The Brooklyn Nets have had a rough 2015-16 thus far, and nothing says that better than receiving the worst grade in Sports Illustrated’s Midseason report card.
The Brooklyn Nets have had a disastrous 2015-16 season thus far. They are arguably the sorriest franchise in the NBA right now with an 11-31 record as the only two teams worse off then them, the 9-34 Los Angeles Lakers and 5-38 Philadelphia 76ers, are not trying to win games; they are aiming for ping pong balls in June.
When you are being compared to those teams constantly during a season you know things are not going well. Unlike the 76ers and Lakers though, the Nets do not have a shiny top draft pick from the 2015 NBA Draft, nor do they have any top picks on the horizon like those two teams will. The Nets owe draft picks to half the NBA it seems, as they do not own their own first round pick until 2019 and a second round pick until 2022.
With so many assets like that tied up, and a roster with a ton of holes and void of talent, things were bound to be tough in Brooklyn this season. Even the most cynical of people could not imagine this kind of disaster though, as the Nets do have some respectable players on their roster, they are just not a very good team.
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It has resulted in the firing of Lionel Hollins as head coach and Billy King being reassigned within the organization, knocked down from his general manager title. All the while, owner Mikhail Prokhorov has taken over full control of the Nets and Barclays Center with his own company. All the money in the world, which Prokhorov can make a strong argument to having, can fix the current state of this team.
The disaster in the roster building and performance on the court thus far has resulted in the worst grade from Sports Illustrated in their midseason report cards. The Nets received an F- from them. Here is an excerpt for their explanation of the abomination of a grade:
"The playoffs look like an impossibility, there are few young talents to rally around down the stretch, there are so many owed draft picks tying up the franchise’s flexibility, there really is no clear next step without a 2016 lottery pick, and there are months to burn until a new regime is expected to be installed. In sum, there is so little reason for anyone to hope or care about what happens to this franchise during the next 2–3 years, at minimum. The worst part? Prokhorov, while accepting some of the responsibility for this mess, didn’t exactly sound clear-eyed in his perception of his organization. “I’m sure for next season, we’ll be, I hope, [a] championship contender,” he told reporters. Alright, that delusion seals it: Brooklyn is rock bottom."
That about sums it up for the Nets. Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young make for a strong power forward/center combination, but they both received massive contracts this past offseason and very little has come from it in the way of victories.
Jarrett Jack tore his ACL, leaving the Nets with a combination of Shane Larkin and Donald Sloan leading the team at point guard. Defensive stalwart rookie Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is still sidelined and will be for the foreseeable future after breaking a bone in his foot in early December.
It has all equaled a rough 2015-16 campaign thus far for the Nets and anyone involved or invested in the franchise in way way. Just turn on a game of theirs when they are playing home and listen to the crowd; it seems as though the Nets are on the road even when in their own home arena.
That is what happens when you put a poor product on the court, and that is what is happening with the Nets currently. Basically all of the moves that King made have backfired, and Prokhorov has cleaned house. It is clear he still does not get it either with his unrealistic expectations of being a playoff team next year.
More ny sports: Mikhail Prokhorov Cleans House?
His first five year plan went up in flames quickly and it seems like this one will as well as the Nets are years away from contending without any real assets to start rebuilding their roster.