A detailed look at the various options the Brooklyn Nets have this offseason as they look to build on an exciting 2018-19 campaign.
The Brooklyn Nets are about to embark on one of the most important offseasons for the franchise in recent memory.
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After an incredible turnaround last season, where the Nets went from 28 wins to 42 and vaulted right back into the Eastern Conference playoffs, Brooklyn has a chance to make a splash this summer in free agency.
When he was first appointed general manager in 2016, Sean Marks inherited an aging Nets roster bereft of much talent, identity or assets.
With a series of shrewd moves and long-term planning, Marks managed to do the impossible and has rebuilt his Nets squad without any high draft picks or free agent signings.
He took advantage of other teams’ cap situations (Lakers with Timofey Mozgov, Raptors with DeMarre Carroll, Nuggets with Kenneth Faried) to acquire more draft picks and younger players and is finally reaping the rewards of his earlier deals.
Over the course of his three years in Brooklyn, Marks has turned the Nets into an attractive free agent destination.
With the New York market to boast, a young, exciting, core, and an impressive culture built around the franchise, the Nets are seriously in play for some of the big names who are free agents this July.
Marks and his staff finally have the flexibility and assets, they lacked during their early years with the Nets, and shared his thoughts in an open letter to the Nets fans after the season-ending loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
"“We have work to do this offseason…We’ll be active and aggressive in upgrading our roster with a significant amount of cap space to work with.”"
Marks further outlined the Nets’ offseason strategy during exit interviews after the playoff loss.
"“I think this is something that if the right player is available, obviously like any other team, we’ll target those guys… We’ll see how this builds out. It’s not about fast forwarding or skipping steps. “There’s a lot of people that played major roles in getting the team to where it is now, the team, the organization, the identity — for us to even have these conversations. That’s exciting.”"
He’s exactly right. It wasn’t too long ago that the Nets were locked in the cellar of the Eastern Conference. Even as recently as November, it seemed inconceivable that star free agents would actually consider the Nets. And yet here we are.
According to Spotrac, the Nets figure to have over $50 million in cap space if they renounce all of their free agents (D’Angelo Russell, Jared Dudley, Ed Davis, DeMarre Carroll, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Theo Pinson and Alan Williams).
The franchise has its sights firmly set on some of the marquee free agents available this summer.
Head coach Kenny Atkinson talked about the plethora of options available to the Nets this summer on the Full 48 podcast with Howard Beck, noting:
"“But it’s a real fantastic opportunity. We’re going to have options. A, I think we all know what A is. There’s some great players out there. But we also feel comfortable with B, C and D that if it doesn’t go our way in free agency.”"
Here’s a deeper look at those options Coach Atkinson profiled, with three or four potential signings in each tier.