Other teams that are out of the playoff mix will be actively trying not to win. We saw some epic tank jobs by teams last year trying to hold on to picks with protections or just trying to increase their ping pong balls.

Boston is in great shape with those picks for sure, but I wouldn't concede worst record in the league to Brooklyn just yet.

Yeah, I think this is finally the year that Philly brings home the holy grail, but to your broader point, the tank landscape is a lot different this year.

For one, Brooklyn isn't the only lotto-team without control of their pick. The only reason for some of these teams to tank is altruism (the Brotherhood of the Outsource Tank is always accepting new members).

The Lakers have only top 3 protection on their pick, so unless they think they have a shot at out-tanking Philly, the best they could do is a 56% chance of keeping their pick as the 2nd worst team in the league. Even with a hardcore tank last year they were only able to secure the 4th worst record, which would have left them with only a 37% chance of getting into the top 3. They might just be awful regardless, but it's worth keeping in mind.

Another tanker from last year - NYK - has absolutely no protection on their pick. And if they are awful regardless, their ineptitude relieves the tanking burden from another lotto team in Denver (who would owe their own pick to Toronto if they took NYK's higher pick).

Even peripheral lotto teams have little reason to give up on the playoffs unless they get off to truly horrific starts - Dallas would need to self-sabotage pretty extensively to get in the top 7 to secure their pick, and Sacramento gave pick swap rights to Philly so their incentive to tank is limited.

Beyond those teams, a number of long-time lotto dwellers are fed up with tanking and are pushing for more wins. Orlando and Detroit with fatter payrolls and win-now coaches, Minny with a healthy Rubio and a bunch of veteran hands to cushion their green young guys, and a seemingly hardline anti-tanking regime in Charlotte.

There's always the possibility that injuries push some more talented teams into the mix, but that's no more likely than something happening to Brook Lopez and making the Net tank virtually invincible (From Brook to Bargs would be the most delightfully awful transition since From Justin to Kelly).

Well yeah. We're the only team in the league actually built to suck from day 1. But that's been largely true every year, yet we've never had the worst record and there have consistently been ~4 other teams that don't get above 25 wins. Because despite the best laid plans, there are always going to be a few teams that have everyone get injured and they end up down by us. The Bucks weren't suppose to have the worst record in 2014, ditto the Knicks being as bad as they were last year.

Of course, that could happen to the Nets too. But I wouldn't project anything just yet. The tank race is fickle.

[asudevil]

I don't understand how Prok can be a billionaire businessman when he does things like put BK in charge for 5+ years.

Prok bought the Nets for $365mil in 2010. Even with the cluster of crap surrounding them they were valued at $1.5bil early last year. He's made over ONE BILLION dollars while letting BK run wild.

I'm pretty sure Prok couldnt care less how this team does for the next decade. That figure is sure to multiply a few times by 2025 regardless of how successful that franchise is in terms of W/L.

[Leslie Forman]

Not at all. Sure, Combining an expected top-10 player with another young quasi-star (Lopez) and some super smart vet role players (KG/Pierce/JJ/G Wallace), there was every reason to think that was a good team for 5 years solid. KG's falling off was totally expected and no one was counting on Pierce to be a star anymore, but Deron took one of the biggest and most mysterious leaps backward of any star in the last 20 years. Went from top-10 player to below average starter, you can't make trades that predict that sort of thing.

Still a rash trade, sure, and most people knew it would hurt down the line. But there was little reasonable expectation that the team wouldn't be top-4 in the east for at least 2-4 years. A run like that might make the loss of picks more palatable.

No, the only players who you could reasonably expect to even be above average starters by 2015-16 were Lopez and Williams, and you knew Williams would decline some, just by virtue of being on the wrong side of 30. Lopez had already had injury issues as well that didn't portend well for his career.

With only those two guys, there's obviously a good chance you don't even have a "good" team. Giving away three unprotected picks during three years where all you'd have is an aging Williams on the wrong side of 30 and an injury prone center who can't rebound is really, really dumb management, period.

[NyCeEvO]

Believe it or not, there is even a rumor that King could be extended again.

[Zion Wembanyama]

Nets can have #1, I want #2 for the Pelicans, we're already toast.

[CP13]

Doubt the Nets pick will be anywhere near #1, sure they are a boring and uninspiring team but they are far from the worst in the league.

[Wonderllama]

It's sad the Nets have no future for three more years. The Knicks give me more hope than these losers

[kerry kittles]

Help us out: http://www.firebillyking.com/sign-petition

[Syd-TK3]

I'm hoping the other new York team switches place with the nets and starts doing bad

[Chuck Everett]

Nets getting rid of Deron Williams was weird considering they have/had no PG to replace him. If they had a legit PG, they could be at least average, but as such they look like they will be very bad.

[Nate505]

They swapped an unprotected pick for those two fossils? Man the Nets GM is a certifiable moron. That or the owner who pressured the GM is.

[CoreyGallagher]

They swapped an unprotected pick for those two fossils? Man the Nets GM is a certifiable moron. That or the owner who pressured the GM is.

The GM is, Billy King is the worst.

[TimRobbins]

I don't understand how Prok can be a billionaire businessman when he does things like put BK in charge for 5+ years.

He doesn't care anymore. He's looking to sell. All he cares about right now is to minimize spending, so he's not firing anybody.

[robbie84]

I don't understand how Prok can be a billionaire businessman when he does things like put BK in charge for 5+ years.

Prok bought the Nets for $365mil in 2010. Even with the cluster of crap surrounding them they were valued at $1.5bil early last year. He's made over ONE BILLION dollars while letting BK run wild.

I'm pretty sure Prok couldnt care less how this team does for the next decade. That figure is sure to multiply a few times by 2025 regardless of how successful that franchise is in terms of W/L.

You'd have to be kicking yourself for selling them so cheaply.
Unbelievable to get a major sports team with global reach in major market for not even 400 million bucks.
Lol.
Prokorov is the one laughing.

[Austincys21]

Nets are going to be bad for seasons to come. Celtics get their next 3 1st? What a stupid trade. Way worse than the Nash deal