The Brooklyn Nets have a favorable schedule to start the 2017-18 NBA season. The team will need to start fast in order to reach its goal of making the post season this year.
Having won just 20 games last season, it’s easy to forget the Brooklyn Nets started the year with a 4-5 record. That’s the point where Jeremy Lin went down with a hamstring injury. That record isn’t something to be proud of, but it goes to show how mightily the young Nets struggled without him. Now surrounded with a lot more talent, and a year under their belts, the young core should see better results.
Many of the Nets believe the team will make the playoffs in a weakened Eastern Conference this season. One thing that would help their chances greatly is a fast start, and the schedule makers seemed to have eased the team into the new campaign.
After beginning the year at Indiana, who lost its all-everything superstar Paul George, Brooklyn faces Orlando twice, Phoenix twice, New York, Atlanta and the Los Angeles Lakers in its first twelve games. The Nets also have two games against the Nuggets and a home matchup against the new look Cavaliers.
If the Nets can win seven or eight of those first twelve games, it could go a long way toward establishing confidence both inside the locker room and out. The team’s new phenom guard, D’Angelo Russell, wants opponents to hate and fear them. That starts with beating teams you are supposed to beat. After a good offseason, some early wins could jump start the fanbase as well. This could revive the atmosphere, making Brooklyn a place teams won’t want to play.
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Brooklyn also needs to start fast out of the gate because the rest of the November schedule won’t be easy. It includes tilts with the Celtics, Warriors, Cavs, Jazz and Rockets. An injury to any key player and that stretch could compound similarly to the way it did last season.
The most important reason the Nets need to take advantage of a light schedule early is for the entire team to buy in. Even last year, word started to get around the league about the culture in Brooklyn. Head coach Kenny Atkinson’s system is one that players like to play in: short bursts, transition offense and a lot of shot attempts.
With so many new faces, the early indications are that team chemistry is forming nicely. Players are in the gym and on the court, working out, but also doing so together.
After a lost 2016-17 campaign, the Nets come into this year with an “us against the world” mentality. For some, like Spencer Dinwiddie, a lack of respect drives the playoff hopes. For others like Allen Crabbe or DeMarre Carroll, it’s the chance for redemption, and redefining the rest of their NBA careers.
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Whatever the case may be, the goal is clear. The path to get there is less clear, but a good start to the season will help immensely. Just three months ago, the words “Nets” and “playoffs” wouldn’t have been so much as uttered in the same sentence. Now, they at least seem like a possibility.
Opening night can’t get here soon enough.