Priorities

     The Nets season is over; they lost to the Heat in five games. Even though the Nets lost in five, this wasn’t a blow out like most series that go five games. The Nets were in every game but one, and they should probably have lead this series 3-2. But instead they are eliminated; now begins the offseason. The Nets don’t have a draft pick and don’t have much cap flexibility. I’ll be listing the moves and signings the Nets must do this offseason.

Priority Number 1

            During the season Billy King came out and said Shaun Livingston would be the Nets number one priority in the offseason. Mr. King couldn’t have been more wrong. Paul Pierce is the number one priority this offseason. The Nets traded three first round draft picks for Paul Pierce. You don’t trade three first round picks for someone to have them play only one year on the team. The Nets have Pierce’s bird right which means they can offer him X amount of money. I don’t care if Pierce’s contract is 2 years, $200 million. The Nets are already in salary cap hell, so the money doesn’t matter. Give me one or two more years of Paul Pierce!

Priority Number 2

            This is where Shaun Livingston comes into play. Livingston had a tremendous season for the Nets and is now in line for a nice pay day. The Nets can offer Livingston two contracts; the mini MLE (Mid-Level Exception) which would be for three years $10 million, or offer him a one year contract for $1.73 million, but they get his bird rights which means they can offer him whatever the following season. Now Livingston will most likely get better offers from other teams. However, the Nets took a chance on Livingston and were rewarded. The only question is, will Livingston give the Nets a hometown discount and return? I think Livingston returns but I don’t know under which contract, in a perfect world he comes back on the one year deal. That will allow the Nets to use the Mini MLE on a free agent.

 Priority Number 3

            This is the most interesting priority to me; and that’s what to do with Brook Lopez? Lopez is coming off his second major foot surgery and doesn’t quite fit into the Nets new system offensively. I think the Nets will look into trading him this offseason, but will end up keeping him. That’s fine Brook Lopez is a great player and must learn to play in the Nets new system.

Priority Number 4

            Kevin Garnett is about to turn 38 years old and is undecided on his future. He has one more year left on his contract making $12 million if he decides to come back. The Nets were at their best defensively when KG was on the floor this year. If KG comes back next year I suggest he comes off the bench. The Nets shouldn’t play with two bigs on the floor. Lopez is the center, KG backup center, and maybe at times they can both share the floor. Hopefully KG comes back for one more year.

Priority Number 5

            Deron Williams, GET ANKLE SURGERY!!! Deron Williams isn’t the same player he used to be. We know it, and even he knows it. He has no trust in his game because he has glass ankles. Steph Curry had the same problem.  He got ankle surgery, started wearing ankle braces, and he’s unbelievable. Now if Deron gets ankle surgery he won’t become Steph Curry, but I believe he’ll be much better. Get the surgery!

Priority Number 6

            Three Nets have a player option; Andray Blatche, Alan Anderson and Andrei Kirilenko. Blatche has already said he will be opting out but plans to resigns with the Nets. If I am running the Nets I wouldn’t offer Blatche a contract. Just let him go! The Nets have Mason Plumlee who’s ready to be the backup center and fits in the Nets current system rather than Blatche. Also Plumlee doesn’t make dumb decisions. Alan Anderson hasn’t commented on his player option yet but I expect that he will pick it up. I’m not a fan of Anderson, but he does fill up the roster. As long as he doesn’t average many minutes I am okay with him returning. Kirilenko has an interesting decision early in the season. He said he planned to finish his two season in Brooklyn which indicated he was going to opt in to his player option; but now he is undecided. I am a huge fan of AK47 and I hope the Nets can keep him. Reminder: the price doesn’t matter. The Nets are already over the cap. Just get him back and play him more.

Priority Number 7

            My last Priority is for the Nets to get a first round draft pick. The only way to do this is to trade with a team late in the first round. The Nets have two players that they can trade, Marcus Thornton and Mirza. Thornton has an expiring contract but will make $8 million next year. I don’t think a team will trade for that. So that leaves Mirza. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Mirza, but he’ll be 29 at the start of next season and will be 31 when his contract is up. I’d much rather have a young prospect than Mirza. Mason Plumlee was a great find late in the draft and the Nets would help themselves a lot if they could find another steal. There are three teams that could maybe strike a deal with the Nets for Mirza. One is OKC who has two late first round picks.( If these two teams traded it would be for pick #29) Sam Presti has done great with first round picks and values them a lot, but Mirza only makes 3.2 the next two years and is a player that can help OKC win now. The Suns have three first round picks (The Nets would get pick #27). Can you picture Mirza in that offense? He is the perfect fit for that team The Suns could use three picks in next year’s draft as well so it would be best for them to trade one in this draft. The last team I can see the Nets trading with is the Clippers. LA has the 28^th pick and some bad contracts. If I were the Nets, I would offer Mirza for Dudley and the picks. Mirza is better than Dudley but I would happily take Dudley if it meant the Nets get a pick back.

Closing

Bojan Bogdanovic is the Nets big time prospect overseas. You may have been wondering why he wasn’t a priority. The reason is, according to reports he won’t be coming over to the United States. If the Nets do all of this I think they can find themselves back in the second round of the playoffs.

For everything NBA and Nets follow @threwthenet on twitter. 

Nets vs Heat

The Nets almost committed the great choke job of their team’s long and depressed history on Sunday, but they didn’t!  Now they head to South Beach to take on the two time defending champions, the Miami Heat. The Nets went 4-0 against the Heat this year, but that doesn’t mean much to me. The Heat are on a verge of a dynasty; the regular season doesn’t matter. But for this series the two keys for the Nets are Jason Kidd, and Deron Williams. The key for Miami is the health of a star, and the bench.

Match-up

Regular season:

            Brooklyn Nets 104.4 offensive rating 104.9 defensive rating

            Miami Heat 109 offensive rating 102.9 defensive rating

Head to head: 4 games

            Brooklyn Nets offensive rating 104.1 offensive rating 102.6 defensive rating

            Miami Heat offensive rating 102.6 defensive rating 104.1

Jason Kidd

            Jason Kidd is a LeBron’s stopper over the last three years. His record over the Heat is 13-3. Kidd watched Rick Carlisle slow LeBron in the 2011 finals. With the Knicks last year they swung the ball around the court vs Miami and lit them up from beyond the arch. This year Brooklyn is 4-0.  LeBron has been good in those games, but the Nets found ways to beat them. For Kidd this series is about keeping LeBron in check and playing the right guys on the Nets. Right before game 6, Kidd inserted Alan Anderson into the starting line. When I saw the tweet about this I was ready to leave the Barclay center and start the long depressing trip home. Instead, Anderson played well with the starters. When Anderson starts the team net rating with him on the floor is 2.3 (2 games), off the bench -7 (5 games).  These are only playoffs, but vs the Heat this year, in the two games off the bench, his rating was -12.4. However, in the one game he started vs Miami he was a +14! Now that’s a small sample size, but he should start in this series. Wait, did I just say Alan Anderson needs to start?!?! Kidd’s rotations are the key. Blatche needs more minutes than Plumlee. Versus the Heat, Plumlee -8.9 net rating, Blatche 0.2; both played 3 games vs them. Marcus Thornton remembered how to shoot a basketball in game 7 and now might be the most important guy off the bench for the Nets in this series. In four games this year vs the Heat, his net rating was a +20; two of those games he was on the Kings. Anderson should start, Thornton should be the 6^th man, and Blatche should be the first big off the bench.  However, if Kidd wants to test out Plumlee for a game or two, I am okay with that. Shaun Livingston had a disappointing first round. The numbers were not good; he should come off the bench. AK-47 and Mirza do not have great numbers vs the Heat this year, but they should play at times. If Mirza can heat up that’s always a good thing, but his defense is not good. AK-47 net rating is -10.1 vs the Heat this year, but he can play good defense on LeBron at times, so play him some.

Deron Williams

            Deron is the key for all of this team’s success. He wasn’t good in the first round and the Nets were lucky to get out of it. When your “star” (he’s not a star anymore) player shoots 41% from the field and 29% from the three, it’s not good. Deron needs to start hitting shots and start attacking the basketball. There were times vs Toronto where he would pass up open shots or avoid going to the basket. If Deron Williams doesn't perform the Nets will be gone and he’s going up against Mario Chalmers. Deron better take advantage of that.

Dwayne Wade

            The Heat have been off a week and are now healthy as can be. Most importantly D-Wade is healthy and ready to go in the first round. Versus the Bobcats, Wade shot 49% average and averaged 17 points. But the Heat’s net rating was -1 with him on the court (I’m looking for hope here, give me a break). If Wade is healthy and productive the Nets will have almost no chance to knock off the Heat.

Heat bench

            This is where the Nets have a shot to win this series. The Heat’s bench isn't that good anymore. Shane Battier looks done, and Ray Allen is having a bad year (maybe this week off will do him some good). Right now the Heat are relying on James Jones, and Rashard Lewis to hit shots for them. The Nets bench is better and they have to play like it all series. If they play at a high level the Nets have a shot.

Prediction

            Heat in 6… They have Lebron has their star and we have Deron Williams that’s not good. The Heat are just better than Brooklyn and everyone else.

One more thing

            Barclays Center has always had a lot of Heat fans in the building but don’t expect that to change with the Nets jacking up the ticket prices. You can sit in the upper deck for only $214!!! Who can say no to that?

For everything NBA and Nets follow @threwthenet on twitter.