Brooklyn Nets Off Season Preview
what is up everybody welcome welcome into talking BS and the host as always Stephen Zamora if you would be so kind as to follow me on Twitter @ Zamora BSB and today I got a very special episode if you can’t tell already I’m doing an offseason preview for the Brooklyn Nets I had to throw the Hat on for you guys because Brooklyn really is uh one of my favorite teams to follow um kind of sucks that you guys have seen so much Misfortune in the past uh year or so since the big three left what we’re going to do today is we’re going to look at some ways to improve this team going into the 2024 2025 NBA season and this one’s going to be a little different than my other ones so if you’re a subscriber to talking BS and you’ve been following along and you’ve seen my other offseason previews you know I kind of have a set order of how I do things right this one is going to be a little bit different just for the fact that Brooklyn is in a in a very weird place for an NBA franchise they don’t own any of their own first round picks but they have a young star that they’re trying to build around so they have two paths that they could really take whether to build around him and try to make this team as competitive as possible seeing as they don’t have their own first round picks or go and try to get as many first as they can and start the rebuild but before we get started if you enjoy this content please like And subscribe to the channel I appreciate you guys so so much for being here with me and I hope to bring you guys more content like this you know much more regularly so if you can please do that for me and without further Ado let’s get into it so some things we’re going to cover in this offseason preview we’re going to look at the weaknesses that the Nets need to improve on we’re going to look at the tools that they have at their disposal to make themselves better throughout the offseason we’re going to get a checklist of things that they must do before they go any further into this process then we’re going to look at both ways that this team can go in this offseason since there’s a fork in the road we’re going to look at both options here and try to figure out what’s best for you guys so first off what we got to do is figure out what this team was actually really bad at last year they were 26th in the NBA in Fast Break points allowed per game 25th in effective field goal percentage 28th in shooting percentage 27th in shooting efficiency 25th in defensive rebounds allowed per game 26th in steals and 28th in fouls per game next what we’re going to do is look at the tools that you have at your disposal to make this team better so you unfortunately have zero picks in this 2024 draft you do have the Ben Simmons contract for salary matching purposes if they want to pursue a star cam Johnson mcau Bridges Dorian finy Smith Dennis schroer contracts available for trade if they Reign Claxton they will be over the cap and have access to a full mid-level exception around $13 million they could have up to 11 first round and five second round picks until the year 2030 so you do got some tools that your disposal to make this team a little bit better next year but like I said let’s look at some things that we got to do before we go any further so first off to be or not to be build a culture under new head coach Jordy Fernandez test the market for Ben Simmons finding balance and bright future Nets so what we got to figure out here first off this is this is where things get a little different than my other videos we’re going to actually look at your cap situation first according to Bobby marks of ESPN you’re one of these in between teams technically over the salary cap although you have 120 million in salary because of the Nick Claxton free agent hold about 16.6 million you have four trade exceptions that are totaling 48 million 20.4 11.9 9.5 and 6.8 million I would expect Brooklyn to act as a team over the cap they will likely have their 12.8 million mle and the 4.7 biannual exception you can use both so like I said we got two paths that we have in front of us we can use the draft picks acquired in the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving trades to bring in another star to play alongside Bridges until 2025 where the Nets will open up a ton of cap space because of Ben Simmons contract will expire or trade Bridges cam Johnson DFS and Schroeder now for draft picks and start the rebuild so the first thing we’re going to look at here we’re going to look at some trade possibilities there are a couple stars on the market that could fit the Brooklyn Nets pretty well and fit next to Bridges um but they are going to take some of those draft picks that you guys acquired in the Kyrie trade and the uh Kevin Durant trade so you are going to have to give up some picks but if this is the route you want to go this is the route you have to take so in this trade we’re trading to Atlanta Dorian finy Smith Dennis Schroeder and two future first round picks and in return Brooklyn is getting dejonte Murray so this seems the most likely of all the scenarios I’m about to throw at you um Brooklyn needs a point guard they need somebody who could set the table for guys like Bridges and you know some of the other players on the team um and a good pick and roll partner for Claxton Deonte Murray is a good player and he’s going to be the cheapest of these three options I’m a throw at you um but he does fit really well with this team and if Jordi Fernandez is half as good a coach as I think he could be I think you guys will be all right the next trade I got on the table for you guys that might be interesting to you the Cleveland Cavaliers receiving cam Johnson cam Thomas Dennis Schroeder two future first round picks an exchange for Donovan Mitchell now me personally if I’m Cleveland I’d probably want more let’s be honest but I don’t know if the market is there for him Donovan Mitchell said he um had a dispute with some of the teammates in that Cleveland locker room stating that some of them are immature and it sounds like he’s on his way out of Cleveland to me if I’m Brooklyn I’m trying to take the chance to sneak in there and get him before the Knicks have that chance with this package you might have to give up some more piics let’s be real uh but the ma the salaries do match and I think Donovan Mitchell would be a great fit on that Brooklyn team now this last one I’mma throw at you is a little more interesting I don’t think I’ve seen this trade proposed in any articles or anything like that so you know this is a be talking BS first cam Johnson cam Thomas Dorian finy Smith and two future first round picks in exchange for Brandon Ingram so the thoughts behind this one is maau you move to the two and use some of that cap space that you have and those exceptions that you have to fill out the roster and you bring Brandon Ingram in to play on the wing I think him and maau bridges make a very good Wing Duo you might even have to rely on Ben hmons to stay healthy this year to play an integral role on this team but that is the cost of doing business like this and acquiring Stars the salaries do match you are going to be sending out just as much money is bringing in so your C situation your and your finances are going to be pretty much the same anyway which is a big important piece because 2025 we got some free agents that could be looking to Brooklyn and you know you want to keep that space open in case somebody wants to come and play with these guys so I put together a hypothetical rotation okay and basically what I thought was I’m going to put together the roster that we have currently and you know add Deonte Murray to it because because I believe that’s the most likely scenario here out of all these three trades and at the end of the day you could you know swap out Deonte in this graphic for you know Ingram on the three and move bridges over like I said or you could put Mitchell at the two and you know find other guys or whatever the point is that you can bring in that second star starting at point guard in this situation you would have dejonte Murray backed up by Monte Morris you would have Cam Thomas backed up by DeAnthony Malon you would have mcau Bridges backed up by DQ Whitehead you would have Cam Johnson backed up by Noah Clowney Nick Claxton backed up by Dron sharp so in this situation right we’re using that full uh taxpayer mid-level exception to go get a guy like Anthony Mountain who could be a really good guard for you guys and you know he can handle a little bit he can hit his open shots and he plays really really good defense and then you bring in a guy like Monte Morris on the biannual exception around 5 million who play your backup point guard set the table he’s a bit of a change of pace from dejonte and you know he can really put you know bring your bench together especially those young guys that you’re going to be playing on your bench now at the end of the day I don’t know how far this team this hypothetical team gets you we just seen djon play in Atlanta and finish the season as a 10 seed uh as the number two and this team is you know kind of in the same mold as at that Atlanta team right it’s a very deep team with a lot of young talent and another star on the side of of him so you know how far this team gets you I’m not sure but the whole plan is to try to keep that cap space open for 2025 right so if you look at the graphic here I would have I have the 2024 salaries for all these guys and you’ll see in 2025 you have six salaries on the books now four of them are over $20 million but you know this year it’s 141 million it could be up to 155 million best case scenario right you have those six contracts on the books you have 100, 67141 on your books as of 2025 offseason so going into free agency you would still have 54 m428 581 to spend which is a huge chunk of change right that’s and more than enough for a Max salary and some extra spending money to go and get you guys some you know depth and you know you would have a core of let’s just throw um let’s just say Mitchell does end up hitting free agency he sticks with Cleveland for another year and he ends up hitting free agency and he’s like you know what I do want to go to Brooklin then you would have a starting lineup of Deonte Murray Donovan Mitchell Mel Bridges cam Johnson and Nick Claxton and you would still have DQ Whitehead and Noah clown on the team right there that’s a seven-man rotation and you still have about 15 to $25 million in cap space to spend and you know that’s just to stay under the cap then you might even have the biannual exception to spend after that so you’ll be all right if you go this route the thing is is you’re risking a lot of your future you know you you’re spending another year kind of in purgatory here and spending more draft picks to get to this position for the hope that you get a guy like Donovan Mitchell to come to your team in another year which is a you know a bit of a scary proposition and something that I think a lot of jams just aren’t ready to go for but if that’s not the route you want to go and you want to tear this team down well your boys got you all right we’re going to look at that as well so what I’m pulling up here is some big boards the one provided on the left is by CBS the one on the right is tanon and the big one in the middle is going to be the ringer and if you look at the in the ringer draft guide you’re going to see a lot of names that are role players so not a lot of Superstar talent in this draft I’ve said this on my videos before picks 10 to like 30 35 are all kind of like a a who’s who of what kind of player you want we’ve got guys who are compared to like Chris Middleton you know Michael Finley Kyle Anderson Miles Turner on the third graphic we got guys like Lou Williams call Bray Jr Jared Dudley jayen Smith Charlie villanua even in the later round picks there are guys you can get that are very talented and can be key contributors to this team 2025 is a star heavy draft so if you got rid of let’s say you traded Bridges away and you get a 2025 first and you already have like the Phoenix picks who could end up being really bad and you know or you could even exchange those Phoenix picks I’ve seen reports of this Exchange Phoenix picks for to Houston and get your own picks back so that’s another possibility one of the options I’m going to throw at you is another trade so in this scenario we would send cam Johnson to Orlando for Joe Engles and a 2024 first round pick 18th overall cam Johnson would be a great fit in Orlando he’s a spacer he’s a shooter and he’s a big guy he could fit very well uh alongside Paulo and fron that’s a team that’s just building for size and length and versatility and they need spacing then on this next one we’re GNA send Washington Dorian finy Smith in exchange for rishan Holmes and the 26 overall pick in the 2024 draft this one uh Washington could use another Wing that can space the floor and hit some shots and a good veteran and they already have the number two overall pick I believe so they really don’t need the 26 overall and on top of it they get to get out from under the the rean Holmes contract and then this last one I got for for you it’s probably going to break your guys’ heart and I know I hate it m Bridges to New York in exchange for Boon bogdanovich the 24th overall a 25th overall in this year’s draft a first in 2025 via New York and a 2026 first round swap so this one is going to be rough to swallow but if you’re rebuilding you don’t really need this guy no more now I don’t know if trading him to New York is you know specifically the best option but with this package right you get Boon back who’s a good smart veteran you can keep him for a year or you could release him eat the money and then next year like I said go into free agency you have a ton of cap space to spend and you have a ton of picks at this point and speaking of that here’s some rumor free agents just to get you guys prepared for free agency so the first eight guys on the list are going to be more like your veteran guys some guys you want to bring in who provide a little bit a lot of them provide spacing or like rebounding or like a specific Niche that Brooklyn could use right and they veterans who are going to come in and you know provide some leadership and build a culture there this is more so if you’re rebuilding and you’ve got the cap space to do it you know I think these guys would fit well with you we got Klay Thompson Russell Westbrook Kyle Anderson Caleb Martin Andre Drummond Reggie Jackson Patrick Beverly and Kyle Lowry then in the bottom half I got seven names there that are on the younger side that you might be able to take some you know have like upside uh potential potentiality with these guys that’s going to be miles Bridges Gary Trent Jr Isaiah Joe Precious leua Chris Dunn ton Horton Tucker and Mark halolz you guys in there who are Playmakers some guys in there who just you know really good Defenders and some guys who are some good Shooters I think all that stuff is stuff that Brooklyn would need especially if you guys are rebuilding at the end of the day if I was the GM man to be honest and you have to understand this is from a Fan’s perspective right and this is coming from a fan who’s a fan of another team right but you know 2K culture if it was me I’m rebuilding this thing um I’m going and I’m trying to get my picks back from Houston I would honestly exchange those Phoenix picks for my picks back if that was possible even if I had to throw a sweetener in there then I’m and I mean obviously it depends on what the sweetener is then I’m gonna trade Bridges I’m G to trade whoever else and I’m going to get as many picks back as I you do have valuable picks already as it is there’s no reason to like try to put all your hopes in a free agent class in 2025 I just as somebody who who watches you guys support this team and love this team so much um I just want you guys to get out of this toxic relationship and start something new start something fresh because you guys deserve it so with that said if you like this video please please please like And subscribe to the channel I’m going to be doing one of these previews for the foreseeable future I’m trying to get all 30 teams done before the NBA draft in June so I would appreciate and love your support thank you so much for sticking around I love you guys have a good day talking BS we out [Music] [Applause] [Music] m oh [Music]
Zamora breaks down the off season needs and potential upgrades for the Brooklyn Nets as a part of a new series brought to you by Talkin’ BS and S&T Media group
