NBN Roundtable: Reflections on Brooklyn Nets’ 2016-17 Season
By Sandy Mui
With the offseason underway, the Nothin’ But Nets team reflects on the Brooklyn Nets‘ 2016-17 season.
1. Overall, were you satisfied with the Nets’ 2016-17 season?
Sandy Mui (@sandymui1134): For what it’s worth, the Nets had a decent season despite finishing with the league’s worst record. I’m satisfied with the fact that the team was able to stay competitive and players were able to keep their morale high even with Brooklyn’s disappointing win total this season. Chemistry was something the Nets were lacking in the past few seasons, so it was great to see how well the Nets gelled together on and off the court. I’m even more intrigued by how the team will fare next season, when (hopefully) injuries don’t derail their progress.
Andrew Hughes (@ARJHughes): I was satisfied with the 2016-17 season for Brooklyn. The Nets did the most with what they had. A lack of talent always had the Nets staring at an early vacation, but the fact that Jeremy Lin missed more than half of their games doomed them to the league’s worst record. In spite of that, they performed admirably. Brook Lopez proved that he can fit in a modern offense. Their draft picks proved themselves in a sink or swim situation. Sean Marks found several gems off the 10-day contract market. Overall, it was a satisfying, if not successful, season.
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Christian Milcos (@ChristianMilcos): It’s difficult to be satisfied watching the worst team in the NBA. Despite taking their time in obtaining their tenth win, the Nets’ final record was fairly similar to the 2015-16 season. Yet, they will hand the Celtics the best odds of nabbing the number one pick, as opposed to gifting them the third-best last May. The league is clearly a lot more competitive this season, which therefore makes the Nets look like the NBA’s punching bag. All in all, I was not satisfied with the Nets this season. It’s hard to see how one could be satisfied with a 20-win team.
Sean Costello (@SeanBKN27): Overall, I was satisfied with the season the team had. It’s disappointing because they won one less game than they did last season, and they were missing their starting and backup point guards and had injuries lingering all over the roster. From Sean Kilpatrick to Caris LeVert, the Nets were plagued with injuries, yet the team persevered. They’re better than a 20-win team, and that excites me, especially with the way they played from March 1 to April 12. They truly played like they’re one or two players away from getting back into the East’s playoff race.
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Alex Cuesta (@ACuestaNBN): Oddly enough, yes. Although they were the league’s worst team record-wise, anyone who took the time to watch a game saw that was far from reality. There were a lot of hiccups, but this team never quit and continued to get better.
Going into this season, I knew that the Nets would struggle to find wins, but I just wanted to see progress. I wanted to see a vision for the future team, and that’s exactly what I got. I was impressed by General Manager Sean Marks’ eye for finding talent from the bottom of the barrel and in Head Coach Kenny Atkinson’s ability to manage a tough year the way he did.
By the final stretch of the season, the Nets provided fans with a quality basketball product and a future to look forward to after experiencing doom and gloom just last year. I am more than satisfied this year, and I am excited about the future of my favorite basketball team.
Malcolm Ireland (@MackyIreland): I am happy with how the Nets season went considering their health, as well as their current roster. This team was predicted to be awful this season. While more than half the season was about on par with preseason predictions, the end of the season was a glimpse of what could have been had they stayed healthy.
This season was filled with growing pains as the Nets learned how to play under their new coach and work together, as many of the players have never played together before. Overall, though, I really like what Brooklyn is doing and how Sean Marks has been able to make something out of nothing.