After a devastating defeat to the Philadelphia 76ers, the Nets are now left with another first-round exit after one of the biggest collapses in NBA history.
Many fans believed that the stars were to blame for everything that went wrong throughout the last few years in Brooklyn.
While Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden absolutely deserve blame for their parts in the collapse, it would be remiss to ignore the failures of ownership, coaching, and the front office. Joe Tsai and Sean Marks have been abysmal over the last three seasons, with their nepotism and questionable decision-making.
The problems within the Nets still persist post-trading all the stars, meaning the problem that the Nets have is fundamentally encoded within the DNA of the organization.
Let’s begin with the top, the owner of the Brooklyn Nets, Joe Tsai, claims his religion is winning; however, his decision-making has been contrary to his statements. While I understand his reluctance to give Kyrie Irving a max contract, Tsai’s decision to put stipulations into Irving’s contract led to his decision to force a trade.
The instant Kyrie was traded was the moment the Nets had to trade Kevin Durant. Not paying Kyrie led to a scenario that forced the Nets to give up their ability to contend for a championship and start a soft rebuild with Mikal Bridges.
While Bridges has blossomed into a star in Brooklyn, averaging 27.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.8 assists on 48/38/89 shooting splits (26 games, excluding the final game of the season), the Nets have played below .500 basketball post All-Star break, going 11-13 in the final 24 games of the season.
Tsai claims his religion is winning; however, according to NBA Insider Brian Windhorst, Tsai does not value winning as much as he says he does.
“Joe Tsai would rather have a team that plays hard that he's proud to own that wins 40 games and fights for the play-in than have a team that has way more talent that he's not proud to be a part of.” - ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on the Nets’ owner
Something that needs to be discussed is coaching. While Brooklyn Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn did an excellent job taking over his predecessor Steve Nash, his true colors as a coach have shown since the stars departed.
Many fans are beginning to realize his Nash-like tendencies, and that his mistakes on offense were covered by his offensive superstars. However, his biggest failure has been the management of young Nets guard Cam Thomas.
(Graphic via YES)
Despite being the youngest player in NBA history to score 40+ points in three straight games, the second youngest to score 40 in back-to-back games since LeBron James, Vaughn has gone out of his way to keep Cam Thomas out of the rotation, even going out of his way to bash him in postgame interviews, blaming the second-year player for losses that were out of his control.
In the 24 games played post All-Star break, Cam Thomas was given DNP's for eight of them. In the 16 games he did play, Thomas averaged a measly 16.8 minutes per game and was played sporadically, never given a consistent role. Vaughn’s failure to develop Thomas alongside fellow sophomores Day'Ron Sharpe and David Duke Jr. has been a blow to this organization.
And finally, the General Manager of the Brooklyn Nets himself, Sean Marks. While many fans are grateful for Marks’ ability to rebuild the Nets without having any high draft picks, his last four years as General Manager have been average at best.
Marks’ obsession with culture and inability to make trades has hurt this team since acquiring the stars in the summer of 2019, giving up D’Angelo Russell for a heavily protected 1st for a post-Achilles Kevin Durant was a mistake, especially since the Warriors were able to flip Russell for Andrew Wiggins and the first-round pick that would eventually become Jonathan Kuminga.
Trading all of the Nets' role players, a future All-Star in Jarrett Allen, and every pick + pick swap until 2027 for James Harden was a move that will haunt the Nets for years to come. Making things worse, Marks proceeded to trade Harden to the team that would eventually beat the Nets in the 1st round for a severely injured Ben Simmons, an injured
Seth Curry, Andre Drummond who would walk in free agency, and two 1st round picks, one of them being top 8 protected, and the other traded for Royce O’Neale.
His failure to trade Joe Harris and Seth Curry at the deadline continues to give Vaughn excuses to bench Cam Thomas.
Marks has failed to address the Point Guard and Center situation for the last two years, and his decision to hire his friend and former teammate Steve Nash left the Nets with horrendous coaching for two whole years.
He somewhat alleviated that decision by promoting lead assistant Jacque Vaughn; however, he has been abysmal as head coach since the trade deadline.
Worst of all, they extended Vaughn until 2027, leaving the Nets with coaching woes for the next four years. The only skill that Sean Marks is elite at as a General Manager is his ability to draft. Utilizing late 1st round picks by drafting Caris LeVert in 2016 with the 20th pick, Jarrett Allen in 2017 with the 22nd pick, Nic Claxton in 2019 with the 31st pick in the 2nd round, and Cam Thomas with the 27th pick in 2021.
However, Marks has rendered his ability to draft useless because it does not matter how well you draft if one does not develop said player. Cam Thomas has all the talent in the world, but it does not matter unless one properly develops that talent, and Thomas has never been given an opportunity despite being on the team for two years. Ultimately, the Nets are fundamentally broken.
They should have traded Joe Harris but keeping Curry is cool and everything else I Agree Totally.