In defense of the Brooklyn Nets’ mediocrity

http://hardwoodparoxysm.com/2015/09/07/in-defense-of-the-brooklyn-nets-mediocrity/




In defense of the Brooklyn Nets’ mediocrity
Posted on September 7, 2015 by Philip Rossman-Reich






Dec 21, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Brooklyn Nets guard Jarrett Jack (0) drives around Detroit Pistons forward Josh Smith (6) during the third quarter at Barclays Center. Brooklyn Nets won 110-105. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports




Let’s say you are a Russian billionaire. You have just bought a NBA team. This shiny new toy of yours is moving into a shiny new arena in a recently spit-shined borough of New York City. The possibilities are endless. All you have to do is put a winning product on the floor.

The Celtics are offering you Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett and all you have to give up is three measly first round draft picks and take on some relatively dead-weight contracts. Sounds like a good deal?

Even with Pierce and Garnett’s knees about to fall off, they give you something valuable — immediate relevance. You get to treat your new team and their hip new fans to playoff basketball. Deron Williams is your prized free agent — he is better than Chris Paul, or so the fans argue. Sure, you struck out on Dwight Howard, but he is a head case anyway.

Relevance matters more for the Nets. The shiny gleam of a new stadium just needs something palatable inside — even if they are just cough drops and not the candy you were hoping for.

It turned out the Nets premiere team was a little stale. Garnett and Pierce showed their age and Williams did too, surprisingly. Joe Johnson was solid, but solid has never been enough for Joe Johnson with the salary he is making. The Nets mortgaged their future, sending all those future picks out for aging veteran players on big contracts. There is no future for Brooklyn, only the present. The now always matters more.

Brooklyn is paying for its decisions these days. Or are they?

What if the goal for a team is not to win titles — sure they say it is, but it isn’t really? What if the goal for a team is simple relevance? Be good enough to matter over everything else. There is victory in relevance, right? There is something to admire in consistent winning, even if it is not championship winning.

The way team-building in the NBA has gone has made the process seem like it is an all-or-nothing proposition. You are either heading for a championship or tanking to set yourself up for one. The middle is the absolute worst place you can be — too good for a decent Lottery pick, not good enough to truly matter. There is a sort of hopelessness in that thought.

What if your fan base is entirely new though? What if their stereotype is of the person just trying to be hip — too cool to care what you think of the direction of their team, they are into the new wave thinking of whatever it is they are thinking. The Nets have established that hipster vibe.

The Nets are that henchman in the movie that just will not die.

Trade away Garnett and let Pierce walk? Bring in Thaddeus Young? Keep the corpse of Deron Williams? Start journeymen like Jarret Jack?

Still make the playoffs.

There is some value in that right? Keep your expectations low and you never get disappointed.

So here the Nets are again, entering another season. ESPN’s forecasters have the Nets finishing 12th in the Eastern Conference. With the short-sightedness of the roster — surprisingly the roster has an average age of 25 years old — and the lack of many young contributors in the key core, the idea of waiting another year is pretty unpalatable.

For the Nets season to be a success, the Playoffs have to be part of the equation. The only part of the equation.

The starting lineup of Jarrett Jack, Joe Johnson, Thaddeus Young, Andrea Bargnani and Brook Lopez hardly creates much optimism. Maybe rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson steps into that role at the small forward pushing Bargnani to the bench to pair with a better rim protector like Summer League signee Willie Reed.

This is a strange roster.

Yet with so many experienced veterans in the rotation, it is hard to count them out. With a coach like Lionel Hollins who gets the most out of his roster, particularly on the defensive end, how can anyone doubt them? They just find a way to remain relevant.

And that is the goal for the Nets. It is not championship. It never was. The whole foundational moves for this team from the moment it moved out of New Jersey and into Brooklyn was simply to matter. To push around the woebegone Knicks for space on the back page and simply to matter.

The Nets got their front page of Sports Illustrated with their new, aging trio. They then faded to the background of mediocrity. They were never good enough to truly matter in the NBA landscape, but never bad enough not to be part of some meaningful conversation.

Brooklyn seems to have taken another step back this year. Yet, it is easy to forget they are in the incumbent for that “coveted” eighth seed for the Playoffs. Teams have to gun for them to take that spot and this Nets team is not going to let it go.

Brooklyn is not going to stop this blind pursuit for the middle. It is too important for them to be on the periphery of the Playoff conversation to stop doing so. Their fans will continue to fill that glistening new stadium knowing there is a 50-50 shot their team will win.

Maybe that is enough for a fan base. Maybe supreme championship is not enough. For a team growing a fan base, just providing some guaranteed entertainment and mystery might be enough to survive.

As Brooklyn cuts its payroll, its love affair with the middle of the Eastern Conference will surely have to fade. The team is going to have to get a grip on its future at some point.

Until then, you are a Russian billionaire with a Playoff team. What could be worse?




bob
MY NOTE:  Mediocrity is ok as long as there is reason to believe you won't be mediocre for long.  The Boston Celtics are mediocre now, but we have some good young talent, still a TON of draft picks (including these bozos') and we went from 25 wins to 40 in a year of constant roster turmoil.  The Nets have an old core, no future for growth with no draft picks and a fragile big man in Brook Lopez.  They made the playoffs last year mostly because DWade imploded and Bosh was out with his health issues.  I realize injuries are part of the game, but those are two BIG ones for Miami.  I doubt the Nets will be "on the periphery" of a playoff slot and, as a Celtic fan, that is just fine with me.

Just get me to a game 7 of the first playoff series or, even better, to the second series and the Nets not making the playoffs and I will be happy with this year.  A competitive playoff series, or two, and their lottery pick would give us solid progress up the playoff ranks and a quality addition of talent.  It's a win-win for us.

"In defense of the Brooklyn Nets' mediocrity'. Even the title reeks of defeatism and makes my skin crawl, and they're not even my team.


.

It's just a matter of months before the entire NBA realizes that the Celtics are in the best shape as a franchise in the whole league.

I believe we are better than mediocre right now, just as we were way better than mediocre since the All Star break, or even before like when we beat the Hawks going into the ASBreak.

Nets are not just likely to miss the playoffs, they're likely to get us a top 8 pick. Then there's the possibilities...

With Danny not blowing any of this year's draft picks, the Celtics at the very least solidified their long-term bench situation. Michael Jordan will go down as a secondary hero figure in the story of Banner 18.

Celtics have all the assets in the world to put together a legit contender THIS season, assuming we aren't that already. Celtics locked and loaded for an awesome season in 2015-16.

rambone wrote:It's just a matter of months before the entire NBA realizes that the Celtics are in the best shape as a franchise in the whole league.

I believe we are better than mediocre right now, just as we were way better than mediocre since the All Star break, or even before like when we beat the Hawks going into the ASBreak.

Nets are not just likely to miss the playoffs, they're likely to get us a top 8 pick. Then there's the possibilities...

With Danny not blowing any of this year's draft picks, the Celtics at the very least solidified their long-term bench situation. Michael Jordan will go down as a secondary hero figure in the story of Banner 18.

Celtics have all the assets in the world to put together a legit contender THIS season, assuming we aren't that already. Celtics locked and loaded for an awesome season in 2015-16.

rambone,

"Celtics have all the assets in the world to put together a legit contender THIS season, assuming we aren't that already."


You consider the Celtics to be "a contender"?


bob


.

I think we're a borderline contender, or asterisk contender, in the sense that if we end up in the playoff bracket opposite Cleveland we can get to the ECP. And if Cleveland has injury problems again in these playoffs, like they did basically after we played them in the first round, the Celtics look prepared enough to possibly exploit that.

That's a big if, I suppose, but nobody else in the East really scares me, and Kyrie Irving might not be healthy until January, if then.

And that's as we stand now.

Just think about the trade offers the Bobcats and Heat turned down for the 9th or 10th pick last year. That's around where our Mavs pick might be, and the Nets pick might be much higher.

When the college season starts, these draft picks will really increase in value as teams start getting a sense of next years draft and the prospects in it. And by January-Feb, our Nets pick is going to have major trade value.

Of course keeping the Nets pick will have major longterm value for the Celtics, but it also might just suddenly become the centerpiece of a DeMarcus Cousins trade as well.

Just think about the IT4 trade last year. That one only cost a Cleveland first rounder. Just imagine what a Nets first rounder + other picks and a young player or two could fetch mid-season, when March Madness starts in January February, as far as the excitement around draft prospects goes.

Last December 10th, when the Celtics were terrible, I started a thread on realgm predicting that Danny might cash in one of his many future picks for an impact player, and that we could make the playoffs and turn the corner as a franchise.

I think we've already turned the corner, and then some, though it happened so fast it's almost hard to believe, I suppose.

This team wasn't mediocre last year, it was terrible, winning 33% of games for the first long stretch.

Team started 13-26. Finished 24-12. There's nothing mediocre about either of those records, and there's nothing mediocre about this Celtics team headed into this year.

Just my opinion of course, but most "mediocre" teams didn't dominate the most recent half-season of basketball, nor are they sitting on a goldmine of trade assets.

"What if the goal for a team is not to win titles — sure they say it is, but it isn’t really? What if the goal for a team is simple relevance? Be good enough to matter over everything else. There is victory in relevance, right? There is something to admire in consistent winning, even if it is not championship winning."

Wow.  Is there a better passage for the sad, misguided, everyone is a "winner" and every kid gets a trophy society that many operate in circa 2015 than this quote?

Losing teams are staffed with loser management and breed loser fan bases who show up for 2 for 1 hot dog and beer nights, free shirt giveaways and when there is nothing better to do.  No passion, no spirit, people who buy the gear because it says "Brooklyn" in Black and that makes for a good hipster sweatshirt.  Bunch of posers who are there to see Jay Z and Rihanna at courtside vs. understanding the game and demanding better management and effort.

This is precisely why Boston is a city full of winners.  Because we don't settle for mediocrity. We support our teams even when they are in last place (Red Sox are still 3rd in the league in % of seats sold) but we do so pissing and moaning and pushing to make changes to restore a winner to the field.

You cant do it every year - and as long as you have a solid, logical strategy to get back - fans can support you.  But being just "good enough" is never good enough in my book.  

Winning isnt everything, its the only thing.