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With Bucks in NBA Finals, Nets can't help but play the 'what if' game

If you asked the oddsmakers what team to put your money on entering the NBA playoffs, the answer was unequivocally the Brooklyn Nets.
With the most efficient offense in NBA history, and three legitimate MVP caliber players, the stars looked aligned for Brooklyn to win it all. A clean bill of health kept the Nets from climbing the NBA mountaintop as a


  sidelined Kyrie Irving and hobbled James Harden proved to much for even a heroic Kevin Durant to knockout Milwaukee. The Nets gave the Bucks all they could handle as Durant was a mere inch away from sending Milwaukee home in Game 7. Alas, Brooklyn's superteam fell short of lofty expectations and while injuries are a part of the game, the Nets and their fans are left wondering if the best team truly emerged out of the Eastern Conference.

Spencer Dinwiddie proclaims to be top PG in loaded free agent class, but is he?

 In a class that includes Chris Paul, Kyle Lowry, Mike Conley, Dennis Schroder, and Goran Dragic, according to his Instagram post, Spencer Dinwiddie is adamant that he's the best of the bunch.




Outside of Dinwiddie and Conley, all the players listed have either been to an NBA finals or won the title as their team's starting floor general.

Dinwiddie, when healthy, was an electrifying scorer for the Nets, but was designated as the team's sixth man backing up DeAngelo Russell when he was in Brooklyn and Kyrie Irving the last two years.<

The reality is Dinwiddie wants a top of the market point guard contract, that he very well may get, but not in Brooklyn. Sean Marks has already indicated that the Nets will do what's best for the player, and coincidentally a sign and trade scenario will benefit both parties.

Based on the money the Nets have tied up in star players, who are all eligible for extensions this summer, and Dinwiddie's deservedly hefty contract demands, Brooklyn's sixth man extraordinaire will likely be playing elsewhere next season.



Brook Lopez, Nets franchise leading scorer, leads Bucks to brink of NBA Finals Berth

 By all accounts, Brook Lopez is the most talented true center to ever play for the Nets franchise.

The former first round pick out of Stanford in the 2008 NBA draft is still atop the Nets history books in the scoring department.




Giannis Antetokounmpo missed Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals with a knee injury and Lopez brought his game to another level by dropping 33 points and 7 rebounds, while Bobby Portis added 22 points and 8 rebounds to lead Milwaukee to the win.

After nine seasons that spanned the Nets move from New Jersey to Brooklyn, Lopez was an unheralded cornerstone piece who braved some subpar years with the team.

Now just one win shy of reaching his first NBA Finals, Nets fans might be conflicted watching a former team fan favorite make a deep playoff push with a heated Eastern Conference rival.


Nets Insider Podcast: Season Recap, No Sleep in Brooklyn




About

Join Randy Zellea of Back Sports Page and Rick Laughland of Nets Insider as they cover every era of Nets basketball from Teaneck, New Jersey to Brooklyn, New York.

Zellea worked within the Nets pubic relations department during the Nets back to back NBA finals run with Jason Kidd leading the charge, while Laughland covered the team during it's transition to Brooklyn including the shortlived KG, Paul Pierce era.

With stories going back over twenty seasons covering the team professionally and as fans of the franchise, the Nets Insider podcast is a can't miss show for Nets fans ages 2-102.






 Join Nets Insider's Rick Laughland and Randy Zellea of Back Sports Page as they recap the Brooklyn Nets 2020-2021 season and playoff run that fell short of title aspirations. 


With Mavs on verge of hiring Jason Kidd, Nets fans left wondering what went wrong for him in Brooklyn




If the Dallas Mavericks do indeed hire Jason Kidd to succeed Rick Carlisle as the team's head coach, the former Nets legend and head coach will be taking over the franchise that originally drafted him. Kidd coached Brooklyn during it's failed Big three era of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry during the 2013-2014 campaign that ironically also ended in a second round exit. 

Following the Nets' playoff ousting, Kidd met with the team's front office to essentially demand more personnel control with general manager Billy King making some questionable roster moves. 

Brooklyn did not allow Kidd to expand his role to include roster decisions, but allowed him to interview with other clubs, including Milwaukee. Kidd had an outstanding relationship with Marc Lasry, the co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and formerly with the Nets. 

Brooklyn ultimately traded Kidd that off-season with the franchise legend abruptly concluding his brief one year stint as Brooklyn's head coach. Kidd spent four years in Milwaukee, qualifying for the playoffs twice but failing to get out of the first round. 

After his firing with the Bucks, Kidd spent the last two years as a Lakers assistant coach, but his name emerged both this offseason and last year as a top coaching candidate for various openings across the league. While Kidd's perceived attempt to undermine King rubbed some people the wrong way, in retrospect, Nets fans can't help but think how much different things would have turned out had the team given Kidd more control and demoted King as he was eventually reassigned within the organization anyway.

 Brooklyn can play the what if game regarding this year's playoffs impacted by injuries to the team, or Kidd's ultimate decision to leave the organization, but now with his third stop as a head coach, perhaps inheriting a team led by Luka Doncic will be just what he needs to enjoy playoff success.

Sign and trade most likely scenario for Spencer Dinwiddie, Nets

Spencer Dinwiddie deserves the lucrative deal coming his way this off-season, but the long-term contract and salary level he'll command during free agency probably won't come from Brooklyn's front office.
Nets' GM Sean Marks understands this reality and as crafty and shrewd as there is across the league, Brooklyn's front office executive will aim to get something in return for the G-league standout turned borderline NBA All-Star. Brooklyn will carefully evaluate its bench rotation and supporting cast around Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and James Harden and will look to the buyout market prior to next year's trade deadline and veteran ring chasers willing to accept minimum deals to win the NBA finals. It will be prudent for Marks to at least assure Dinwiddie earns the contract he deserves, while Brooklyn can take his wish list and find the best deal for the future of the franchise and player alike.

Nets should not listen to any trade offers for Irving, Durant or Harden as all three are simply untouchable

Nine regular season games and five playoff games, that's the sample size Nets fans and the NBA world got with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden fully healthy and together. The idea that Sean Marks would entertain offers for one or any of his star players is simply outrageous. Each star is arguably the best at their given position and were not the reason why Brooklyn went home early during the playoffs. Untimely injuries, Steve Nash's unwillingness to expand his bench rotation, and the scoring struggles of Joe Harris were all contributing factors to the team's second round ousting. The fact remains, the Nets newly former superteam has win-it-all or bust expectations, and rightly so, but trading any of the three stars who want to be in Brooklyn a long-time is not a route that Marks should even explore.
Now is the time for the Nets' general manager to throw out the one word all three players want to hear, untouchable. Unequivocally, Irving and Durant teamed up to be together in Brooklyn and recruited HArden, whose exit from Houston was anything but smooth, to join forces with them. By even fielding offers for any of the three, Marks is playing a dangerous game and can alienate or cause a rift with any or all of his three stars that could result in irreparable damage. Durant, Irving and Harden, all listen to critiques of them by fans and the media, but if they know their general manager and coach have their backs, the loyalty Brooklyn can build will their stars will prove invaluable. It's always the job of a team's executives to find the right pieces to mesh on his roster and build a championship contending squad, but the Nets were knocking on the door despite a rash of unlucky injuries to their premier players. Now is the time to run it back, not tinker with a nucleus that will not only have championship potential, but championship expectations next season. Outside of the Big three, the Nets' should absolutely look at any or all avenues to improve the club, but exploring any trade scenarios that involve Irving, Durant or Harden is something the Marks needs to avoid at all costs.
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