New York basketball fans just cannot catch a break.
The Knicks stink something awful, sort of on purpose, but kind of an accident. They have the league’s second-worst record, have stripped the roster of most impact players, remain thin on young talent, will probably shut Carmelo Anthony down after the All-Star break and are, frankly, not very good.
But at least you have the Nets, the Knicks’ younger brother so to speak. They could be a playoff team. They could be the reason you watch basketball again. They are a drama-free team that’s—oh, never mind.
The Nets are more rumor-riddled than the Knicks. You kind of know what’s going on with Phil Jackson’s crew: They’re stinking, now on purpose, while waiting for next year. The Nets, meanwhile, are caught in between.
First off, they’re holding a fire sale. Deron Williams, Joe Johnson and Brook Lopez have been readily available for some time, and it doesn’t seem like that’s changed. The latest from Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski has them potentially unloading Johnson and taking on Lance Stephenson:
The Charlotte Hornets and Brooklyn Nets have restarted trade discussions, this time focused on guard Joe Johnson, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
The Hornets and Nets are discussing a larger package that would likely include guards Lance Stephenson and Gerald Henderson and forward Marvin Williams, league sources told Yahoo Sports. …
Brooklyn has been unable to muster a market for guard Deron Williams, who has missed nine straight games with a rib injury. The Nets are still intent on moving Brook Lopez, with the Denver Nuggets remaining an interested trade partner, league sources said.
I know, right?
But wait, it gets better.
According to ESPN New York’s Ohm Youngmisuk and his colleague Marc Stein, not even head coach Lionel Hollins is safe:
The Brooklyn Nets, increasingly worried about a recent lack of competitiveness, have launched an in-season evaluation of various facets of the team, including new coach Lionel Hollins, according to league sources.
The Nets lost consecutive road games last week to the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz by 39 and 35 points, respectively, sparking concern within the organization about whether Hollins’ message is getting through. It’s just the fifth time in NBA history that a team has lost back-to-back games by 35 points or more.
Nets ownership, sources said, is monitoring the situation closely, with Brooklyn having just fallen out of the East’s top eight after a 2-10 slide that coincides with the franchise being up for sale.
Jeez.
Conflicting reports have since surfaced that refute some of the latests findings, but that’s par for any course, not just Brooklyn’s. Overall, though, it makes sense that not even Hollins is beyond reproach. He’s in the first year of a four-year deal, but with the Nets both up for sale and looking to gut the roster, EVERYONE MUST GO.
Maybe.
Truth told, Hollins will probably stick around at least through next season. It would be weird to can him before then, since the Nets cannot make wholesale changes until the summer of 2016, when they actually have cap space to work with.
Unless they have some extensive roster-razing in the works, in which they create cap space and flexibility in time for this summer (unlikely), expect him to remain on Brooklyn’s sidelines.
As for any one of D-Will, Joe-Joe and BroLo, well, they shouldn’t get too comfortable.
