Embrace the Youth Movement
In this scenario, the Brooklyn Nets wouldn’t be gaining a face of the franchise, they’d be gaining faces; a la the OKC Thunder, except without a Russell Westbrook or Kevin Durant, or really anything close to them….. sorry, what were we talking about?
The Nets could keep Brook Lopez to be a mentor until his contract runs out next summer, but in that same summer the Nets could lose up to 11 players. Included in those potential free agents are guys like RHJ, Caris LeVert, and K.J. McDaniels – young guys. (None of them will be over the age of 25 by that point in time). Personally I think that those guys are building blocks, but I don’t think the Nets know what they know.
Kenny Atkinson was the right hire for the Nets. A Pop disciple, he’s already established a solid culture, the players respect him, and (so far) seems to be working well with upper management. In one season, the Nets had more stability than the past four seasons combined. That’s the good news. The bad news is the Nets still don’t seem to be confident in what they’re doing.
Caris LeVert was drafted with a red flag due to injury. I think he’s over his injury:
Unfortunately, his season stats don’t reflect his promise (8.2 PPG, 3.3 TRPG, 1.9 APG, 21.7 MPG). Those numbers are identical to Joe Harris’ (8.2 PPG, 2.8 TRPG, 1.0 APG, 21.9 MPG). Unfortunately, this isn’t the only example of this on the Nets’ roster.
Isaiah Whitehead was drafted with the 42nd pick of last year’s draft out of Seton Hall. He was raised in Brooklyn, went to high school in Brooklyn, and was drafted by Brooklyn. Talk about a homecoming. Whitehead experienced mixed success his rookie season, most notably making 26 starts while averaging 7.4 PPG. While modest numbers, they’re about to become a little concerning.
Question #1: Who averaged more PPG than Whitehead in less MPG and GP?
Answer: Archie Goodwin; 7.9 PPG, 15.3 MPG, 12 GP.
Question #2: Who averaged roughly the same numbers as Whitehead?
Answer: Spencer Dinwiddie, 7.3 PPG, 22.6 MPG, 59 GP (18 starts).
Question #3: What are the Nets doing?
Answer: I don’t know.
The Nets have to take chances until they get it right. That’s why they traded for Andrew Nicholson. That’s why they drafted Caris LeVert. That’s why they traded for K.J. McDaniels. But you have to draw the line somewhere.
McDaniels showed great promise during his time in Philly, but unfortunately was traded to Houston where his main task was to do things like this:
No player that can do things like this:
……Should have to be relegated to Hack-a-Whoever duties. It’s a disgrace to the game of basketball, and is undoubtedly demoralizing to a young player still trying to find his place in the league like McDaniels.
The Brooklyn Nets could (and probably should) be looking to get the aforementioned players as much playing time as possible, and not have the player that averaged the second-most minutes over the course season be a guy that’s no longer on the team.