QUICK GUIDE TO A POSSIBLE BROOKLYN NETS OFFSEASON (Part1)
As every Nets fan knows the organization is heading towards the summer without any control on its picks in the coming draft scheduled next June and has very few tradeable assets on its roster. Not to mention the Ben Simmons injury that has kept him away from the courts for the biggest part of his Brooklyn tenure while remaining a very expensive and untradable question mark for the team.
Hope dies at last and the team’s front office reportedly still believes in the attraction power of Brooklyn to once again lure some big names in the same fashion it did in the summer of 2019 by acquiring superstars KD and Kyrie.
I would like to give my 2 cents (in 2 parts) on what could be a plausible plan to survive next season and develop on the few positives notes of the 2023-24 campaign. Here is part one of my early offseason preview:
FREE AGENTS TO KEEP
NIC CLAXTON
The defensive anchor for the Nets has developed his offensive game considerably, a 25-year young center almost averaging a double double while shooting above 60% for 2 consecutive seasons makes him a keeper in my book.
TRENDON WATFORD
Most of us probably didn’t really know that the Nets signed a power forward named Trendon Watford after he got cut by the Portland Trailblazers last summer. The former LSU Tiger is only averaging 12 minutes per game on the season thus far. But Trendon had to take more responsibilities while Cameron Johnson was injured and showed some interesting things – He's averaging 15.6 ppg and 5 rpg on 66% shooting in the last 5 games.
PLAYERS TO TRADE
This will probably be the trickiest exercise since it takes 2 to tango and there are understandably not many interesting players that seem to be on the market this early.
Yet one could imagine Lamelo Ball becoming available if the Hornets choose to pursue their building around Brandon Miller in the future. Or perhaps the Hawks could contemplate trading one of their 2 superstar guards, since the Dejounte Murray and Trae Young duo didn’t reach the expected chemistry in the last couple of seasons.
The question from the Nets point of view will be:
Is a package composed of the team’s second biggest salary Cameron Johnson and some picks going to move the needle? Probably not. And yes, Ben Simmons is virtually untradable and will continue to weigh on the salary cap next year. So, If as planned, the FO office is out to trade for some marquee player next summer, it will probaly require putting Mikal Bridges, or Dennis Schröder, or even both in the mix to sweeten the deal.