Day 299

Fresh Start_299: The Brooklyn Net Summer 2017 manifesto
If you haven’t forgotten, I am a Brooklyn Nets fan, and the Nets weren’t the best of teams in 2016. In fact, they were the worst team in the NBA with a 20-62 record. The Nets will also not have a the first overall pick this year because of the trade that sent Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Jason Terry in 2013.

The Nets do have $23.8 Million in cap space this offseason, and if you have seen the current Nets roster, well it needs some fine tuning. Now, the Nets will not be being going after guys like Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, or Kyle Lowry who are unrestricted free agents, but they could bring up the asking price of some key restricted free agents. Tyler Johnson and Allen Crabbe were Brooklyn Nets for a short period of time last summer, before the Miami Heat and Portland Trail Blazers matched the respective off sheets for the two players.

This offseason, players like: Otto Porter Jr, Nerlens Noel, Kelly Olynyk, Joe Ingles, and Andre Roberson can all be Nets at a period this summer. They all won’t be on the Net roster come October; because well, Brooklyn doesn’t have THAT much cap space, but one or two could potential over pay one of these players that one of the teams might not want to match the price that the Nets have set.

It is never a good thing to over pay for summer, but like cable TV or a good pair of underwear, overpaying will have to be a necessity. I wouldn’t mind as a fan having a player like Joe Ingles, Otto Porter Jr, or Andre Roberson on roster—simply because they are better role players than the players on roster.

Replacing players like Joe Harris, Andrew Nicholson, and Trevor Booker might be a good idea for Net management. This offseason will also be a good platform to revisit the idea of trading Brook Lopez for a lottery protected pick.

As much as I would like to have Brook Lopez on a Nets team that raises a NBA Championship banner in Brooklyn, I want to see the Nets actually start to look like they could compete for one. And, that means getting rid of the best player that the Nets have aka Brook Lopez. Lopez add the 3-point shot to his game in 2016, and shot 34.6% from the 3-point arc which was only 0.1% worse than MVP candidate James Harden. The 34.6% by Lopez is Top 10 among Centers, and added 1.6 blocks per, 5.4 rebounds per, and 20.5 points per game in the 82nd best average for minutes per game with 29.6.

Lopez might be locked away in the Brooklyn closet and is not getting the recognition that he deserves, but Brook Lopez is a Top 10 big in the NBA, and with the way he continues improving his game is worthy of a lottery protected pick.

The Nets need to do two things in 2017… improve the roster so the Celtics don’t get another top pick from the Nets in 2018, and start to show efforts of bettering the roster to start the rebuild process.

An NBA team cannot solely be built through the draft, so if overpaying a role player this summer is what it takes, well do that. Otto Porter Jr, Joe Ingles, Kelly Olynyk, and Andre Roberson were all on a playoff team in 2016—and can take that experience to Brooklyn and help Sean Marks and Kenny Atkinson start to change the culture.

Looking at the Cavilers and Warriors in the Finals, I understand that having players like Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Steph Curry are a luxury—and in most cases a need to make it to the Finals, but both the Cavs and Warriors would have liked to have players like Potter Jr, Ingles, or Roberson on their bench. In other words, the Nets need to be a team of role players so they can get picks for them, when teams like Golden State, Cleveland, and San Antonio need a player to make a run-in June. 2017 will be the first true year of the Brooklyn Net rebuild, and this summer will go a long way to get a Championship banner in the Barclays Center.
Sources:(bleacherreport.com, spotrac.com, nba.com)

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