After yet another tumultuous offseason for the Nets – including a second straight summer with a coaching change, as well as some key personnel changes – they reconvene this week at their New Jersey practice facility to begin preparing for the 2014-15 season.
Here is a look at the 10 biggest questions facing the Nets as they look to make their third consecutive postseason:
10. What will happen to Bruce Ratner's minority share of the team?
This might seem like an odd way to start off a list of the biggest questions facing the Nets, but Ratner's stake in the team – which is currently on the market – could have a significant impact on the franchise's future.
Ratner, who bought the team in 2004 with the intent to move it to Brooklyn, is now looking to move his stake after finally getting the Nets into Barclays Center following years of legal battles. Who winds up buying that share could have the first option to purchase the majority share of the team if Mikhail Prokhorov ever chooses to sell – assuming Prokhorov doesn't wind up buying Ratner's share himself.
9. Can Marquis Teague earn time on the floor?
Marquis TeaguePhoto: Getty Images
The Nets are entering training camp with a pair of point guards – Teague and Jorge Gutierrez – battling for the third point guard spot behind Deron Williams and Jarrett Jack. With Williams coming off surgery on both ankles and the team likely to play Williams and Jack together at times, the third point guard could earn consistent playing time.
With Teague's entire 2014-15 salary being guaranteed, the Nets would love for him to have a good training camp and win the job outright. It might seem like a minor thing, but if they feel comfortable letting Gutierrez walk by the end of training camp, it would save them over $3 million combined in payroll and luxury taxes. That matters when they are set to pay out roughly $130 million this season.
Lionel Hollins has talked up Teague a few times since taking over as coach, and expect Teague to get every opportunity to prove himself over the next several weeks.
8. Will Andrei Kirilenko play a bigger role?
One of the biggest surprises of last season was how little Kirilenko wound up contributing. After spending almost all of training camp and 25 of the first 29 regular-season games sidelined with back spasms, Kirilenko was eased back into the rotation upon his return, but never became the essential piece off the bench he was expected to be upon his signing a year ago – and even was surprisingly benched for two games in the playoffs by former coach Jason Kidd.
Following Paul Pierce's departure to Washington in free agency, Kirilenko and Bojan Bogdanovic are the two obvious options to start at small forward, and it will be interesting to see whether Hollins gives Kirilenko – who showed last season he's still capable of having an impact – a chance to start after Kirilenko opted into the second year of his deal earlier this summer.
Kirilenko said last week that he just wants a significant role, and he'll be happy if he gets 25 minutes a game or more — whether he's starting or coming off the bench. We'll see if Hollins grants that wish.
7. What will the Nets' playing style be under Lionel Hollins?
After initially trying to employ a traditional lineup featuring two big men during their disappointing start last season, the Nets shifted to a smaller, perimeter-based lineup once Brook Lopez went down with a broken right foot. Pierce slid over to power forward and Kevin Garnett started at center.
Hollins hasn't offered many hints on how he'll have the Nets play at either end. But if the way his Memphis teams played is any indication, you can expect to see a heavy dose of Lopez on offense and an attempt to make the Nets stout on defense. Besides expressing optimism in what Lopez and Williams can do, Hollins has been very open about his enthusiasm for the shooting the Nets have all over the roster – something he didn't have much of in Memphis.
The preseason will be useful to get an idea of how Hollins wants things to work.
6. How big will Mason Plumlee's role be?
Plumlee with DeMarcus Cousins during the World Cup of Basketball.Photo: Getty Images
It's been a stunning rise for Plumlee, who essentially went from an afterthought heading into last season – he was expected to play more in the D-League than with the Nets – to finishing fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting and making Team USA this summer.
Now Plumlee heads into the season as a crucial piece for the Nets, whose other main big men are Brook Lopez (coming off a second season-ending foot injury in three seasons), Kevin Garnett (entering his 20th NBA season) and Mirza Teletovic (functions best as a stretch power forward).
That leaves the second-year 7-footer from Duke as a potential option to play at power forward and center, and given the potential issues among the other bigs on the roster, it wouldn't be surprising to see Plumlee finish the season with the most minutes of all of them.
5. Will Bojan Bogdanovic be able to contribute right away?
When the Nets let Pierce walk in free agency this summer, they finally brought Bogdanovic over from Europe, three years after drafting him with the first pick of the second round in 2011.
The 6-foot-8 Croatian is a legitimate scoring threat from the small forward spot. He averaged more than 20 points per game to help advance his national team to the knockout rounds of the FIBA World Cup, where Croatia lost a hard-fought game to eventual bronze-medal winner France.
But for Bogdanovic to immediately step in and contribute for the Nets – and they fully expect him to do so – he'll have to buck a precedent that usually requires even high-profile players from Europe to take a significant period to adjust to the NBA. Teletovic, for instance, was a top scorer in the Euroleague – the top competition in Europe – and it took him a full season to fully get used to playing here.
The Nets can't afford to have Bogdanovic take that long to get comfortable, as he'll likely be the team's starting small forward or a key option off the bench.
4. How will Paul Pierce's leadership be replaced?
Make no mistake: Pierce played well for the Nets last season, particularly over the final few months of the season after adjusting to the team's smallball attack.
His stats can be replaced. Teletovic is capable of providing spacing at power forward, and the rest of his scoring can be filled in by Bogdanovic and others. It's Pierce's leadership, however, that will prove more difficult to replace.
Whenever someone needed to speak up publicly after a loss, Pierce was the one to do so, and he was more than willing to be a leader inside the locker room. He and Garnett had a strong bond, and that projected through the room.
It will be interesting to see who fills that void. Jack is one possibility, and Hollins' presence should help as well. But until we see how things play out, replacing Pierce's leadership presence remains a nagging issue.
3. Does Kevin Garnett have anything left?
Kevin Garnett during the playoff loss to the Heat.Photo: Charles Wenzelberg
After he operated as a primary option for the Celtics two seasons ago, the Nets expected to have Garnett be a productive piece when they acquired him last summer – though they went into the year with a plan to reduce his workload in order to save him for the playoffs.
Instead, Garnett came out and was brutal for the first two months of the season, looking like he was on his last legs of a first-ballot Hall of Fame career. But after the calendar flipped to 2014, Garnett seemed to get his legs back, and his game recovered. He shot 55.6 percent after Jan. 1 with strong defensive numbers.
There were two possible reasons: 1. Garnett benefited from switching from power forward, where he played the majority of the first two months of the season, to center, where he played after Lopez was lost. When he made the same switch over the past few years in Boston, his numbers improved significantly. 2. After having to carry a heavier load at the end of the previous season when Celtics star Rajon Rondo tore his ACL, Garnett needed additional time to recover, cutting into his preparation time and contributing to his slow start.
Despite his customary public silence about his future this summer, he began working out months ago, and the Nets have been expecting him to be back all along. They are hoping they get the Garnett of the final four months of last season for the entirety of 2014-15.
Hollins delivered a strong message supporting Garnett last week, saying he expects Garnett to be a big part of what the Nets do this season and guaranteeing he will start at power forward. We'll see if Garnett can reward Hollins' faith in him.
2. Can Deron Williams return to his old self?
The first two seasons of Williams' five-year max contract have been disappointing, the would-be franchise point guard hampered by ongoing issues with both of his ankles since signing his name on the dotted line. Williams underwent surgery on both ankles this summer, and is healthy for the start of training camp.
This is a critical year for Williams, who has seen his image around the league take a significant hit over the last 24 months, from a player who was a lock to make the 2012 Olympic team to one who generally is not listed among the top 10 point guards in the NBA.
But Williams just turned 30 this summer, and still should have a few years of elite play in him if he can rediscover his old form. And it will be interesting to see if Hollins – who seems to be of a similar mind and temperament to that of Jerry Sloan, the former Jazz coach who helped elevate Williams to arguably the NBA's best point guard for a multi-year period – can help him rediscover that form.
At his first public appearance of the offseason, at his celebrity dodgeball tournament in Manhattan last week, Williams said he felt great after the surgeries and only regretted not having the surgery sooner. And with this being his first opportunity to have a regular training camp, in his fourth full season with the Nets, he has no more excuses.
1. Can Brook Lopez stay on the court?
When Lopez is healthy, he is the NBA's best low-post scorer. A good free-throw shooter capable of shooting all the way out to almost the 3-point line, he is arguably the best scoring big man in the league.
Along with his improved defense over the past couple of seasons, Lopez has developed into a true All-Star center – a rarity in the NBA these days – and a cornerstone of the Nets. But the discussion on Lopez needs an asterisk next to his name because of the multiple season-ending foot injuries he's had over the past three years.
Lopez had a complicated surgery on his right foot – the same one in which he's suffered two different fractures of the fifth metatarsal – to better distribute the weight around his foot. The positive outlook is Lopez can have a similar career post-surgery to that of Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who he spent a decade without any more foot problems and was a tremendously productive player. There's also the story of Yao Ming, who had a similar surgery, got hurt again and his career ended.
If the Nets have Lopez and Williams healthy, they have a chance to make some noise in the Eastern Conference. But if one of them – particularly Lopez – gets hurt? It wouldn't be surprising to see the Nets on the outside of the playoffs. For a team that will have to swap draft picks with the Hawks if they finish below them, that wouldn't go over very well.
So Lopez's health is the the foremost key to how well the Nets do this season. Every time he falls down this season – perhaps for the rest of his career – every fan and employee of the team will hold their breath and hope he gets up. The team's fate this season depends on it.
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