Bud's eight figure per year contract with Suns shows It was too costly for Nets

 The Brooklyn Nets are a big market team and were a free agent and trade destination going back only a couple of seasons.

Sean Marks opened up the checkbook to sign both Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to max deals and he emptied the draft cupboard to acquire James Harden. 

Marks, at the request of both of his stars, fired multiple coaches, eating dead salary in all instances. 

Joe Tsai and the Nets hiked season ticket prices by an average of $144 per ticket in the 2022 season, even after trading away James Harden. 

Reportedly, 30 percent of season ticket holders walked away the following season. Then, both Irving and Durant skipped town. 

Barclays Center attendance figures have been rock solid, but one look around the arena and it's clear it's filled with more tourists, casual NBA fans and opposing fans, than Nets fans.

This was the same criticism the Nets faced when playing at the Meadowlands without any mass transit options and outside of New York City.

The Brooklyn Nets are facing an identity crisis and there was one proven head coach with championship experience that could have turned things around in short order. 

That man, Mike Budenholzer, was among the finalists for the Nets job along with Jordi Fernandez and Kevin Young. Ultimately, the Nets financial situation- money tied up in dead contracts and players that don't play in the case of Ben Simmons- precluded them from signing Budenholzer. 

The former Milwaukee Bucks head man received a 5-year, $50 million-plus dollar deal to try to figure out the mess in Phoenix with Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker. 

Brooklyn took a shot in the dark with a heralded assistant coach with more questions than answers. 

While Budenholzer was head and shoulders above any candidate on the free agent coaching market, it became clear that Tsai was unwilling to dole out an eight figure per year payday given the mess that Brooklyn's former superstars left behind. In fact, Tsai is finalizing a minority sale to members of the Koch family for up to a 15 percent stake in the club with no clear path to majority ownership at this point.

If one thing is clear from the history of the Nets, the nomadic franchise with a rotating carousel of owners, anything is possible as far as ownership changes are concerned and relocation. 

 

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Will Nets regret not hiring championship winning coach?

The Brooklyn Nets had an opportunity this off-season to bring in a head coach with C

championship winning experience. In fact, a coach that perhaps took a ring away from the 2020-21 Nets squad. That man, Mike Budenholzer, was ultimately not hired and remains a head coaching free agent. 

According to Shams Charania, Budenholzer, Phoenix assistant Kevin Young, and Kings assistant Jordi Fernandez were among the finalists for Brooklyn's head coaching gig. 

It's unclear why this Nets regime opted for a neophyte head coach in Fernandez as opposed to a well-respected veteran in Budenholzer.

It's likely that Budenholzer commanded a longer term and more lucrative contract that Joe Tsai and Sean Marks were willing to dole out. 

The Nets were actually paying three head coaches this year in Jacque Vaughn, Steve Nash and then ultimately hiring a new candidate to replace the interim Kevin Ollie.

Budenholzer is clearly the ready made option for a roster that has immediate pressure to win and maximize the prime windows of Mikal Bridges and his running mate Cam Johnson. 

The majority of the Nets fan base is in a wait and see mode with Fernandez. It's very likely that the entire coaching philosophy will be vastly different from the past few years. Ultimately, Fernandez's tenure is only going to be measured by wins and losses.

Anytime an organization makes a bold move and passes up on a championship winning coach, they better have shrewd plans in mind to find the next diamond in the rough along the sidelines. 

The NBA is ultimately a players league, and superstars win come playoff time. But the Nets were often at a talent deficit and coaching deficit the past few years after trading. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. 

With out their own picks in the next few drafts, Marks is going to have to do the same creative maneuvering he did when he took over the Nets in 2016 in a similar position.

As for Hernandez, he's going to need to find a way to unlock Bridges and Cam Thomas to get this Brooklyn team back into the playoffs. 

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