First Sean Kilpatrick, then a trade that brought in Caris LaVert, now the signings of Jeremy Lin, Tyler Johnson, and maybe even Allen Crabbe. The Brooklyn Nets suffered through some terrible seasons recently, and their future has looked just as bad. All of their picks are going to the Boston Celtics in these recent drafts, and their roster wasn’t getting any younger.
Then came the overhaul, from the front office down to the coach and roster. Sean Marks has been leaving his stamp on this team so far, and while some may disagree with the amount of money he’s offering to players that are yet to be proven, he’s making the smart risks that need to be taken.
Younger players needed to take over for the older players who were only above average in skill level. Brook Lopez seemed to be the only keeper while everyone else could be traded in an instant, and actually were shipped out for others. Now enters a promising young core that showcases some great defensive talent as well as offensive talent, including Rondae Hollis-Jefferson(5.8/5.3/1.5/1.3), Sean Kilpatrick(13.8/2.2/1.1), Chris McCullough(4.7/2.8), and if the offer sheets go through, Tyler Johnson and Allen Crabbe.
The Nets were 26th in points per game, 27th in three pointers attempted, and 23rd in rebounds per game. On top of that, they were in the bottom 4 teams in offensive and defensive rating while coming in at 19th in pace. These are the things that they’ll be looking to improve when the young guns hit the floor. The pace will grow faster and the offensive rating is sure to go up as these guys will have the green light as they try to grow as individual players and grow as a team. They are bound to make plenty of mistakes, sort of like the Sixers have with they’re young team, but this is something that can give Nets fans hope of a future. They may not be competing for a ring sometime soon, but at least they’re already building up the youth sooner rather than later when they were expected to.
