Brooklyn Nets: Tanking not in the cards for 2018-19

The Brooklyn Nets will have their own draft pick in 2019, but coach Kenny Atkinson and GM Sean Marks are eyeing wins, not lottery balls, next season.

One of the hot topics for Brooklyn Nets fans is whether or not the team should play for the tank in 2018-19, looking to maximize their draft position since the club will have its own first-round draft pick for the first time in what will be six years.

Not since selecting Mason Plumlee with the 22nd overall pick in 2013 have the Nets held their own choice in the first round and after four straight losing seasons and three years out of the playoffs, it makes at least a certain amount of sense to get the most they can out of that 2019 first-round pick.

But to listen to head coach Kenny Atkinson on ESPN Radio Sunday, the Nets are looking at winning in 2018-19, not collecting ping pong balls.

Atkinson, while acknowledging that Brooklyn’s eight-win improvement in 2017-18 was the second-best in the Eastern Conference behind the Philadelphia 76ers’ impressive jump from 28-54 to 52-30 this season, said that next season must be more about winning and losing and less about development and process.

Per the New York Post:

"I do think we did start from the bottom, so we have to temper (the improvement) a little and understand we still have a long way to go. We have to take another step next year."

The Nets were 28-54 in 2017-18 after a 20-62 mark in Atkinson’s debut campaign in 2016-17, but general manager Sean Marks admitted that next season could be measured more by on-court success and failure rather than more baby steps forward.

To make a leap, Brooklyn needs more talent. Point guard Spencer Dinwiddie had a breakout campaign, earning a nod as a finalist for Most Improved Player, but if he’s the best you have, you’re not ready to break into the Eastern Conference’s middle echelon, much less challenge for the top.

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The Nets will be hamstrung a bit this offseason by still having the contracts of Timofey Mozgov ($16 million per HoopsHype) and DeMarre Carroll ($15.4 million) on the books.

Jeremy Lin, limited to 25 minutes on opening night this season before rupturing his right patella tendon, has already opted in for the $12.5 million and change due on the final year of his contract.

The Nets project to have about $17 million in salary cap space, using the estimated $101 million figure sent to teams in April, per Eric Pincus of BasketballInsiders.com.

They could free up $3 million by renouncing the rights to guard Randy Foye, who sat out last season after going unsigned as an unrestricted free agent.

The gaping hole for Brooklyn is at the 4, where there are some players projected for the restricted free agent market that could fill that hole, including Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic, oft-injured Jabari Parker of the Milwaukee Bucks and Julius Randle of the Los Angeles Lakers.

But it’s clear from listening to Atkinson on Sunday that the bar for the Nets will be significantly higher next season than it has been during the first two campaigns with Marks and Atkinson steering the ship.

"Our players, although we showed good individual improvement and team improvement, we have to take another step next year. So our guys are in the gym, they’re working. We have a great offseason development program which we’re really proud of. I think you’ll see a better Nets team next year."

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The question, it appears, will be how much better … and will that improvement come at a long-term cost?