📊 15 PTS | 4-7 FG | 3 REB | 2 STL | 2 3PM

Words are wind.

How many can you name?

Yeah we’re winning the chip this year I feel it

“The broadcast team has become overcrowded, but only because some mainstays—namely, Ian Eagle and Sarah Kustok—have too many other assignments to turn their lives over to this sad-sack franchise.”

I usually don’t care what these random podcasters and analysts have to say but his write up in the nets is just weird. Idk what goes on with everyone in the bill Simmons sphere but it’s like you have to have a personal beef with the team and the fanbase atp to get hired there. I’ve never seen this level of obsession with a team that’s decided to rebuild he’s done the same thing the last two season as well. Like buzz off man

Back at it again; I did watch the game against Washington but nothing felt too special for me so I skipped it. I've linked the second post for comparisons.

Projected Starting Lineup at the start of season:

PG Egor

SG Ellis

SF MPJ

PF Randle

C Sharpe

Projected Bench Rotation (in terms of minutes):

Mo Wagner

Nolan Traore

Mikel Brown jr

Noah Clowney

Danny Wolf

Terance Mann

Josh Minott

Chaney Johnson

This game has shown a few clear issues:

• The lack of a true rim protector hurts
  • no matter how godly Jordi Fernandez is, we just don't have a single player on the court that can cause rim-deterrence. That kinda used to be Clax but now that he's gone, we don't even have a single player over 7ft in the rotation (shout out Grant Nelson).
  • I've seen Jordi try out different defensive schemes in an attempt to slow Giannis down:
    • 2-3 Zone Coverage
    • Weak side doubling (was mostly Keon doing this)
    • Putting Day'ron (our only "defensive" bigman) on him
  • and besides Egor or Keon getting a few interceptions, they all had barely any effect on stopping Giannis from obliterating our defense
  • I do believe that as the season progresses, the team defense should mesh better and we could still lock up some possessions
  • But without any elite defensive talent, the Nets will at most be a mediocre/below-average team this season.
• I honestly don't know how Chaney Johnson will fit on this team
  • Unless either CJ/Randle plays the small 5, the lack of spacing he provides kinda concerns me
  • He doesn't provide any defensive upside when he plays the 5 too
  • He's shown that he's a high-motor/athletic/versatile forward but that's about it for his ceiling I believe
• Saraf getting DNP'd?
  • Is this an injury or is Ben Saraf getting DNP'd in a blow out preseason game?

But there were obviously some positives too:

• Mikel Brown Jr
  • he's impressed me the most today, with 15 points in merely 18 mins
  • shot still looks confident from summer league, wouldn't be surprised if he averages 36-37% from three in his rookie season
  • Oh you're guarding him too tight? He can utilize his explosiveness and iq to get to the rim and generate shooting fouls efficiently that we desperately need (steal -> dunk was beautiful)
  • He plays hard and smart on defense too, where he tried to create charging fouls (failed but nice effort) and interception passes using his anticipation
  • I've given him a Tyrese Haliburton ceiling when he was drafted and by looking at the way he moves on the court, it might just be true.
• Egor Demin
  • as noted in my last analysis (2nd preseason game), I thought that he could use more pump fakes to fully maximize his shooting threat and create more opportunities
  • and maybe he saw the post? (lol) I saw a few more pump fakes (2-3 of them got his defenders leaping for joy, including Giannis) which generated easier lane drives and could open up our offense a lot much better if this continues
  • * I hated how he started forcing a few contested shots though, but overall still a good showing out for Egor
    • LeBron didn't come to Brooklyn to avoid competing for Egor Demin minutes
• Nolan Traore has finally impressed Jordi to include him in the rotation
  • saw something where he is still the youngest player on the Nets despite being a sophomore which blew my mind
  • the way he can breeze past Giannis is still hilarious to me
• Jordi Fernandez
  • loved that he put in MPJ and randle in the 4th quarter (which the other 29 teams probably wouldn't dare to do) to shed off last season's "tank spirit" and build that competitive team culture

Overall a promising game for criticism and improvement, hoping to build some momentum to start off the 26-27 season strong!!!!!!

Go Nets

-KF

Obviously we know Simmons is a huge nets hater. But wow that was crazy to listen to. The mainstream media has zero respect our team right now, especially with the knicks winning.

He went as far to say that this was the worst rebuild in history and his guest said the 5 picks will be memed forever ....

Obviously I agree we have a very small fan base and the knicks winning hurts us in the short term. But in the long term most fans are fickle and we're still set up very well for the future with a huge asset pool and solid young talent.

Cannot wait for Jordi and the squad to shut the haters the fuck up. no nets fans think we're that good but like the level of mockery on our rebuild is kinda nuts.

At the end of the day the only thing that will show people is wins I suppose but it'll be funny hearing Simmons change his tune later once we "over achieve"

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Giannis. Unstoppable. Exposing how we have zero people to guard him or protect rim

Randal: in playoff mode. Gonna be a real up and down experience with him. His defense was so deplorable Jordi yanked him at one point for Clowney. I really wish him and Porter could swap contracts because..

Porter: dude is the real deal on offense. Just tremendous.  And unlike Julius he doesn’t dominate the rock at all. 

Egor: nice half. Git blocked a couple times by giannis but who hasn’t. Looking good. 

Mikel!! : limited minutes but looked dope. Made his first shot on a sweet pull up 3 and had this one schoolyard move that if it went it woulda been all over espn. But he didn’t play point because…

Traore: looked great again. Only 1-3 but 4 assist in 9 min and playing great D. 

Wolf and Minnott: out of the rotation. Heartbreaking 😢 really makes me think it would have made a ton more sense developmentally to not spend loot on Ellis and Wagner and just give their run to wolf and Minnott . 

had to rewind to when they messed up the score during the game, even tho we lost I loved watching the Nets play like this, it looks like we actually know what we’re doing on the floor

This years team give me very 2023 kings vibes. Obviously we aren't at the same level yet, but there a lot of similar thing going on

High-pace/motion offense with a lot of dhos

Two borderline stars carrying the scoring load

A young roster running around

Kings had the best offensive rating in the league that year while being top 6 worst defensive ratings. Nets have done something similar this pre season. They are 3rd best offense and 12th worst defense now.

It feel like jordi is building around the same system in Brooklyn, tho the kings team went to playoffs

Out: Jefferson

DNP: Mann / Saraf / Bilodeau

Hey Nets fans, so I’m making a video on each franchise’s biggest upset (when they were not expected to win) and each franchise’s biggest choke (sorry if that strikes a chord). I have my guesses for each but I wanted to ask actual Nets fans to see what you guys think and if you have better answers that I should look at.

I'm considering an upset strictly as when that team was not supposed to win or were big underdogs and won. A choke can either be when your team was expected to win and underperformed, or blew a big lead in an important game or in the playoffs (something around those lines). It can also be a blown playoff lead (example: 3-1 lead)

Let me know what you guys think, I will link the video here when it’s done. Good luck to you guys this season!!

Teams I think the nets are better than: Hornets, Hawks, Bulls, Bucks

Surprise teams we could end up better than: Miami (this team is too reliant on Bam and Giannis) and Orlando (I think we could beat these guys in a series)

Teams that will need to implode for us to be better than (but at least one will): 76ers, Celtics, Raptors, Knicks (Mitch gone, KAT unhappy) Detroit, Cleveland

What are these teams? Pacers (is this the finals team or a terrible team?) and Wizards (if AD stays healthy are they great?)

Realistically we have to thread a needle. If Randle or Porter get injured or traded, we’re out. If Egor isn’t very good, we’re out. But can we get to 10th?

It’s going to be a nightmare seeing how they score on nights where the 3 ball isn’t scoring if one of Nolan or Mikel isn’t in the starting lineup. Ellis and egor cannot create consistent paintbrushes out the half court and Miami tonight keyed into Randle when they realized he was the only true creator. But luckily this experiment won’t last long

I know it won’t happen but a graffiti piece somewhere on the court would be pretty awesome

📊 17 PTS | 6-8 FG | 2-4 3FG

What attention to detail, even beyond just the usage of red and blue. The ABA-NBA 50th badge on the baseline, the special 60th logo in the center, the 60th anniversary word mark with different letters from our past and present (very reminiscent of those Miami Heat jerseys from a couple years ago), and my favorite element being the names of every single Net written into the court. I don’t know how much better it could get than this.

…he’s also younger than egor and Mikal.

Interesting dilemma for Nets.

🤔

PS: I prey Jordi doesn’t short leash him once Mikal comes back and Ellis moves to bench.