The Brooklyn Nets are currently the seventh seed in the east, but their journey to the playoffs at the NBA restart Orlando keeps getting more difficult.
The 2019-20 NBA Season is set to get back underway in Orlando in July and the Brooklyn Nets are one of the 22 teams set to participate in the resumption. Unfortunately for the Nets, their journey into the playoffs keeps getting more difficult.
We already knew Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were going to skip the NBA resumption in Orlando, partly because of injuries, partly because of the place where the United States is at right now, but now more Nets players will miss the resumption.
On Monday it was revealed that both DeAndre Jordan and Spencer Dinwiddie had tested positive for COVID-19, now Jordan and potentially Dinwiddie as well will miss the restart. In addition, Wilson Chandler and Nic Claxton are also planning to not travel with the Nets to Orlando.
Missing out on these five, potentially six players is a HUGE loss for the Nets. Irving, Jordan, Dinwidde and Chandler started a combined 52 games during the 2019-20 season, which goes to show you how much of a loss they are.
For the sake of this, we will assume Dinwiddie ultimately decides to skip the Orlando restart. If that is the case, the Nets’ depth chart could look a little something like this:
- Point Guard: Chris Chiozza
- Shooting Guard: Caris LeVert
- Joe Harris
- Tyler Johnson
- Small Forward: Joe Harris
- Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
- Justin Anderson
- Power Forward: Taurean Prince
- Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
- Rodions Kurucs
- Center: Jarrett Allen
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In all reality, the Nets will probably use about eight players with six of them getting a majority of the minutes. At center, the Nets are EXTREMELY weak as both DeAndre Jordan and Nic Claxton have decided to skip the Orlando restart.
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This means the only center currently on their roster is Jarrett Allen, which creates a size problem when he’s off the court. Obviously the Nets will be able to sign someone before the season restarts, but that player will likely not be as good as Jordan or Claxton.
In addition to this, you have someone in Chris Chiozza who in his two seasons in the NBA, has played in only 28 games, 10 of them being with the Nets, and he has never started a game in his career. So now, he will likely be thrown into a starting role for the Nets, which will likely create a problem.
As mentioned, the Nets are currently the seventh seed in the east, and in order to avoid a play-in tournament to get into the playoffs, they must be at least four games ahead of the ninth seed Wizards.
Originally, this didn’t seem like much of a problem, but now it seems like it might be that much more difficult. The Nets have their work cut out for them in Orlando with some of their best players missing the NBA restart.