Of my seven seasons covering the Nets, this was my favorite.
That it ended in the despair of four consecutive defeats to Philadelphia -- or that Tuesday night's do-or-die Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals was a 122-100 rout -- was immaterial.
In recent seasons, I described the Nets' fan experience as watching grass grow without seeds. Maybe something green and exciting would pop up every now and then, but were they buds promising a lush lawn? Or more likely, were they weeds that would soon need to be eradicated?
Isaiah Whitehead, Sean Kilpatrick, and Archie Goodwin? We hardly knew ye.
Well, the Nets blossomed in 2018-19. It was organic, in that the few veterans general manager Sean Marks acquired were not check-cashing, me-first rentals, but mentors to a young core featuring a trio of exciting lead guards -- D'Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie.
Russell earned his first All-Star berth while LeVert was headed on that path before a gruesome dislocated foot sidelined him for more than half the season. LeVert eventually recovered to the point that he became Brooklyn's top performer in the playoffs. Dinwiddie was a legitimate Sixth Man of the Year candidate until he, too, lost time due to a broken thumb. Joe Harris was the league's 3-point champion on All-Star Weekend and for the entire regular season.
Yet the Nets were far greater than the sum of their parts. A host of teams they beat had more talent. For much of the season, Brooklyn's starters included a pair of relatively low-drafted bigs in Jarrett Allen (22nd overall in 2017) and Rodions Kurucs (40th overall in 2018), who were not of legal drinking age on opening night.
For those who dismiss a five-game, first-round exit as nothing special, remember that Brooklyn won 20 and 28 games the prior two seasons. Their most impactful addition last summer was a backup center, Ed Davis. Despite all the recent losing, the Nets haven't selected a draft pick in the lottery since 2010.
Even in the weaker East, almost no one expected the Nets to finish over .500 at 42-40 and in sixth place.
Making it even more special was that they didn't back into the playoffs. They earned it, surviving a potentially back-breaking end-of-season slate and then clinching their first berth in four years by winning back-to-back road games in Milwaukee and Indiana on the last weekend of the season.
The season overall had its ups and downs, highlighted by remarkable comeback victories on the road in Houston, Orlando and Sacramento. The lowlights included an eight-game losing streak that dropped Brooklyn's record to 8-18. Three of those defeats were mind-boggling gifts to their opponents.
But that 18th loss sparked a players-only film session that will be hailed as the official turning point. The Nets were a different team from then on.
In the end, though, the 76ers were just too big and just too good. No Net ever figured out a way to slow star center Joel Embiid. Defensive rebounds were not much better than 50/50 propositions. And the Nets, who lived by the 3 ball all season, died by it in this series, shooting 32.4%.
That's why coach Kenny Atkinson's postgame address to the media included an acknowledgment that Brooklyn is still "a long ways away" from competing with teams like Philadelphia.
Jared Dudley, one of the aforementioned veteran leaders, mentioned that, "If I'm (the Nets), I'm going big-game hunting for the big fish" this summer.
And therein lies the catch.
For as much as the Nets achieved, or maybe overachieved, this season, getting to this point is easier than the next step, which requires reducing the talent disparity with loaded teams like the Sixers.
It will require the Nets to land a superstar free agent this summer.
The consensus among league experts I've spoken to is that, for the first time in the Marks/Atkinson era, the Nets will be in the max free agent competition in July. They should be able to arrange meetings. They have the salary-cap space. Whether the Nets can sway anyone of such worth to put up shop in Brooklyn, that's anyone's guess.
I'm always skeptical when it comes to the free agent game, and I'm sure Marks has backup plans should players of Kevin Durant's and Kawhi Leonard's ilk pass.
However, what makes this offseason even more interesting is the number of moving parts. It starts with Russell, who will be a restricted free agent July 1. After the Nets invested so much to obtain him two years ago and then develop him into an All-Star, it would seem like a no-brainer that they'd want him back. Maybe that's not necessarily the case. DLo could have been extended just like Dinwiddie was earlier this season.
Russell isn't the only team member who faces an uncertain future. Davis, Dudley and DeMarre Carroll, the three veterans, are all unrestricted free agents while Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, the longest-tenured Net, is restricted. Backups Treveon Graham and Shabazz Napier have nonguaranteed deals for 2019-20 and could easily be excised to create cap space.
You can bank on injured wing Allen Crabbe exercising his $18.5 million player option for next season, while Marks would love to offload that commitment to someone else. Marks has three draft choices, valued at Nos. 17, 27 and 31, at his disposal to sweeten any deal.
Or Marks could just continue down the road he's paved. Re-sign Russell. Integrate new young players, which could include the Nets' 2018 first-round pick from Bosnia, Dzanan Musa, as well as this year's selections. Scour the free-agent bargain bins for one-year deals to replenish any losses of the club's high-character veterans. Trade for another high draft pick bust to develop.
It's not sexy, but it's consistent with how Marks envisioned the rebuild.
I've written in past seasons that Marks' plan was never going to mirror Philly's "Process." The Nets were always about progress.
And even though the 2018-19 campaign concluded with an embarrassing whimper, Nets' fans can look forward to a new season with the knowledge that the progress was real.
For a FAN's perspective of the Nets, Devils and Jets, follow Steve on Twitter @SteveLichtenst1
