Brooklyn Nets: 3 blueprints to return to NBA relevance

Free Agency

Here’s the problem with having the 27th most expensive payroll in the NBA when you’re a rebuilding team like the Brooklyn Nets – trades become harder because you can’t match salaries, but you have gobs of cap space to use; except the top tier free agents probably won’t want to come to you.

So you’re stuck, and are left counting Randy Foye and Jeremy Lin as your big free agent gets.

Speaking of Mr. Foye, he’s one of two possible free agents the Nets have this summer. (Foye is an UFA, McDaniels a RFA.) That’s it. Barring a trade or two, the Nets roster as it stood at the end of the regular season is what you’re going to see next season.

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It did begin to show some promise towards the end of season, as the Nets went 7-6 over their last 13 games. What was highlighted during those games was the Nets lack of a true scoring wing…. and thats’ why I’ve found their new face of the franchise:

Now Nets fans, I know. Watching upper management sign Allen Crabbe and Tyler Johnson to big offer sheets only to have their respective teams match them hurt. It hurt more when both Crabbe and Johnson had solid seasons off the bench (and sometime starts).

But bear with me here, because I think Otto Porter is your man; and could be.
Porter can play and guard the 3 or 4, as he stands 6-foot-8. At one point this season, he was leading the NBA in 3PT%. While time will tell if that was a sign of things to come, or a fluke, I think it’s worth taking a chance on.

Porter was drafted 3rd overall in a terrible 2013 draft class. While Porter has definitely developed into one of the top players from that class, that’s not really saying much; which is why many are concerned his season numbers (43.4% from 3, 60.8 eFG%) are elevated moreso because of defenses being drawn in by the Wizards starting backcourt duo of Wall and Beal rather than the threat of Porter.

I’m still a believer though – the same things were said about Harrison Barnes, and he put up 19.0/5.0/1.0 on a 49.8 eFG%, 35.1% from 3, and shot 86.1% from the charity stripe as a featured offensive weapon for the first time in his career.

Now, Porter would not be heading to a team with a future HOFer on the roster (unless KD or Steph has a sudden change of heart), but he would be heading to a team where he could be the featured player of the offense; something that Washington cannot offer with Wall and Beal locked up for the foreseeable future, and Bogdanovic playing well for the Wizards since being traded to the team.

I think if Porter received a contract offer from the Nets in the four-year, $90 million dollar range it would do the trick.