National Basketball Association

Brooklyn Nets: 2016-17 Season Outlook

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 3:06 p.m. ET

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The Brooklyn Nets are in their own special form of purgatory–rebuilding without any first-round picks of their own for at least another two years. So new general manager Sean Marks is rolling the dice with an … interesting … roster.

Nov 29, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets center Brook Lopez (11) and guard Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (24) battle Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond (0) for a rebound during second half at Barclays Center. The Brooklyn Nets defeated the Detroit Pistons 87-83.
Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

The Brooklyn Nets should be the cautionary tale for every aspiring NBA general manager out there.

Don’t mortgage the future collecting guys who starred on championship teams three and six years ago.

The Nets, of course, famously did just that in the summer of 2013, giving away their first-round picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018 to bring in 2008 Boston Celtics heroes Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce and 2011 Dallas Mavericks standout Jason Terry.

And, just for chuckles, the Celtics also got the right to swap first-round picks in 2015 and 2017 with Brooklyn.

General manager Billy King, who engineered the trade, was fired last January along with coach Lionel Hollins. The new regime started in earnest on Feb. 18, when the club hired former San Antonio Spurs assistant GM Sean Marks to run the front office.

Marks’ first major hire was to bring in long-time NBA assistant coach Kenny Atkinson for his first shot at a head coaching job.

And then Marks set out putting together a roster not designed to bottom out, but rather to be as competitive as possible in order to at least make their pick less attractive to the Celtics.

But there are some young assets on board. The Nets wound up with two first-rounders–albeit late ones–in 2015 in swingman Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, the 23rd overall pick in 2015 acquired in a draft-night trade with the Portland Trail Blazers, and forward Chris McCullough, taken 29th overall with the pick swapped with Boston in 2015.

And it continued on draft night in June, when Brooklyn sent Thaddeus Young to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for the rights to 20th overall selection Caris LeVert, a smooth-shooting guard coming off back-to-back seasons marred by a broken foot.

Throw in a collection of bargain-bin veterans such as Luis Scola, Greivis Vasquez, Trevor Booker, Randy Foye and Justin Hamilton and you have … the 2016-17 Brooklyn Nets, just trying to run out the clock until they have some picks to work with in 2019.

2015-16 Vitals

21-61, 4th in Atlantic Division, 14th in Eastern Conference
98.6 PPG (26th)/106.0 OPPG (24th)
103.2 Offensive Rating (27th)/110.9 Defensive Rating (29th)

Team Leaders (minimum 42 games)
Scoring: Brook Lopez 20.6 PPG
Rebounding: Thaddeus Young 9.0 RPG
Assists: Donald Sloan 4.4 APG
Steals: Thaddeus Young 1.5 SPG
Blocks: Brook Lopez 1.7 BPG

Honors
None

Apr 3, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; New Orleans Pelicans forward Luke Babbitt (8) guards Brooklyn Nets guard Sean Kilpatrick (6) in the second half at Barclays Center. Pelicans defeat the Nets 106-87. Mandatory Credit: William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

2016-17 Roster

Beau Beech, G-F
Anthony Bennett, F
Bojan Bogdanovic, G-F
Trevor Booker, F
Yogi Ferrell, G
Randy Foye, G
Justin Hamilton, C
Joe Harris, G
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, G-F
Sean Kilpatrick, G
Caris LeVert, G-F
Jeremy Lin, G
Brook Lopez, C
Chris McCullough, F
Egidijus Mockevicius, F
Luis Scola, F
Greivis Vasquez, G
Isaiah Whitehead, G

Offseason Additions
Beau Beech (undrafted free agent, North Florida), Anthony Bennett (free agent, Toronto Raptors), Trevor Booker (free agent, Utah Jazz), Yogi Ferrell (undrafted free agent, Indiana), Randy Foye (free agent, Oklahoma City Thunder), Justin Hamilton (free agent, Valencia Basket {Spain}), Joe Harris (free agent, Orlando Magic), Caris LeVert (draft-night trade, Indiana Pacers), Jeremy Lin (free agent, Charlotte Hornets), Egidijus Mockevicius (undrafted free agent, Evansville), Luis Scola (free agent, Toronto Raptors), Isaiah Whitehead (draft-night trade, Utah Jazz).

Offseason Departures
Markel Brown (free agent, unsigned), Wayne Ellington (free agent, Miami Heat), Jarrett Jack (waived, Atlanta Hawks), Sergey Karasev (free agent, Zenit Saint Petersburg {Russia}), Shane Larkin (free agent, Saski Baskonia {Spain}), Willie Reed (free agent, Miami Heat), Thomas Robinson (free agent, unsigned), Henry Sims (free agent, unsigned), Donald Sloan (free agent, Guangdong Southern Tigers {China}), Thaddeus Young (trade, Indiana Pacers).

Quick Thoughts

The Brooklyn Nets stayed mostly under the radar while acquiring a boatload of veterans on small deals in free agency.

One of those, signed for a two-year minimum deal, is former No. 1 overall pick Anthony Bennett, who will be with his fourth NBA team in four seasons after being waived by the Toronto Raptors in March.

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Then there are the second-year kids, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Chris McCullough.

McCulliough got into 24 games late in the season after recovering from a torn ACL that ended his freshman season at Syracuse after just 16 games. He was rusty, but scored in double figures in three of his last five games to close the season.

Hollis-Jefferson, meanwhile, missed 53 games with an ankle injury and wound up averaging 5.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals in just 21.2 minutes a game. His defensive chops are eye-popping, but his jump shot is both reluctant and not very polished.

And then there is Jeremy Lin, the one-time darling across the bridge in Manhattan nearly five years ago who is back in the Big Apple with a three-year contract and a chance to finally have a team of his own to run.

Feb 21, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Charlotte Hornets guard Jeremy Lin (7) shoots over Brooklyn Nets forward Chris McCullough (1) in first half at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

Three Key Storylines: 1. Linsanity 2, Brooklyn Boogaloo

Jeremy Lin landed with the Charlotte Hornets on a one-year, $2.1 million “prove it” deal.

He did, averaging 11.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 26.3 minutes per game while helping anchor the Hornets’ second unit and propelling Charlotte into the playoffs for just the third time since the franchise’s 2004 reboot.

His three-point stroke abandoned him in the postseason, as he was just 3-for-14 in a seven-game first-round loss to the Miami Heat.

The Brooklyn Nets signed Lin to a three-year, $36 million deal in July that includes a player option for the final year in 2018-19.

Lin was attracted to the Nets because he saw it as a blank slate of sorts, according to Fox Sports’ Nick Schwartz.

“I just want to try to be a leader. We’ve talked a lot about culture and establishing a type of identity and work ethic, and I just kinda want to help. It’s kind of like a blank slate for the organization in a lot of ways, bringing in a new GM and a new coach, and I just want to be a part of that.”

This is the second time in his career he’s signed in July with an opportunity to pilot a team from the point guard spot. The first didn’t work out so well for Lin.

Signed by the Houston Rockets to a three-year, $25 million deal in the summer of 2012, just after he captured the attention of the nation with his dramatic arrival on the scene with the New York Knicks, Lin’s opportunity evaporated just before the start of the 2012-13 season.

That’s when the Rockets acquired James Harden from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Suddenly, Lin was “the other guy” in a backcourt where Harden dominated the ball and the stat sheet.

He’s been a full-time starter just one season of his six in the NBA and sports career averages of 11.7 points, 4.4 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 26.8 minutes a game.

He shot just 41.2 percent from the floor last season, a career-worst save for a 38.9 mark as a seldom-used rookie with the Golden State Warriors in 2010-11. His three-point percentage of 33.6 doesn’t jump off the page, either.

But with outside shooters in Bojan Bogdanovic and Randy Foye on the roster, along with the inside presence of Brook Lopez, Lin can be expected to flourish both in the pick-and-roll game with Lopez and on drive and kick opportunities.

And he did convert 56.8 percent of his chances in the restricted area last season, a place where he topped 60 percent each of the previous three seasons.

In any event, Lin’s back in New York–Brooklyn this time around–and he’ll get every opportunity to make it his team.

Apr 6, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Bojan Bogdanovic (44) shoots the ball as Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat (13) defends in the third quarter at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 121-103. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Three Key Storylines: 2. Is It Finally Bojan’s Time?

Bojan Bogdanovic improved in his second NBA season. It says so on the stat sheet.

His scoring improved from 9.0 to 11.2 points per game. His rebounding increased marginally from 2.8 to 3.2 per game and his three-point shooting went from 35.5 to 38.2 percent.

But he struggled to score inside the arc, shooting just 33.6 percent on shots of three to nine feet, and his percentage at the rim dropped dramatically from 71 percent as a rookie to 60.1 percent last season.

And then there was the inconsistency. His monthly splits read more like a seizmograph than a metronome, averaging 7.8 points a game in November, 11.4 in December, 7.8 in January and 12.1 in February.

But something happened over the final 19 games.

In March and April, Bogdanovic put up 15.9 points per game on .455/.406/.840 shooting.

Included in that stretch were a career-high 44-point explosion against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 15 and four other games with 20 or more points, including a 29-point outing against the Toronto Raptors in the season finale.

But if Bogdanovic breaks out in 2016-17, you can likely blame it on Rio.

And there was consistency–Bogdanovic scored no fewer than 18 points and had a high of 33.

That came after he scored 24.2 points per game while helping Croatia win its qualifying tournament in hostile territory, with a pair of 26-point games against host Italy.

The biggest change is that Bogdanovic lived at the foul line in the summer of 2016. He averaged 9.3 attempts at the stripe in the Olympics after getting there a whopping 10.5 times a game in the qualifying tournament.

Considering this is a guy who has averaged just 1.5 free throw attempts per game in 157 NBA games, it was like seeing a different player.

If Bogdanovic can keep the long-distance stroke while making teams respect him off the bounce? He becomes an offensive weapon of a whole different dimension for the Nets.

May 16, 2016; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets new head coach Kenny Atkinson answers questions from the media during press conference at HSS Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Three Key Storylines: 3. Who Is Kenny Atkinson?

Kenny Atkinson was named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets in April and was introduced about a month later, after the Atlanta Hawks–his previous employer–were eliminated from the NBA Playoffs.

The 48-year-old is a Long Island native, a graduate of St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington, N.Y., and played four years at the University of Richmond before taking a long, strange trip during a 14-year professional career.

That career included stops in the Continental Basketball Association and the U.S. Basketball League domestically and international sojourns to Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the Netherlands.

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In the NBA, he was director of player development for the Houston Rockets in 2007-08 before landing an assistant coaching gig with the New York Knicks. He joined the Hawks as an assistant under Larry Drew in 2012 and remained on board when Mike Budenholzer was hired in 2013.

Atkinson worked with new Brooklyn point guard Jeremy Lin when both were with the Knicks and is also given a great deal of credit by Al Horford, who just joined the Boston Celtics this summer, for improving his game while they were together in Atlanta.

His reputation is of a high-energy motivator and he said in May he wasn’t bringing a set offense with him. Rather, he wants to work a system that maximizes the strengths of his players.

Atkinson knows Brooklyn’s basketball pedigree and embraces it, according to the New York Times.

“Brooklyn is basketball. Pearl Washington. Chris Mullin. I used to say, ‘I’m going to go to a park in Brooklyn and play basketball.’

“I used to listen to Nets games, with John Sterling announcing, on my little black transistor radio.”

He is a departure from more buzz-worthy coaching hires in recent years such as Avery Johnson, Jason Kidd or Lionel Hollins.

“I hope people start to smell there’s a change,” Atkinson said. “Whether we win 28 or 62 games, we’re involved in a process.”

It’s likely to be closer to the former than the latter, but it won’t be for a lack of effort on Atkinson’s part.

Apr 6, 2016; Washington, DC, USA; Brooklyn Nets forward Chris McCullough (1) dunks the ball against the Washington Wizards in the third quarter at Verizon Center. The Wizards won 121-103. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Best Case Scenario

The Jeremy Lin-Brook Lopez (I’m intentionally staying away from the “Brook-Lin” thing, simply because approximately 4,201,749 other writers have already gone there) pairing works like a charm, with the pick and roll tandem becoming a key staple in the offense.

Bojan Bogdanovic shows the summer showing in international play was no fluke and brings some of that aggressive penetration back to the borough for 2016-17, adding a dimension to his game and creating space for his three-point shot in the process.

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The Nets are competitive enough to make life miserable for some teams even as they fall short of the playoffs, but close enough to make their pick swap with the Boston Celtics something in the late lottery rather than a premier selection.

Worst Case Scenario

The Barclays Center becomes the (Long) Island of Misfit Toys, with an odd collection of mismatched players unable to come together into anything resembling a cohesive unit.

Lin gets caught up playing hero ball for a team getting its teeth kicked in night after night, Lopez gets frustrated by the lack of chemistry and GM Sean Marks winds up selling low on both at the trade deadline.

With a dim present and a dark future that is still two years away from bearing any sort of tangible fruit, Brooklyn hits new lows since the move from Jersey and can’t even muster 20 wins.

Jun 23, 2016; New York, NY, USA; Caris Levert (Michigan) greets NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected as the number twenty overall pick to the Indiana Pacers in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Prediction

The Brooklyn Nets will be better in 2016-17 than they were a season ago. Just not, you know, a lot.

The Nets will end up somewhere around 28 wins next season, not enough to smell the playoff race, but possibly good enough to push their pick out of the top five (a consideration since that pick is heading to Boston if the Celtics finish with a better record than Brooklyn).

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson should emerge as the Nets’ premier wing defender even as his offensive game remains very much a work in progress and Chris McCullough has a decent shot at being tabbed as the guy to replace Thaddeus Young at power forward.

If Caris LeVert is healthy, he gives the Nets another perimeter option. Given that he couldn’t get through two collegiate-length seasons the past two years, that is a significantly sized “if.”

Jeremy Lin will try to recapture at least some of the magic from the winter of 2011-12 and Brook Lopez is what he is at this point–a professional low-post, mid-range scorer who can alter some shots and needs a rugged rebounding partner because he just doesn’t eat a lot of glass.

The Nets are in a special sort of basketball purgatory–bad, but with no incentive to be really bad, since the Celtics would reap all the rewards.

So with nothing to lose, so to speak, GM Sean Marks rolled the dice on a collection of veterans who, at the very least, should add a few more wins to the 21 the Nets achieved last season.

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