"I don't see why anybody wouldn't love to come and play here," Trevor Booker, then a forward for the Brooklyn Nets, told me. It was October of 2017, and the Nets were coming off a 20-win season. I was at their practice facility working on a story about their culture, which turned into a story about how their culture seemed so much healthier than the New York Knicks. The gist: No one on Brooklyn's roster was as valuable as Kristaps Porzingis, but in every other respect -- style of play, chemistry, player development, etc. -- it had a massive edge. Booker, who had signed with the Nets the previous year, said he hoped to be there when all of that paid off.
Brooklyn traded Booker two months later for what turned out to be the top second-round pick in this year's draft. (It selected versatile center Nicolas Claxton.) None of the players I spoke to for that story are still on the team. Last month, after the Nets validated their approach by landing Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving in free agency, Booker raved about them again to HoopsHype's Alex Kennedy, calling them a "top-notch organization" that does "everything the right way" and goes after "the right guys who fit their culture."
"What separates Brooklyn from other teams is that they really take care of their players," Booker told HoopsHype. "Everything is family-oriented too. They're going to make sure you and your family members are straight. If there's anything you need, they'll get it for you. They want each player to feel comfortable, so you can just focus on basketball. That's what sets them apart. I've been in organizations where they don't care at all about your family and it was terrible."
When Booker was on the team, the Nets were largely a punchline, an irrelevant team lost in the wilderness of draft-pick debt. People who were paying attention -- or playing against them -- praised their competitiveness and unselfishness, but Kenny Atkinson would have traded those compliments for wins. Even last season, in which the Nets made a 14-win jump and finished sixth in the East, they were treated as something of a curiosity, a cute story being written just over the bridge from Madison Square Garden, where free-agency buzz was much louder. Only through the cultural hegemony of the Knicks was there space for a sleeping giant in New York City.
Durant told general manager Sean Marks that he loves the Nets' system and the Golden State Warriors never took them lightly, Marks said in a radio interview. Now that he and Irving joined the Nets, though, the organization will no longer be able to operate in relative obscurity. Their foundation, which has been celebrated for attracting Durant and Irving, will be tested by attention and expectations that may have risen faster than their talent level. They have the buzz, but, with Durant recovering from his ruptured Achilles, they do not yet have a championship-caliber roster.
Can Brooklyn make Irving comfortable while allowing Caris LeVert to grow? Can it rejuvenate DeAndre Jordan without alienating Jarrett Allen? Can it maintain its good vibes without the veterans that ran the locker room last season? There is no precedent for signing arguably the best player in the world weeks after he suffered one of the most serious injuries in sports, but the Nets understand that they're fortunate to be in this uncharted territory, with new challenges ahead. It's a lot better than being lost in the wilderness.
Glowing quote
"Everyone understands how this shifts what we're doing. We're not just a sixth, seventh or eighth seed anymore. We aren't just a young group trying to improve. We're trying to put our stamp on the NBA as a whole. I think anytime you're able to pair two of the most dynamic people in the entire league together, you have a shot at winning a championship. We have that. We also have a really well-established, All-Defensive-Team center in DeAndre Jordan and a bevy of young talent. Really, as long as we mesh and jell together, I don't see why we can't compete. I mean, I know that's exactly why those guys came here. They're here to win championships. To do that, we need to have chemistry and we need to keep improving every day, but nobody on this team is going out there with anything else in mind. We aren't trying to be okay; we're trying to be great." - Spencer Dinwiddie, to HoopsHype
What could have been
The Nets could have re-signed D'Angelo Russell and brought back a similar roster, staying patient and somewhat flexible. If that had happened, there would have been some quibbling over Russell's contract, but there wouldn't have been a sense that they had failed or misled their fans. Brooklyn was not desperate to sign stars, and it didn't talk up its chances of doing so. Quietly, though, it put itself in position to pursue Plan A, and pulled it off.
What if Durant had gone elsewhere, though? Theoretically the Nets could have signed Irving and used the rest of their cap space on someone like Tobias Harris, but I'm not sure if they would have been comfortable with Harris' price tag. If Irving had been their only major acquisition, their offseason would have been much more divisive.
Taking the temperature
A hypothetical conversation between someone who believes that the city is under new management and someone who doesn't
Positive fan: I've been on a high since June 30, and everyone in the Nets organization probably has, too. K.D. and Kyrie! Can you believe it? And the crazy thing is that people haven't learned their lesson about underestimating Brooklyn: This team should be a top-four seed even without K.D., as long as LeVert is healthy this time.
Skeptical fan: I don't know where they'll finish, but is this team better than last year's Celtics? I'd take Al Horford over Allen, and I'd take Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum over LeVert and Joe Harris. I'm not saying that Irving is entirely to blame for Boston underachieving, but I'm not going to assume that everything is going to go smoothly for him in Brooklyn, either. Have you already forgotten about his awful series against Milwaukee?
Positive fan: I can overlook one awkward season and one rough playoff series, and I'll bet that stuff will motivate Kyrie. Beyond that, I don't expect him to be disgruntled. He wanted to be a Net.. And this isn't about whether the Nets (without K.D.) have more talent than the Celtics did. Boston's problem was not talent; it was that too many guys needed the ball in their hands. Brooklyn will get almost all of its playmaking from three guys: Irving, LeVert and Dinwiddie.
Skeptical fan: But LeVert was the Nets' No. 1 option at the beginning of last season and he stepped into that role again in the playoffs. That is over, and I'm not sure Irving is the type of point guard who will make him better. I'm also not sure that Dinwiddie will get as many playmaking opportunities as he deserves when he's always sharing the court with at least one of them.
Positive fan: The way the league is now, you need multiple playmakers on the court at all times. The Nets are lucky to have three guys who can get buckets and run pick-and-rolls efficiently. Stop concern-trolling, you old troll!
Skeptical fan: I will never stop concern-trolling! In all seriousness, though, the Nets had an awesome summer, but that doesn't mean they're about to have an awesome season. And it's not like the front office's work is done: Brooklyn needs to consider extensions for LeVert (before the season) and Allen (after), and next summer Harris and Taurean Prince will both hit free agency. The Nets are in the game now, but the game isn't easy.
Eye on:
Prince is interesting because I've seen him play killer defense and I've seen him make big strides as an offensive player, but I haven't seen him play his best on both ends of the floor at the same time. This would be the right time to do it, and not just because it's a contract year. The fully realized version of Prince is a stopper and more than a 3-and-D guy, the sort of player who willingly guards opposing stars and takes nothing off the table. The Nets need that guy.
