MrDollarBills wrote:This whole chasing stars narrative on here shows me that no one has learned anything from the last several years.
Next summer is going to be hot and cruel for a lot of you on here when your dreams of the Nets forming a super team don't come true. Me? I'll be good. Marks will stay the course. we'll retain who needs to be retained, we'll draft well, we will accumulate more assets and continue to build slowly and properly.
I'm sure the narrative at that point will jump from "hey lets form a super team with kawhi, kyrie, and klay!" to "omg lets trade all of our first round picks and every young player that we have for anthony davis!!"
watch. this is exactly what will happen.
Damn dude, who poured Hatorade in your Corn Flakes?
You've gone from a realist and cautious to a flat out pessimist consumed with superstition.
First off, at least for me, I'm not going to be crushed, or angry, or surprised if we strike out in free agency or trade next summer. As long as the cap is spent and/or managed wisely and a treadmill with little to no hope of getting better isn't formed, I'll be fine with whatever direction Marks and co. take this roster. I feel most others here will feel the same, unless they're the ones already condemning Marks for his patience and lack of instant on court improvement.
Second, you're really stuck on this, "We're the Nets, we'll always suck, we'll never have anybody good, never have any success! Get used to it suckaz!", type of superstitious negativity. And it's your right to have that opinion as an individual and we're all here to talk Nets hoops and it's good to have a dissenting voice of reason, but you're hitting Rain Man levels here with your Uzi-like rate-of-fire repeating of said opinion lol.
The Warriors were once a laughing stock. The Clippers as well. The Nets too, yet even in the Swamp, even with a notorious cheapskate in Ratner with ulterior motives, we still had a contender for 4 years and a strong playoff team for a few years after, with 2 of the biggest names in professional basketball at the time on the roster, who both re-signed. We then had a horribly built, but big name team in Brooklyn. With a GM who destroyed a 5 to 7 year window of future basketball for the fans with a comic series of horrid trades. But we're climbing back out. Through these times we've had guys lobby to come here who were marque players at the time. D12. Garnett in the past before he was shipped to Boston. Michael Redd for a very brief period before his knee injury. And these were all in less relevant times, in even murkier transition periods. The buzz now is players are spreading the good word. Things have changed.
But back to other teams and turnarounds. How about the Kings? They're like the opposite. Went from a laughing stock, to a contender with ownership and management change, who made a series of savvy moves to form one of the most entertaining teams in the league for a long period, who were legitimately robbed of a trip to the Finals in one of the biggest rig jobs in American professional sports. Then the Maloofs sold and they're back to ****.
The Hawks were a big success back in the day, then mired in mediocrity, then became an extended success story and during that period attracted many young star free agents, starting with Joe Johnson wanting to leave an on the rise Phoenix to lead there when they were at their worst.
Memphis was a place players avoided like the plague and then formed a place players wanted to be, a real contender for a few years, with nearly a decade of strong playoff ball.
The Mavs were looked at like b-ball Siberia for the longest, but now they've been one of the more respected franchises and free agent and forced trade destinations with immense success for a decade and a half.
San An used to be the golden rule, now you have MVP level players and stars trying to force their way out.
The point is, the NBA is often fluid and cyclical. There are a handful of certain teams who always seem to have the upper hand, but there is always opportunity when you have a big market, a wealthy owner willing to spend, a wide open conference and management and coaching who get it.
You're too hung up on wins, on free agents wanting to join "playoff teams". The Warriors are the outlier in the free agent sense. They were the already best team in the league juggernaut, who caught the bitch-made superstar at his moment of weakness, who strategically kept open the cap just for all this to come together as a the perfect storm.
The other stars who forced trades, or joined forces, they did so for the aforementioned from the paragraph 2 above.
LeBron and Bosh joined Miami because they wanted to form Voltron with Wade and the #2 overall pick. Not because the Heat had just won 40 something games.
Harden wanted a place like Houston because he wanted his own team, with smart management, a big market, an owner who spends, a war chest of assets to add pieces around him, etc. Not because Houston was a perennial treadmill.
Kawhi wanted LAL because that's where he's from, because of the market, because his uncle is a douche and he's an autistic weirdo who follows him like a 14 year old kid puppy with a wet nose and because they'll draw other players. Not because they've been winning so much.
Dwight wanted BK because of market, because of teaming with Deron and JJ. Because of opportunity. Not because they were a first round exit.
Kyrie wanted NYC and San An before he was shipped to Boston because he wanted his own team, a big market, spendy owners and the ability to team up with another great player who he views as a shade less great than himself. Not because the Knix are a constant lotto ball magnet, or because San An has such great Mexican food.
LeBron, the greatest player on the flat face of this planet Earth, wanted the Lakers. Not because they've been a 40 something win runaway train year after year. But because great players want to team up with another great player from a very short specific list of their mutual choosing, in a huge market. Not because he sees so much in Lonzo Ball or Hart...
If it were all about winning, most of these players wouldn't even want to leave the situations they are in! Why would Kyrie ever dream of leaving Boston? Kawhi the Spurs? Why wouldn't LeBron have went somewhere like Philly? Found a way to force his way to Houston? Found a route to the Pelicans?
Will we land 2 superstar free agents next summer? Not likely. But I'm not going to be so insanely dismissive as you due to preconceived notions and superstitious sports witch craft. And I'll be fine if they strikeout, use the cap to acquire picks and suck one last year yet again. But this team has a lot going for it as a destination next summer, it really does. There's a reason to be cautiously optimistic. Relax, live life a little, be a fan first and be critical second. Maybe it will all be wonderful. Maybe we'll crash and burn as we've been traumatized to expect as of late.
**** it though, maybe I am just a:
So be it!