Brooklyn had no expectations for last season and after a surprisingly good start of the year where they flirted with a .500 record by late November, the Nets ended up being indeed one of the worst teams in the league.
Their plan for this new season is clear: go young, hoping these minutes allow their young players to develop while they lose as many games as possible so they can have a top pick in the upcoming draft. No team has gone a full season with five rookies selected in the first round on its roster, so that’s clearly a revolution made by the Nets this season.
Brooklyn also traded away Cameron Johnson to Denver and received Michael Porter Jr, while they also got Haywood Highsmith and Terance Mann via trades. These players together with Nic Claxton will be the team’s most experienced players. Cam Thomas is healthy to start the season and he will be the team’s main focus on offense together with Porter Jr. He can score a lot but he lacks the playmaking skills to run the show.
For the PG position, the Nets have three rookies in Egor Demin, Nolan Traore and Ben Saraf. This is a recipe for disaster, especially early in the season as naturally these young players will need some time to adjust and acclimate to the NBA. Fortunately, time is something Brooklyn has this season and they’ll be happy if two out of these three players end up developing into quality options. Brooklyn will be one of the worst teams in the league with a lot of problems to score efficiently, but that’s something that the franchise is expecting. It’s a new “process” franchise after what Philadelphia did some years ago as well.