Who else will join Deron Williams and Joe Johnson in the starting lineup?
The Brooklyn Nets’ offseason has been… let’s just say interesting. The Nets will bring back most of the same players from last year, which can be perceived as both good and bad. The Brooklyn starting lineup will be missing their emotional leader Paul Pierce, who signed on to play with the Wizards earlier this week.
Fellow From Russia With Dunk writer Martin Mihaly wrote a great piece breaking down the Nets offseason woes.
So what does this tumultuous offseason mean for the Nets lineup moving forward? Will new head coach Lionel Hollins be able to turn this group into a defensive juggernaut, much like the teams that he created in Memphis? Will Brooklyn be able to compete in the Eastern Conference with the roster that GM Billy King has assembled? And did Bojan Bogdanovic instantly become the second hardest name to spell behind Giannis Antetokounmpo?
We will find out the answers to all of those questions throughout the year but first things first, the lineup for your 2014-15 Brooklyn Nets. With the acquisition of Jarrett Jack and the re-signings of Kevin Garnett and Alan Anderson, the starting lineup will likely look one of the following two ways:
PG Deron Williams PG Deron Williams
SG Jarrett Jack SG Alan Anderson
SF Joe Johnson OR SF Joe Johnson
PF Kevin Garnett PF Kevin Garnett
C Brook Lopez C Brook Lopez
The first lineup provides quickness and lethal scoring with Jarrett Jack at the shooting guard position but it also makes them vulnerable when going up against an opponent with a bigger shooting guard. The second lineup is the more traditional route with Alan Anderson being a stable off guard who is able to make open jumpers while defending the opposition’s top guard.
Another key factor in this lineup equation has to be Kevin Garnett going into his, presumably, last season. Garnett will likely be limited in back to back games, which leads to the question of who his replacement will be at the power forward position. As the roster currently stands, the players who would be most likely to fill in would be: Mirza Teletovic, Andrei Kirilenko, Bojan Bogdanovic, and long shot candidate Sergey Karasev. Russia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are representing hard for the Brooklyn bench this year!
Teletovic should have the upper hand out of the aforementioned group based on his play down the stretch of last season and into the playoffs. Teletovic may also sneak into the starting lineup as the small forward, moving Johnson to his natural shooting guard position.
Hollins definitely has a multitude of choices when it comes to his starting lineup and he will most likely play around with it a bit towards the beginning of the year in order to find the right fit. It also shouldn’t be forgotten that the success of this season is riding on the comeback of Brook Lopez along with Deron Williams’ ankles. One training camp injury to Lopez or one Williams setback and the season is in total flux, or should I say even more of a mess than we may already be headed for.
The lineup that the Nets will be trotting out for opening night may not be as star studded as it was going into last year but a smart coach like Hollins has the ability to harness the assets that are given to him, which should make for a competitive team from buzzer to buzzer. The pieces of the puzzle are there, it’s just up to Hollins to figure out if all of the pieces fit together or not.
Feel free to comment below on the lineup that you would most like to see for the Nets!