The rebirth of professional sports in the borough of Brooklyn was long overdue, and the Nets provide the perfect style and swagger to conquer the hearts of the borough’s diehard basketball fans. The other folks — those not quite as pleased to have a basketball team in their neighborhood for a multitude of reasons — will take a bit more time to win over.
However, the future for the Brooklyn Nets is filled with promise. Young superstars and a blossoming fan base assure that this franchise — unlike the majority of the time it spent in the great state of New Jersey — is constructed to be a winner.
And a winner in the present and future is what the Nets plan to be. The team will feature what general manager Billy King has stated over and over again is “the NBA’s best backcourt” in guards Deron Williams and Joe Johnson. For the first time in head coach Avery Johnson’s three-year tenure with the team, he has a group of players worthy of the effort he has put into the past two seasons. During that time, the Nets have finished with less than 25 wins.
Though the potential of their talent is unquestionable, the Nets will be forced to rely heavily on Williams, Johnson and center Brook Lopez. The roster reeks of youth, which may be a long-term positive. But such inexperience can also be a negative when trying to compete with the likes of the NBA champion Miami Heat, the always-tough Boston Celtics and the fearsome Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference.
Scoring will be easy in Brooklyn and this is great. Anything to draw the fans. Johnson is one of the league’s premier shooters, Lopez is a lethal scorer down low and Williams could make a case for being the top distributor in the NBA.
Defense, however, could be a bit more difficult for this talented Nets team.
Outside of Johnson (a superb defender along the perimeter) and small forward Gerald Wallace, the Nets are suspect on the defensive side of the floor. Fortunately, these two will cover perhaps the most vital positions on the court against the majority of Nets’ opponents this season. But there could be some nights where their defensive play looks more like a Shakespearean tragedy than a professional basketball contest.
Wallace and power forward Kris Humphries should be able to make up for Lopez’s rare ineptness as a rebounder from the center position. Humphries had a stellar 2011-2012 season in New Jersey with a career-high 11.2 rebounds per game. His 3.8 offensive rebounds per game ranked fifth in the NBA last season and should present Brooklyn with plenty of opportunities to score points.
The Nets do not appear to be a title contender, but boasting a talented unit with an ability to put points on the scoreboard should make them one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, their shortcomings on defense will cost them in the playoffs as is common for sub-par defensive groups in the postseason.
Ultimately, Coach Johnson could prove to be the greatest factor in the Nets’ success. The team’s talent creates a solid NBA club on paper, but it’s his schemes and motivational ability that will help all of those pieces mesh together successfully. If he can help his players perform at even an average level defensively, the Nets are easily a top-three team in the conference. They might even overtake the Celtics for the Atlantic Division crown.
No matter the outcome, this groundbreaking season will be a game-changer for the Nets organization, its young players and most importantly, the borough of Brooklyn. Anything else that comes in this franchise’s first season is merely a bonus.
Louis Musto is a contributor for the Sports Journey Broadcast Network covering the NFL and NBA. You can follow him on Twitter @LouisMusto.