As Nets CEO Brett Yormark mentioned at a recent panel, he wants the Nets “to own this city” and thinks “the way you own it is by winning and getting to the playoffs this year.”
If the NBA season ended today, the Nets would not be a playoff participant. Thanks to their horrible blowout loss Wednesday at Barclays Center to the Hornets, Brooklyn is currently 10th in the conference, a half-game behind the No. 9 Pacers and one game ahead of the No. 11 Celtics. The Hornets, the No. 8 seed, are a full game in front of the Nets while the Heat, currently seventh, are 1.5 games up.
The Nets, including their home matchup tonight with the Phoenix Suns, have 23 games left this year, more than enough to fight their way back into the postseason field. Considering they have mortgaged so much of their future for the current roster, and players that have since moved on, they cannot miss out.
First off, their first-round pick will almost undoubtedly go to the Hawks via a swap of selections from the Joe Johnson trade. With the Hawks possibly having the league’s best record, that pick would be at the tail end of the first. Meanwhile, if the Nets don’t make the playoffs, Atlanta would be getting a lottery pick that–depending on how the ping pong balls play out–could be in the top 10.
But, if the Nets do make the playoffs, the pick isn’t as good, and will be around 15, give or take a few spots. Still, moving down 14-16 spots in the draft hurts Brooklyn, a team needing some youth, especially with a roster full of players that may not be with the team for very long.
Secondly, with all the money, draft picks and talent spent on the 2014-15 Nets, to just have made the postseason in two of three years in Brooklyn–in a very weak Eastern Conference–would be a massive disappointment.
Imagine if Billy King–or whoever is the team’s general manager next season–decides to strip the organization down and start anew this offseason. Then he would have gotten exactly one playoff series win from the Brook Lopez, Deron Williams and Joe Johnson core. Horrible.
Finally, with the team struggling to build a loyal and active fan base as it is, no postseason basketball–in a year where the crosstown Knicks are the league’s biggest laughingstock–would be, as Yormark noted, a big impediment to increasing support.
The Nets have been gifted a huge opportunity to take advantage of a horrible Knicks team with no real future and, if they don’t capitalize, would be throwing it away. This franchise needs any help it can get in the crowded New York sports market and it doesn’t have the luxury of simply declining it. This team needs to win, now.
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