When the Nets upped sticks and headed for the bright lights of Brooklyn 13 years ago, many local hoops fans decided there was no point cheering on a team that wasn’t local anymore. For a while, the new New York team looked like it was going to succeed at a time when the Knicks were terrible. But the Nets have dipped in recent years, while the Knicks have soared. Even those fans in these parts who still like the Nets had very little to get excited about.
As the current NBA season ramps up to the postseason, it is becoming very clear that the Nets are unlikely to make it even to the play-in tournament. The Knicks, on the other hand, are looking good for a high seeding in the Eastern Conference playoffs and even have some of the best basketball betting apps suggesting a deep run is possible. The Nets fans still in Parsippany will already be looking ahead to next year.
Obviously, the NBA is the evenly balanced league, and it only takes a few years for a team to pick up a few good draft picks and trades to improve. But can the Nets start competing with the Knicks again? We might not have any local skin in the game these days but they are two of our nearest ball clubs and there are a lot of fans in the area. Is there any hope for the Nets?
The Current Situation
As we approach the end of the regular season, fans of the Nets and the Knicks are experiencing very different emotions. While Madison Square Garden is rocking and getting ready for a postseason that was already assured with over 15 games to go, things are a little quieter just over the Brooklyn Bridge.
With Boston and New York a long way out in front, the Nets are battling with the Raptors and the 76ers to avoid finishing bottom of the division. Tanking might be part of the plan, of course, but it does seem as if the Nets are trying to win games – even if they are not being too successful now.
The Plan
As we said, cynical NBA fans might think that the Nets could have done better by tanking and hoovering up some of the best young players through the draft lottery system. Trading Mikal Bridges—to the Knicks, no less—and sending others to the Rockets suggested that was the case, but it hasn’t been that straightforward.
Jordi Fernandez has actually done a pretty good job with the players he was left with and, although the W column doesn’t look very impressive, this is not a Nets team not bothered whether it wins or loses. This is just the beginning of the rebuild and the rest of the regular season will allow Fernandez to take a look at some of the younger players on the roster. Then he can plan ahead for next year when he will be hoping that he has some real star quality from the draft – or even a big player acquired from elsewhere.
No Guarantee of Success
The one thing that hoops fans sometimes forget when it comes to supposedly tanking to pick up the “next big thing”, is that there is no guarantee that it will come off. At the very best, a star rookie will steadily improve the team (and apparel and merchandise sales!). Take the Spurs and Victor Wembanyama as an example. San Antonio is only just beginning to compete again and probably won’t make the playoffs again this year.
The way the Nets have gone about the situation has probably been wise, even though the fans will be impatient. It only makes it worse for them that the Knicks have started to look like one of the best teams in the league in the last few years. Nets fans need to understand that rebuilding takes time and the process has to be respected.
Reasons to Hope
Even with the Nets habitually at the bottom of the Atlantic Division and facing the prospect of back-to-back playoff-less years, there is still some hope to be found. If Nets fans can forget about the Knicks for a moment, they might be able to see that they now have a very good coach who is doing pretty well, considering the circumstances.
After a spate of injuries that really didn’t help the situation, players like Cam Thomas and D’Angelo Russell have actually managed to be on the court at the same time. It remains to be seen whether either of them will be back next season, but if their relationship and understanding of each other’s game grows, it will be something to build on. The Nets have been one of the worst in the league on offense this season, and it is not difficult to understand why this team has lost over two-thirds of its games.
A Genuine New York Rivalry
That phrase might be a little fanciful at the moment. The rivalry between the two New York teams is anything but close right now. The gap between the Knicks and the Nets is probably as wide as it has been since the Nets left New Jersey. But that doesn’t mean the rivalry will not be re-ignited in the next few years.
The Nets look like they have a good coach now and some good young players to work with. There are a whole load of draft picks to use up, and Brooklyn can still be an attractive location for any star player disgruntled with his current situation. Add to that the fact that the Nets could bring in a (much-needed) top point guard through the draft or free agency, and it all adds up to the Nets vastly improving over the next few years. Hoops fans in this area might even soon think of cheering on the Nets again.
