Deron Williams gave the money back and ran.
The Brooklyn Nets harshest critics will tell you that’s all you need to know about Mikhail Prokhorov’s team and its faltering prospects for the 2015-16 NBA season. Williams left roughly $15 million on the table for the right to bolt Brooklyn and sign with his hometown Dallas Mavericks via a buyout.
While no one can say with any absolute certainty what the Nets will look like come their Oct. 28 home opener against Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls, all of the early preseason projections suggest that it won’t be a pretty sight.
ESPN recently forecasted a putrid 30-52 finish and NBA schedule-makers penciled them in just once to play before a national audience. And interest in that Dec. 4 battle against the cross-borough rival Knicks seems more about the overall legacy of New York City hoops than it does concerning either team’s prospects for the immediate future. In any event, out-of-town fans looking to catch the Nets in their own nationally televised game of the season can begin booking their accommodations through Hipmunk.com, which has affordable NYC flights available from most major airline carriers. Furthermore, Hipmunk also features listings of cheap hotels in NYC as well for those looking to make it into a basketball getaway.
Brutal as things already appear destined, they could get worse really quickly, as the Nets open the season facing seven playoff teams from last season over their first eight games. Five of those battles come on the road against San Antonio, Memphis, Atlanta, Milwaukee and Houston. It’ll be interesting to keep an eye out for Nets tickets on the secondary market if things start to go sour quickly.
During the first full month of the campaign, Brook Lopez (20 points, nine rebounds), Joe Johnson (17 points, eight rebounds, five assists), Jarrett Jack (12 points, five assists, four rebounds) and the rest of the Nets play nine of their 14 games away from the Barclays Center, including matchups opposite LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers, and reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry and the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
NBAsavant.com estimates that Brooklyn will travel some 38,717 miles this season and come February, head coach Lionel Hollins and his men will almost surely feell as if all the scampering about will come over that four-week period. The Nets play nine road games over 18 days that month, including facing Chris Paul and the Clippers and Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
The Nets’ longest homestand of the season comes just before Christmas when they play six games in 11 days at Barclays Center, starting with the Warriors on Dec. 6. During that same span, they’ll meet the Rockets, Clippers and Heat in what could be the most pivotal juncture of the season up to that point.
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