There were not many expectations for the Brooklyn Nets in the 2016-2017 season, but they surprised with their improved play by the end of the season.
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Wins and losses are the ultimate barometer of how a team performed in a season, but it is misleading in the case of the Nets’ season. They are in the middle of a rebuild and development is paramount for the team’s future.
General Manager Sean Marks put together a team veteran leadership and young athleticism, hoping to be competitive. Players like Jeremy Lin, Trevor Booker, Randy Foye, Luis Scola and Greivis Vasquez were signed to lead in the inevitable tough stretches of the season.
It was by no means a championship roster, but it was a respectable one that could compete each game. Like the Nets’ recent history, this was too good to be true.
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Injuries hit the Nets hard. They lost both Vasquez and Lin early in the season with Vasquez being let go as a result. Lin would miss majority of the season. Blended with lackluster play from Scola and Foye, this was a recipe for disaster.
The Nets’ Head Coach Kenny Atkinson was forced to place young players in to larger roles than initially intended. A lot of the players on the floor during crunch time were inexperienced, and it showed.
The Nets finished the season with eight of their 15 players having only three years of experience or less in the NBA. This put a burden on the young players to step up and perform at important phases of the game. A task they got better at as the season wore on.
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Their two most inexperienced players, rookies Caris LeVert and Isaiah Whitehead, both played big minutes for the Nets all season. LeVert missed the start of the year, recovering from a collegiate injury. While Whitehead was never even supposed to be on the NBA roster to begin with.
As both played more minutes, they got better at playing clutch, situational basketball. LeVert solidified himself in the starting rotation by the end of the season. He showed that he can score with the best in the league in clutch moments.
Whitehead was thrust into action as the starting point guard because of injuries and struggled with turnovers. As the season progressed, he moved to the bench and found himself a spot in the rotation. He fixed the turnovers and became a major catalyst to rare Nets’ wins.
Other players also went through a maturation process with the team. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson came into the season with big expectations, but couldn’t find his footing early on. He struggled to fit in the offense and it shook his confidence.
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Coach Atkinson chose to switch Hollis-Jefferson from small forward to power forward. The move instantly paid dividends for Hollis-Jefferson as he took advantage of the slower defenders to ind his offensive stride. He finished the season on a high note and looks to carry that into his third NBA season.
Marks brought in young talent from free agency that he hoped would develop under Atkinson’s system. He signed Joe Harris this offseason and Spencer Dinwiddie from the D-League early in the year.
Harris fit in well off the bench with his ability to shoot the three. He saw his role grow as the season went on and his comfort with the offense increased. Unfortunately, an injury sidelined him for the final quarter of the season and he was unable to continue to progress.
Dinwiddie was signed from the D-League and was forced to play big minutes as the starting point guard right away. Dinwiddie got better every game, enough so that he received important late game minutes after Lin returned from injury. His maturation as a player is one of the main reasons why the Nets competitive late in the season.
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Overall, the Brooklyn Nets were a young team that matured in front of our eyes. They struggled win, losing a lot of close games, but started to figure thing out by the end of the season. While they are still not going to be a championship team next season, it will be exciting to see how much more they can progress and how good they can become.