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Brooklyn Nets: 2014-15 NBA Season Primer

By Michael Saenz

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Sep 26, 2014; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Brooklyn Nets head coach Lionel Hollins speaks to the media during media day at the Brooklyn Nets Practice Facility. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

As we continue our NBA Preview series, we take a closer look at the Brooklyn Nets

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Brooklyn Nets 2013-14 record: 44-38

Brooklyn Nets 2013-14 MVP: Joe Johnson — 21.2 points, 53 FG%, 42-3PT%

Three Things I Think I Know About The Brooklyn Nets…

  1. The Brooklyn Nets are going to need a healthy Deron Williams and Brook Lopez in order to be good this season.
  2. If Joe Johnson is going to be the best player on this team again this season, they won’t go far.
  3. Lionel Hollins will try to convert Lopez into a conventional big, and he will fail.

Brooklyn Nets Key Additions:

  • Lionel Hollins (head coach)
  • Brook Lopez (injury)
  • Bojan Bogdanovic (overseas)
  • Jarret Jack (trade)

Brooklyn Nets Key Losses:

The Brooklyn Nets will be a playoff team if…

Health cooperates. This Nets team, pretty much, made it to the playoffs with a gimpy Deron Williams and without Brook Lopez last season. Plus, they had a terrible start to the season (the Nets were 9-18 at one point last season). They still managed to turn the year around by carving out the sixth seed in the East. Essentially, if the Nets are healthy this season, they should be able to sneak into the playoffs. That’s definitely a realistic expectation for this team in 2014-15.

Team Strengths:

If healthy, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams provide the Nets will one of the best one-two punches in all the league. Last season, Williams just didn’t have it. He averaged his lowest outputs in points (14.3) and assists (6.1) per game since his rookie season, back in 2005.

Team Weaknesses:

The Brooklyn Nets are in that weird gray area that teams should not want to be in. The Nets aren’t bad enough to fight for lottery picks, but aren’t good enough to compete at the highest level in the conference. They’re in the gray area. The place where teams shouldn’t want to be. Either be really bad, or really good. In the NBA, in a “top heavy” league, it does no good to be “OK.” And perhaps a big part of that is bad contracts, overpaying of players and bad ownership/front office personnel.

Also, rebounding. The Nets were 29th in the league in rebounds per game, and a big part of that was the lack of size. That’s expected to change this season, with the return of Brook Lopez, though.

The 2014-15 Brooklyn Nets MVP will be…

Deron Williams. I believe that Williams will bounce back for the Nets in a big way, of course assuming health. I’ve always been a fan of Williams’ game, and actually believe that last season was all on health and not on an actual step back in his game. Look for Williams to have a huge season for Brooklyn.

Season Defining Question:

Will Brook Lopez remain healthy all season long?

Best Case Scenario:

50-32

Worst Case Scenario:

33-49

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