Editor’s Note: All opinions expressed by Alex Labidou are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Brooklyn Nets or the team’s Basketball Operations staff, parent company, partners, or sponsors
With the NBA season now officially over, fans are already starting to look ahead to the 2018-19 campaign and Brooklyn fans are no exception. There are tons of mailbag questions about potential trades, free agency and what the Nets will do with the 29th pick. Here we go:
What will the Nets do about trades and free agency? Are there any untouchable players on Brooklyn’s roster?
This was a popular question, with dozens of you asking about it. I want to stress that my answer below is strictly my opinion and it is almost vertically impossible to predict what Sean Marks has planned for the offseason.
What I can say, based on Marks’ end of the season press conference, is the Nets’ front office are continuing to search for ways to improve the current roster. While he and Kenny Atkinson both believe that the eight-game improvement last season is a sign of the progress under their leadership, finding the pieces to gain consistency will be important to continue the growth that both want to see.
I do believe that size and defense are two areas the team will aim to address this season.
“If we say it’s just front court…yeah, is there a bit of a hole there? True. For sure,” Marks said in April. “But let’s be strategic in how we build across the board one through five, adding length, adding size, physicality to help on the defensive end specifically. Yes, that would be a goal.”
I also think Marks will attempt to make the moves necessary to try to address those areas. Brook Lopez was a Nets’ icon, but young players are ultimately needed in a rebuilding situation – which led to the move for D’Angelo Russell. That being said, there is a young core being developed in Brooklyn and Marks stressed the value of continuity. I don’t believe there will be significant turnover, but rather strategic moves to take the next step.
“The hope is that we move forward, ‘hey, here’s eight or nine guys we’ve moved forward with, and the following year, here’s nine to ten,’ and you piece together your roster like that,” Marks said. “There is a lot of value in having continuity. If every off-season, ‘Kenny, here’s 15 guys, go and teach them and develop them again,’ I’m putting a lot on our coaching staff. So it’d be nice … what was here, what we inherited, what we came in to, and try build at some point, with some limited tools.
“Part of it is roster turnover and we’re going to have to do that to find the guys that fit what we’re trying to do here. Ultimately the goal is not to have 22, 23 guys on the roster every year.”
Stay tuned.
Bonus Questions:
In my opinion, I think Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is probably the funniest player on the team, which he was our first choice for our player blog series – check it out here.
Close runner ups are Spencer Dinwiddie, DeMarre Carroll and Timofey Mozgov. Who can forget Dinwiddie saying that his new haircut was down to being a sex symbol and Carroll calling Caris LeVert his fashion successor?
I didn’t grow up rooting for the Nets while they were in New Jersey, but I do have a personal connection with the team now that they are in Brooklyn.
I grew up in Clinton Hill about less than a mile away from Barclays Center and you always want to see your local community do well. So I definitely subscribe to the Premier League soccer thought of supporting your neighborhood club.
As for favorite childhood players, I’ll throw my starting five out there:
PG: Gary Payton SG: Ray Allen SF: Scottie Pippen PF: Chris Webber C: Patrick Ewing