What just happened? The Brooklyn Nets, the preseason favorite to win the championship and my pick, were not only eliminated in the first round by the Boston Celtics, they were swept. Sure, the series was closer than the sweep indicates but it was a sweep no less. They were outplayed in every facet of the series, and I do not think people are giving the Celtics enough credit for that part of it, but that does not change Brooklyn’s disappointment. The Nets are done, how did this happen?
When the season started on October 19th, the Nets starting 5 included James Harden, Joe Harris, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, and Nic Claxton. Harden would be traded at the trade deadline after bullying his way out of Brooklyn, Joe Harris has not played in a game since November due to ankle surgery, Blake Griffin played his way out of the rotation before being put back in due to Andre Drummond struggling, and Nic Claxton missed 10 free throws in Monday’s elimination game, certainly not ideal circumstances. Kyrie Irving was on the roster but was not playing because he was refusing to get vaccinated which lingered all season. As Irving said after the game 3 loss “The (Celtics are) gelling at the right time. They’ve been gelling since Christmas. So, for us, we’re just in a new experience as a group, and we just gotta respect that….I don’t want to be too clique, but I don’t have a lot of answers for how you make up time from October until now when usually teams will be gelling, and things would be feeling good.” (I wonder why they could not gel). They did not take the regular season seriously, you cannot build your team for the playoffs and act like the regular season is something you just need to get through. The gelling happens during the regular season. Let’s look at the Celtics, they started 18-21, they were a mess, and yet over the months of January, February, and March, they came together, and now look like a legit title contender. Brooklyn never did that, in large part due to Irving’s unwillingness to get vaccinated. They also traded Harden for a package built around Ben Simmons… who did not play a game all season. The roster was not good enough and has a lot of questions as we enter the offseason.
The first thing Brooklyn has to do is decide to either push the 76ers pick (which is 23rd overall) to next year and receive the Sixers 2023 unprotected pick or keep it; I believe the deadline for that decision is June 1st (though I am not 100% certain). The Nets should shop this pick until then because if a trade pops up they can trade the pick but if it does not I might defer the pick until 2023 and see if the pick can raise incase of a bad 76ers season. They need to figure out Kyrie Irving’s contract situation, he can opt out of a $36.5 million player option and become a free agent. He can sign a 5yr/$246 million contract extension this summer should he opt-out but if you're Brooklyn do you want to pay that? He has only played in 47% of the Nets games since signing with Brooklyn in the summer of 2019 and has played in fewer regular season games in 3 seasons with the Nets (103) than he did in 2 seasons with the Celtics (127). So if you are the Nets, do you really want to commit that kind of money to Irving? Would Kyrie take less years or less dollars to remain a Net? Would Kevin Durant allow the Nets to give Irving something less than the full max? Another question the Nets need to answer is on Ben Simmons. He has not played in a game since June 2021 after sitting out this entire season due to a multitude of reasons that we do not need to dive into and has a lot of uncertainty surrounding him. They also have a bunch of free agents including Bruce Brown and Nic Claxton who could potentially be seen as valuable to other teams. They will get Joe Harris back so that will help as he is a 6’7” wing who is an elite shooter and a solid defender but they need a center. They have an $11.3 million dollar traded player exception, a $6.2 million TPE, and the taxpayer mid-level exception of $6.3 million to use to upgrade their roster. One player they could express interest in is Kings center Richaun Holmes, who will make just under the $11.3 million that is on one of the available TPE’s that would likely not cost too much to acquire. This would allow them flexibility to use the other options they have to add some defense. They need to re-sign Bruce Brown who became one of their most important players in the playoffs. There are so many questions that need to be answered this summer for the Nets after such a disappointing and disheartening season.
The Nets were up and down throughout the regular season and hoped it would all come together in time for the playoffs but there was no such luck and they were swept out of the first round. Since signing Durant and Irving 3 years ago Brooklyn has only won 1 playoff series and has a lot of questions as they head into the future.
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