As the Nets gathered for Media Day at the HSS Training Center on Monday, questions loomed over the roster, from its fluidity to the playing-time rotation.
With the Jimmy Butler rumors casting an additional bit of a shadow, many Nets are bound to feel some anxiety over the uncertainty of their futures.
At least seven of the Nets' 15 contracted players (not including reserves Shabazz Napier and Treveon Graham, whose 2019-20 contracts are not guaranteed, and starting wing Allen Crabbe, who has an opt-out,) will be free agents after this season. Quite a few are in this position for the first time in their professional careers.
This was done purposely, to give Nets general manager Sean Marks the salary-cap flexibility to be a major player in next summer's anticipated free agent bonanza. However, Brooklyn has to be wary of the unintended consequences for this season.
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"It's always a concern," Marks said to a media contingent last week. "We're dealing with young guys' emotions. And that's not only our job; that's the whole support staff that's around them here. We're supporting these guys and their families, and we're going to manage that as it goes, regardless of whether there are extensions during the year, or at the end of the year or however it plays out. Our role is to make sure they are able to compete at the highest level here and support them through that process."
Fortunately, the Nets have some veterans with experience in this area in their stable, including reserve wing Joe Harris, who cashed in on a two-year, $16 million contract extension in July after somewhat of a breakout 2017-18 season in Brooklyn.
"The best thing you can do is just focus on what you can control," Harris said Monday of what he would tell his teammates who are entering their contracts' final seasons. "You can't control everyone's decisions or their thought process on you. What you can control is just coming in, trying to get better every day, be as consistent (and) efficient as possible, doing what you can to help the team win. Everything else is just added level of anxiety that would kind of bog you down and probably be detrimental to your play. I think it's human nature over the course of the season. You go through certain lulls, maybe think about how it's going to impact you individually in free agency. But the NBA season is a long season. That's the way you kind of have to approach it."
While the Nets didn't grab any marquee players this offseason, they did appear to improve their depth. In addition to Napier and Graham, the Nets bulked up to improve their rebounding by acquiring Ed Davis (free agent) and Kenneth Faried (trade). Sage veteran Jared Dudley was also obtained in a trade to compete for the backup stretch-four role. I don't expect either of the Nets' two draft picks -- Euro imports Dzanan Musa and Rodions Kurucs -- to garner material NBA minutes this season, but I wrote the same thing a year ago about Jarrett Allen, and he ended up as the club's starting center.
Once again, Marks has tasked coach Kenny Atkinson to sort it all out over a three-week training camp beginning Tuesday. The Nets will play four preseason games before their opener in Detroit on Oct. 17.
Again, this might be a fluid situation. While I don't believe the Nets and Butler, Minnesota's superb two-way wing who demanded a trade last week and reportedly named Brooklyn as one of his favored landing spots, are on the same timeline, given the miles already on Butler's legs a season before he is expected to demand a five-year, approximately $190 million max free-agent offer, I would predict that changes are-a-comin'.
Marks has expressly stated that the Nets won't tank this season, despite having their own first-round draft pick for the first time since 2013, but a bad start certainly could accelerate departures. Veteran forward DeMarre Carroll, coming off a bounce-back season in which he set career highs in points, rebounds and assists per game, could very well be in demand by a contender given his skill set and expiring $15.4 million contract.
Guard Spencer Dinwiddie, another pending free agent, is "the best bargain in the league," according to Pistons coach Dwane Casey, with a $1.656 million salary for 2018-19, which makes him more palatable to salary cap-strapped teams. Dinwiddie reportedly was desired by Cleveland at February's trade deadline.
"We all know everything that's going on," Dinwiddie said of the constant trade rumors surrounding him and his teammates. "This isn't a situation where everything is set in stone or anything like that. You just have to take it day by day. It doesn't behoove me in any sense to be like, 'Oh, what's going to happen?' or, 'What about this' or, 'What about that?' I come here, I work as hard as I possibly can. I love being here. I want to be here. Tomorrow, I plan on being here and going to work."
It will take a lot of work for the Nets to maintain their slow but steady crawl up the conference ladder after a 28-win campaign last season. I heard some good things from Atkinson and the players about improving their bottom-tier defense, but the proof will be in the pudding. They should be a better defensive rebounding team, but at what cost, given the inability of players like Faried and Davis to stretch the floor in Atkinson's pace-and-space scheme? Dudley is a competent long-distance marksman, but then the Nets would again find themselves at a size disadvantage (more so now that Dudley has come into camp looking like he lost weight).
Marks, thanks to gross mismanagement by the prior regime, has turned over the Nets' roster multiple times in his three offseasons. Forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, 23, is the longest-tenured Net, with three seasons under his belt. Eleven players are entering either their first or second season in Brooklyn.
Once again, however, we might be looking forward to another year when the only constant in Brooklyn is change.
For a FAN's perspective of the Nets, Devils and Jets, follow Steve on Twitter @SteveLichtenst1.
