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It's go time! The Cavaliers open the much anticipated 2023-24 season in Brooklyn against the Nets. Since there is no data yet from this season, I’m just going to copy and paste some information from various season previews. First from NBA.com:
The superstar era is over and the Brooklyn Nets return with the same core that brought mediocre results after Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were traded to the Western Conference in February. Brooklyn went 12-15 to finish the regular season and was the only team that got swept in the first round of the playoffs. Gone are expectations for postseason success, and in their place are questions about what comes next.
With a plethora of picks from the Irving and Durant trades, the Nets can eventually bid for another star player who wants a trade. For now, the biggest hope for improvement comes from the possibility of having a healthy Ben Simmons playing alongside the players that arrived in the Irving and Durant deals…
Four of the team’s best shooters — Seth Curry, Joe Harris, Patty Mills and Yuta Watanabe — are gone, via trades or free agency. Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV bring some athleticism to the bench on minimum contracts.
Without a top-tier star, the Nets have a ceiling. They should be better defensively than they were at the end of last season, but the offense is still lacking some juice. More changes could be coming, but as currently constructed, the Nets are probably not a team that can win a playoff series…
One player that must take a leap:
Ben Simmons. The 27-year-old is much better on defense, but Brooklyn could use his offensive skills as much as anything. While [Mikal] Bridges has become a prolific and efficient scorer, he’s not a playmaker, and the rest of the Nets’ ensemble needs somebody to set them up. Simmons, who’s played just 42 games over the last two years, could be that guy.
And from VSIN.com:
The Brooklyn Nets are one of the most interesting teams in the NBA as we head into the 2023-2024 season. It has a burgeoning young star in Mikal Bridges, a roster full of talented wing pieces that any team in the league could use and a defensive center that came into his own last season in Nicolas Claxton...
In the 27 games after the trade deadline, Brooklyn went just 12-15 but the record was not as troubling as the statistical production. In those 27 games, the Nets were 23rd in non-garbage time offensive efficiency due to averaging only 113.8 points per 100 possessions. Their lack of efficiency on that end of the floor stemmed from an inability to get to the rim and below-average efficiency from beyond the arc despite a high rate of 3-point attempts...
The Nets lacked a true north-south threat that could get to the rim and finish...This is not likely to improve this season outside of natural progression from players like Bridges, as the team did not make many changes in the offseason.
This lack of pressure on the rim meant that Brooklyn relied heavily on perimeter shots. The Nets devolved into a high-frequency shooting team with low efficiency. They took 40.2% of their attempts from beyond the arc but shot just 35.7% on those attempts…
This team is also small as currently constructed, and rebounding will likely be an issue. Their projected starting lineup of Spencer Dinwiddie, Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Claxton has four players under 6-foot-8. That weakness was apparent last season, as the Nets were 26th in offensive rebounding rate (23.9%) and 28th in defensive rebounding rate (70.2%) in the last 27 games. That lack of rebounding led to 14.6 second-chance points per game allowed, which killed this team defensively.
And finally John Hollinger:
I’d feel better about this team winning half its games if I believed more in the bench. O’Neale is the only reliable player, and even his level of play has wobbled the last two seasons. An engaged and healthy Simmons obviously would help, but nobody is betting on that until they see it; at least consider it a wild card that could turn in Brooklyn’s favor.
After that, recent draft picks fill much of the roster. Cam Thomas has his moments as a scorer but suffers from extreme tunnel vision and gets targeted on defense. Day’Ron Sharpe is an awesome rebounder, but his minutes have otherwise been … let’s go with “uneven.”
Brooklyn did make two interesting offseason bets on Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV. Smith is an All-Defense-caliber defender who really struggles to shoot but could hold down the backup point guard job behind Spencer Dinwiddie (another extension candidate, by the way). Walker’s shot also comes and goes, but his athleticism may allow him to be the Nets’ fourth wing after a solid playoff run for the Lakers last spring.
Yes, it’s hard to talk yourself into any Nets outcome beyond getting squashed like a bug in the first round of the playoffs, but the floor seems relatively high. In this conference, at least, the Nets seem more likely to make the postseason than miss it, and they could trade themselves into a more impressive roster somewhere along the way.
My comments:
1. This is a small team that was 28th in defensive rebounding rate last year. They have an excellent rim protector in Claxton, but if the Cavs can force him to contest shots they should be able to clean up some misses behind him. Nearly 30% of the Nets' opponents’ missed shots turned into offensive rebounds after they traded KD and KI.
Their starting power forward is Cameron Johnson at 6’8”, 210. Their backup is Finney-Smith at 6’7”, 220. Not much size on the front line after Claxton, who averaged 30 minutes a game last year.
2. The Nets had a hard time getting to the rim last year even though they drove a lot. Against a team like the Cavs with Mobley and Allen in the paint it should be even harder for them to get layups, forcing them to shoot a lot of 3’s.
3. Mikal Bridges averaged 26.1 ppg last year on 47.5% from the field and 37.2% from the 3-point line. If Max Strus is on him to start the game it could be trouble for the Cavs. In the Nets’ two losses to the Cavs in March, Bridges scored 50 points on 20-for-40 from the field but only 2-for-15 on 3’s. The Cavs need to stay in front of him and make him shoot contested 3’s. JBB may have to put Okoro, LeVert, or Wade on him if he’s abusing Strus.
4. The Nets have a veteran team, although not extremely talented. Four of their starters are in their 5th or 6th seasons while Spencer Dinwiddie is in his 10th season at age 30. They do have a couple of young players coming off the bench in SG Cam Thomas (22) and C Day’Ron Sharpe (21). Thomas is an explosive scorer who scored 44, 47, and 43 points in a span of four days last year. But he also disappeared in a lot of games. Sharpe scored 20 points in 20 minutes against the Cavs in March and chipped in 11 rebounds. At 6’9”, 265 pounds with youth and energy he’s a load for skinny guys like Allen and Mobley.
5. Jarrett Allen may be ready to play but he has not appeared in a preseason game while resting a bone bruise on his ankle, so it’s not clear how many minutes he can play or how effective he will be.
6. The Brooklyn bench looks very shaky as Hollinger pointed out while the Cavs’ have added quality depth. This may be where the Cavs can go on a run - when both teams have mostly bench players on the floor.
The superstar era is over and the Brooklyn Nets return with the same core that brought mediocre results after Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant were traded to the Western Conference in February. Brooklyn went 12-15 to finish the regular season and was the only team that got swept in the first round of the playoffs. Gone are expectations for postseason success, and in their place are questions about what comes next.
With a plethora of picks from the Irving and Durant trades, the Nets can eventually bid for another star player who wants a trade. For now, the biggest hope for improvement comes from the possibility of having a healthy Ben Simmons playing alongside the players that arrived in the Irving and Durant deals…
Four of the team’s best shooters — Seth Curry, Joe Harris, Patty Mills and Yuta Watanabe — are gone, via trades or free agency. Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV bring some athleticism to the bench on minimum contracts.
Without a top-tier star, the Nets have a ceiling. They should be better defensively than they were at the end of last season, but the offense is still lacking some juice. More changes could be coming, but as currently constructed, the Nets are probably not a team that can win a playoff series…
One player that must take a leap:
Ben Simmons. The 27-year-old is much better on defense, but Brooklyn could use his offensive skills as much as anything. While [Mikal] Bridges has become a prolific and efficient scorer, he’s not a playmaker, and the rest of the Nets’ ensemble needs somebody to set them up. Simmons, who’s played just 42 games over the last two years, could be that guy.
And from VSIN.com:
The Brooklyn Nets are one of the most interesting teams in the NBA as we head into the 2023-2024 season. It has a burgeoning young star in Mikal Bridges, a roster full of talented wing pieces that any team in the league could use and a defensive center that came into his own last season in Nicolas Claxton...
In the 27 games after the trade deadline, Brooklyn went just 12-15 but the record was not as troubling as the statistical production. In those 27 games, the Nets were 23rd in non-garbage time offensive efficiency due to averaging only 113.8 points per 100 possessions. Their lack of efficiency on that end of the floor stemmed from an inability to get to the rim and below-average efficiency from beyond the arc despite a high rate of 3-point attempts...
The Nets lacked a true north-south threat that could get to the rim and finish...This is not likely to improve this season outside of natural progression from players like Bridges, as the team did not make many changes in the offseason.
This lack of pressure on the rim meant that Brooklyn relied heavily on perimeter shots. The Nets devolved into a high-frequency shooting team with low efficiency. They took 40.2% of their attempts from beyond the arc but shot just 35.7% on those attempts…
This team is also small as currently constructed, and rebounding will likely be an issue. Their projected starting lineup of Spencer Dinwiddie, Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith and Claxton has four players under 6-foot-8. That weakness was apparent last season, as the Nets were 26th in offensive rebounding rate (23.9%) and 28th in defensive rebounding rate (70.2%) in the last 27 games. That lack of rebounding led to 14.6 second-chance points per game allowed, which killed this team defensively.
And finally John Hollinger:
I’d feel better about this team winning half its games if I believed more in the bench. O’Neale is the only reliable player, and even his level of play has wobbled the last two seasons. An engaged and healthy Simmons obviously would help, but nobody is betting on that until they see it; at least consider it a wild card that could turn in Brooklyn’s favor.
After that, recent draft picks fill much of the roster. Cam Thomas has his moments as a scorer but suffers from extreme tunnel vision and gets targeted on defense. Day’Ron Sharpe is an awesome rebounder, but his minutes have otherwise been … let’s go with “uneven.”
Brooklyn did make two interesting offseason bets on Dennis Smith Jr. and Lonnie Walker IV. Smith is an All-Defense-caliber defender who really struggles to shoot but could hold down the backup point guard job behind Spencer Dinwiddie (another extension candidate, by the way). Walker’s shot also comes and goes, but his athleticism may allow him to be the Nets’ fourth wing after a solid playoff run for the Lakers last spring.
Yes, it’s hard to talk yourself into any Nets outcome beyond getting squashed like a bug in the first round of the playoffs, but the floor seems relatively high. In this conference, at least, the Nets seem more likely to make the postseason than miss it, and they could trade themselves into a more impressive roster somewhere along the way.
My comments:
1. This is a small team that was 28th in defensive rebounding rate last year. They have an excellent rim protector in Claxton, but if the Cavs can force him to contest shots they should be able to clean up some misses behind him. Nearly 30% of the Nets' opponents’ missed shots turned into offensive rebounds after they traded KD and KI.
Their starting power forward is Cameron Johnson at 6’8”, 210. Their backup is Finney-Smith at 6’7”, 220. Not much size on the front line after Claxton, who averaged 30 minutes a game last year.
2. The Nets had a hard time getting to the rim last year even though they drove a lot. Against a team like the Cavs with Mobley and Allen in the paint it should be even harder for them to get layups, forcing them to shoot a lot of 3’s.
3. Mikal Bridges averaged 26.1 ppg last year on 47.5% from the field and 37.2% from the 3-point line. If Max Strus is on him to start the game it could be trouble for the Cavs. In the Nets’ two losses to the Cavs in March, Bridges scored 50 points on 20-for-40 from the field but only 2-for-15 on 3’s. The Cavs need to stay in front of him and make him shoot contested 3’s. JBB may have to put Okoro, LeVert, or Wade on him if he’s abusing Strus.
4. The Nets have a veteran team, although not extremely talented. Four of their starters are in their 5th or 6th seasons while Spencer Dinwiddie is in his 10th season at age 30. They do have a couple of young players coming off the bench in SG Cam Thomas (22) and C Day’Ron Sharpe (21). Thomas is an explosive scorer who scored 44, 47, and 43 points in a span of four days last year. But he also disappeared in a lot of games. Sharpe scored 20 points in 20 minutes against the Cavs in March and chipped in 11 rebounds. At 6’9”, 265 pounds with youth and energy he’s a load for skinny guys like Allen and Mobley.
5. Jarrett Allen may be ready to play but he has not appeared in a preseason game while resting a bone bruise on his ankle, so it’s not clear how many minutes he can play or how effective he will be.
6. The Brooklyn bench looks very shaky as Hollinger pointed out while the Cavs’ have added quality depth. This may be where the Cavs can go on a run - when both teams have mostly bench players on the floor.
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