The Nets celebrated their 10th anniversary in Brooklyn this season.
After the Philadelphia 76ers swept the Nets in the first round of the playoffs, it should be known that their 11th season was one of the worst in Brooklyn. One can even make the case that this was one of the worst seasons in franchise history, considering how this team fell from an NBA title contender to an awful team stinging from a first-round sweep.
It’s hard to feel good when this franchise let Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant get their way by orchestrating their departures and then had their season end so meekly in the postseason. It’s difficult to be proud when the Nets had boasted that they were ready to take over the city and make NYC a Nets town by taking advantage of the Knicks’ failures after gloating about getting Irving and Durant, just to ultimately end up in this predicament.
Watching the Nets get swept, one has to wonder if this team is even in a good place.
The Nets did not show you anything to make you believe they are, despite all the optimism they are spewing out while being in denial. Mikal Bridges proved that he can be a go-to guy on the offensive end, while Cam Johnson raised his points and efficiency in the postseason. Cam Thomas put up four 40-point games this season, the same number as Irivng and Jalen Brunson.
The Nets made the playoffs mainly because Irving and Durant played so well earlier this year to lead them to a good record. They couldn’t blow this playoff spot, no matter how hard they tried.
It’s hard to say where the Nets will go from here. After watching them get outmatched and outclassed by the 76ers in the postseason, it is clear that this is not a playoff team. They don’t have enough shooters and they struggled to get rebounds. The bench is thin as they don't have a ton of depth.
What makes anyone think Nets general manager Sean Marks is the right guy to move this franchise forward? His draft picks have left a lot to be desired, and fair or not, getting Irving and Durant turned out to be a failure under his watch. Are we supposed to think he can guide the Nets out of the wilderness? This current roster is on his watch.
Marks will try to make a big trade. He knows he has to since the roster is not good enough to make the playoffs next year. He could shoot for the stars by acquiring Damian Lillard or Karl- Anthony Towns. After all, the Nets have the fourth-most draft capital with 11 first-rounders between now and 2029.
The Timberwolves may be desperate to dump Towns because of his huge salary. The Nets can help the Wolves recover the draft picks after foolishly giving them up for Rudy Gobert. Even if the Nets get Towns, what makes anyone think he can elevate them when he couldn’t elevate the Timberwolves?
There are no easy answers for the Nets to get out of this quagmire.
The Nets have to do something to put Bridges in a position to be successful or else he might get frustrated and pull a Durant and Irving by wanting out.
Jacque Vaughn can coach, but he also needs players for him to take the Nets to the next level.
This is where Marks must get everything right this offseason. He really needs to make a franchise-changing move that can at least put the Nets in a better place.
It would be nice if the Nets general manager actually built a roster that is based on cohesiveness rather than getting big names that sound good. It would be nice if he could stop acting like he is the smartest guy in the room, such as thinking he can fix Ben Simmons in his attempt to acquire him. It would be nice to see him build a roster that boasts basketball intelligence.
Marks focuses on acquiring talent with no regard for chemistry it seems. He needs to get smart players that can play like a team. He has yet to prove he can be a team builder.
Nets owner Joe Tsai is not in the business of tanking. He wants his team competing and he wants Barclays Center to be hopping. He also wants his team back to being an elite team sooner rather than later.
There’s no way he could have been happy about his team getting swept. He wanted the Nets to head to the offseason with momentum on their side. There’s nothing to feel good about when a team was uncompetitive and incompetent in all four playoff games against the Sixers.
With the Knicks moving in the right direction by likely going to the second round of the playoffs, the Nets know the status quo will not work for them. They have to make a move to get people’s attention, so yes, Marks will be busy in the offseason.
Tsai believes in Marks for reasons that are hard to believe other than he does not have the stomach to do a general manager job search.
He better hope Marks justifies his faith in him because right now, from what we saw in the postseason, this is a roster that is just not cutting it.
This is a lottery team going nowhere fast.
You can read Leslie's Jersey Sporting News columns on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays
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