Basketball is not a sport, it's a way of life.

#30 in the LBB end of the season team rankings...

I know what you’re thinking, “it’s not the offseason.” Well, it sure the hell is for seventeen franchises at this point. With that said, as I continue to try to vary up content, one of the items I wanted to add is organizational evaluations. This will be a combination of both how the team performed this season and what the outlook is for the organizations going forward. This isn’t intended to forecast what I think the team’s outcome may be next year per se—though that is definitely part of the consideration—but more so, just where the organization has been and is headed. These will be slowly rolled out as we continue to progress through the postseason. As a general point of consideration: While some teams who are likely to remain bottom dwellers next season may very well have worse records than the team I have last in my rankings, that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t rather be in those teams' situations going forward. And that general sentiment of organizational situation will prevail even as we move away from the NBA’s doldrums. So without further ado, let’s talk about a team that has a whole hell of a lot to do.

#30 Brooklyn Nets

Record: 32-50 (22^nd); 11^th in the East; 97.56 Pace (25th); 115.4 Defensive Rating (20^th); 112.4 Offensive Rating (23^rd); -2.9 Net Rating (22nd)

Total Salary Cap Allocations: $173,589,838 (24^th)

Cap Space: $-32,589,838 (7^th)

Current Roster: Mikal Bridges, Noah Clowney, Dorian Finney-Smith, Cameron Johnson, Jaylen Martin, Dennis Schroder, Day’Ron Sharpe, Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas, Dariq Whitehead, Jalen Wilson

Key Free Agents: Nic Claxton (Unrestricted)

Single Word Description: Feckless

Biggest Positive: Cam Thomas…I guess. I have to qualify this by stating that I am not a Cam Thomas guy at all. But, he is a verified bucket who led the team in scoring at 22.5 points per game—an 11.9 points per game increase over his scoring mark last season. Thomas has clearly out-performed initial expectations when he was taken 27^th by Brooklyn in the ’21 draft, and few players have produced more as a low-cost third-year performer. He’s likely never the type of player that you can build a winning team around, as he still tends to get myopically focused on the cylinder and is a liability defensively, but, if you can harness his scoring abilities into a third-option/bench igniter, I think he can be a positive player given the correct role and restrictions.

Biggest Negative: Organizational Direction. That stench from a borough in New York is not Dowisetrepla (whoever got that joke is my new best friend). What an absolute mess this entire franchise is in. We can start with the fact that this lava lamp of a team had no discernible structure offensively or defensively last season. And while I am typically a staunch proponent of organizational continuity, I have little clue as to why Sean Marks is still Brooklyn’s General Manager, unless Nets owner Joe Tsai prefers activity over efficacy. I get that Marks has done the whole build-up from nothing thing before, but this time the untenable situation he finds the franchise in, is much his own doing. Thanks to a bevy of moves that have ultimately just rearranged the deck chairs, Brooklyn does not have their first-round pick this year, or in ’26, as casualties of the James Harden deal. The roster composition is an odd collection of complimentary pieces and cast-offs, most of whom have lost significant value as trade assets while Brooklyn stood pat for two straight deadlines. Additionally, they have a tough decision to make on one of the few exciting young players on the roster, free agent Nic Claxton, who has moments of defensive brilliance that are offset by immaturity and a propensity to lose focus when the game becomes emotionally pitched. Oh, and did I mention that the team will start next season with their fourth coach—former Sacramento lead assistant Jordi Fernandez—in the last three seasons?