Brooklyn Nets 2016: Year in Review
By Zach Cronin
July 11, 2016 – Nets sign Justin Hamilton
This is a time in the NBA where teams are going small. Because of that, the Nets went out and signed Justin Hamilton, because you can never have enough seven-footers who shoot threes. At the start of the season, Hamilton was heavily involved in Atkinson’s rotation, but he never found a rhythm, and he can’t do much outside of shooting threes.
For the year, Hamilton is nailing just 30.7 percent of his perimeter shots, which is dreadful when you take into account how almost 60 percent of his shots come from downtown. Furthermore, he’s a bad defender. And his rebounding ability is suspect for someone of his size — 7.7 boards per 36 minutes.
July 13, 2016 – Nets sign Luis Scola and Greivis Vasquez
Bringing on Luis Scola was strictly for a locker room presence. He’s got a ton of miles on his body after eight seasons in the Euroleague and nine full ones in the NBA, so his offensive game is limited, and he’s pretty much fallen out of the rotation. He still rebounds at a relatively high rate, and he’s good for a couple of buckets a night, but he’s a liability defensively, and that’s not something the Nets can afford at this point.
For Greivis Vasquez, unfortunately, there’s not much to say. He suited up for the first three games of the year, didn’t play well, got hurt, and was let go at the beginning of November. Originally, he got signed to play most of the backup point guard minutes, and the organization moved on quickly after learning the news for his ankle wasn’t good.