Brooklyn Nets: How can DeAndre Jordan succeed in Brooklyn?

With an opportunity to revive his NBA career, we take a closer look at how DeAndre Jordan can succeed with the Brooklyn Nets

DeAndre Jordan made an All-NBA Team each year from 2014-17, as well as two All-Defensive selections in 2014-15 and 2016-17, and a 2017 All-Star appearance. He is glorified throughout the NBA community, and on social media, as his thunderous dunks have graced the front pages of countless Instagram and Twitter accounts.

Yet in the past two seasons, Jordan hasn’t seen the same validation.

Jordan averaged 11 points, 13 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.1 blocks per game assists during his tenure with the Dallas Mavericks and New York Knicks last season. In no way was his season poor, as he still shot 64 percent from the field and a career-high 67.4 TS%. To put it simply, Jordan hasn’t gotten worse, he’s just been overshadowed by several multi-talented bigs that dominate the court in many ways.

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At the end of the day, Jordan is going to give any team size, length, rebounding, and one of the best roll-men the NBA has seen in the past decade. Dallas was an experience where Jordan saw his role diminish, behind the frenzy of attention towards star-rookie Luka Doncic, and in New York, just could not mesh with a team that wasn’t a contender.

This season, Jordan has no shortage of talent on the roster; Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, Jarrett Allen, Caris LeVert, Joe Harris, and Taurean Prince, to name a few.

Jordan is 31, but because of Kevin Durant’s Achilles injury, his season will be more of a feeling-out period, as opposed to a year of championship-contention.

Learning to play alongside Jarrett Allen, and understanding that Jordan is the 4th or 5th scoring option on the roster will decide how he adjusts to his situation. In order to be best prepared for the 2020-21 season, DeAndre Jordan and his new teammates must learn to run as a formidable, cohesive group, and create chemistry that will help welcome Durant back into the swing of things.

Nobody expects Jordan to come out and average 20 and 15 with three blocks per game. That’s not his role, nor has it ever been. He is one of the premier auxiliary players the NBA has to offer, someone who might only have the ball in their hands for 10 seconds the entire game and produce an efficient scoring night.

Jordan will hardly take away from the stardom of Irving, if anything, he will thrive off of it, making the lob-pass a regular part of Irving’s at-the-rim arsenal. His size and rebounding will create a multitude of second-chance scores, kicking the ball out to esteemed shooters like Prince, Harris, and LeVert.

In Jordan’s situation, his largest problem may end up being his ability to maintain his newfound free-throw shooting routine, without Wesley Matthews and Harrison Barnes there to help him. The 11-year NBA-Vet saw his shooting at the stripe jump from 58 percent in 2018, to 68 percent with Dallas, and 77 percent with New York in 2019. Though the numbers leave room for improvement, Jordan is well on the way to erasing his most prominent weak-point, making him less of a liability in late-game situations.

DeAndre Jordan is a player with few negatives and will fit into any offensive scheme. He is a willing off-ball player and holds his own on the defensive end. So, it begs the question once again, where does DeAndre Jordan take his game from here? He needs to maintain his consistent play from past seasons, and impose his presence in the paint, helping to create a two-headed monster with Jarrett Allen on the defensive end, as Brooklyn ranked 28th in blocks per game.

He can set the stage by convincing the city of Brooklyn to fall in love with the Nets all over again and top it off with a title run in the 2020-21 season.

As the NBA season approaches, pre-season basketball kicks off for DeAndre Jordan and the new-look Nets on October 4 against SESI/Franca Basketball Club (Brazil) at Barclays Center.