Brooklyn Nets 2017-18 season primer: Building their way to relevance

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NEW YORK, NY – MARCH 01: Allen Crabbe #23 of the Portland Trail Blazers celebrates his basket in the second half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 1, 2016 in New York City.The Portland Trail Blazers defeated the New York Knicks 104-85. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Key Addition #1: Allen Crabbe

If the Portland Trail Blazers had a time machine, they might go back in time and renege their decision to match Brooklyn’s four-year, $70 million offer sheet if they knew they were just going to trade him the following offseason. But, like I said earlier, no one can predict the future, and the Nets have Crabbe on their roster; presumably to be their starting SF. So what does he bring to the table?

Well, for starters, he’s only 25; so he fits perfectly in the youth movement timeline the Nets are fully embracing. He’s a career 41.1 percent shooter from deep, and shot a blistering 44.4 percent from 3 last season. He is also is coming off a “career” campaign where he averaged 10.7 PPG (mainly coming off the bench for Terry Stotts).

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And now for the negatives.

He’s made a combined 24 starts in his four year career, although he did only play in 15 games his rookie season. He doesn’t get to the line that often, as his career average of 1.1 FTA shows; and he’s not a strong rebounder (2.3 RPG for his career) despite his 6’6″ frame. Add that all together and you’ve got….what? An average player who would be getting paid starter money if this was 2014?

All jokes aside, Crabbe’s long range accuracy is no joke; and will be a welcome addition to Brooklyn. Brooklyn’s best 3-point shooter was Quincy Any, and he only started one game for the Nets last season. Of the next five highest percent 3-PT shooters from last year’s roster, only one still remains – and he only played in 36 games last season (Jeremy Lin).

Prepare yourself for a lot of crab emojis from the Nets’ Twitter account next season.

Key Addition #2: DeMarre Carroll

DeMarre Carroll went from being a co-Eastern Conference Player of the Month to having the above picture be his reality in just a few short seasons; which is a shame, because he actually used to play effective defensive against LeBron James, which you know, is important if you want to get out of the East, which you know, is where Carroll has been the past few seasons. That’s what Toronto thought they were getting when they signed Carroll to a multi-year contract, but instead got just 30 games over two seasons from Carroll (in the regular season). Luckily, Carroll is away from Toronto and in Brooklyn. (No, I’m not joking).

You know who was on the Hawks coaching staff the year that Carroll was a co-Eastern Conference Player of the Month? I’ll give you three guesses and the first three don’t co- KENNY ATKINSON.

While Atkinson wasn’t the head coach in Atlanta, he reportedly developed a strong relationship with Carroll, and Carroll is excited to be in Brooklyn. Hopefully Carroll can find his 2014 regular season Hawks form, because if he does, the Nets postseason dreams might just become a reality.

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