The Nets are mediocre and need to pick a direction before the trade deadline
By Jed Katz
At 12-10, the Brooklyn Nets are sitting at the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference. If the season were to end today, they would barely have homecourt advantage in the Play-In Tournament. On the surface, fans may be happy that this team is still competitive after trading away superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving last season.
Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson talked for nearly a combined 30 minutes with media from here and NY covering #Nets on their road trip.
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) December 13, 2023
There will be more coming from them as they make their return to Phoenix to face their former team for 1st time since Kevin Durant trade. #Suns pic.twitter.com/o59kXscjWI
However, when you dive deeper into the team's assets, analytics, and the reality of the situation, the team is currently in trouble if they don't change their direction.
The problem with the Nets is that they have good players, but no one is great. They don't possess a superstar; their best player is Mikal Bridges. Bridges is a fine player, averaging just over 20 points this season, but he has never made an All-Star team. Ben Simmons, Nic Claxton, Cam Thomas, and Spencer Dinwiddie are all solid role players, but that's all they are at this point: role players.
Sean Marks must decide which direction Brooklyn is headed
Sean Marks has two options less than two months ahead of the trade deadline: go all in for an absolute star/superstar once again and try to push for a playoff spot, or sell and go into another rebuild.
Which decision should Marks make? Let's look at it from many angels.