The Brooklyn Nets probably made the biggest move during the draft and many people are beginning to wonder if they are now the second best team in the East behind Miami. Did everyone forget how hyped the Lakers were before last season? A team full of big names but these names were not able to play together. Will the Brooklyn Nets be like this?
The Brooklyn Nets traded to get Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry for Marshawn Brooks, Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Keith Bogans, Kris Joseph, and 3 years of first round draft picks. Trading away the future like this seems silly but the Nets owner will pay whatever it is to bring in new players with no care about the luxury tax. The Nets this off season have also brought in Shaun Livingston and Andrei Kirelinko.
When looking at this starting lineup on paper many would say it is the best in the NBA, but I disagree with this assumption. Deron William is an elite guard, but he is a scorer not a facilitator. Joe Johnson is a one on one player who happens to play on a team. Paul Pierce is just a scorer, he has however lost a step or two, still effective but not what he once was, Kevin Garnett a rim protector and great mid ranger shooter, Brook Lopez is scoring center but a weak defender and poor rebound-er for his size.
This team has a lot of scorers which is good. But the Nets have too many scorers and no facilitators. Williams, Johnson, and Pierce all need the ball to be effective. It is the job of newly retired first year head coach Jason Kidd has to figure out how to get three scorers who need the ball to score enough shots to keep them happy. Deron Williams has been a nightmare to coaches forcing Jerry Sloan to retire, because he couldn't deal with him. A team with a lot of ego's need a coach that is able to handle all of them and it is yet to be seen if Coach Kidd will be able to do it.
The age factor cannot be overlooked Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce are not the same men that took the Celtics to 2 NBA Finals. I know Paul Pierce said he has 10 more years left in him, there is a difference between playing for a long time and playing effectively ask Juan Howard. The Nets will also struggle to guard other teams because of age and players who just don't play defense. Garnett is a great defender but is nowhere near what he used to be, a good defender but not elite anymore. Paul Pierce has not only lost a step offensively, but he will struggle to guard the elite small forwards like Paul George, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, and Lebron James. Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez have never been known as strong defenders and it will not change soon. Last year the Nets would put Gerald Wallace on every teams best offensive player there is no player like this on this new Nets team.
This team also lacks depth, the Nets have Andray Blatche and Andrei Kirelinko but other than that there is no real play-makers coming off the bench. Putting all those minutes on those players over an 82 game season will catch up with them if comes in the form of injuries or just fatigue.
Overall, I think the Nets will be between 3-5 seed in the East come playoff time because the rest of the Eastern Conference is very weak, but that is a story for another article. It will be very interesting to watch this new star studded team next year and what they are able to do against the rest of the league.
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