As the Knicks season dissolves into questions of where this is all going, we take a moment to look at the Nets. Obviously, this season is long since lost, and they’re still in serious danger of finishing with the worst record in NBA history. But the future should be looking up, right? They’re about to have an awesomely crazy Russian dude running the team, they have a serious chance at Kentucky point guard John Wall in the draft, and they’re going to be in Brooklyn before you know it. That’s all looking up. Unfortunately, the team is still playing, right now.
It has been a dreadful couple of weeks for the Nets. Assistant coach Del Harris quit the team, one of their top young players (Chris Douglas-Roberts) openly pined to be traded to the Grizzlies, and Devin Harris, perhaps their best player, is hurt. Tonight, it’s their turn to be destroyed by LeBron James in his Tour of Evaporating Teams That Want Me to Play for Them in a visit to Cleveland. The Nets would seem to potentially have an appealing young core (seriously), but everything is at the bottom right now. At this second, it’s definitely worse than the Knicks.
How bad is it? In what would seem to us as a little bit of the ol’ tampering, the Nets’ official website has reprinted an article from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel claiming that the Nets might be the best fit for Dwyane Wade in the off-season. We thought you couldn’t do that: The official site is salivating over another team’s player. That’s okay?
The future could work out for the Nets: If they get Wall, and hang on to their young players, and start showing off those Russian billions, and head to Brooklyn on time, and have every other aspect fall perfectly, they could take over for the Knicks as the official team of the city. They could even bring in one of those big free agents. But that will require them to stop being the Nets. Are they ready to stop being the Nets? All signs point to no. So far, it’s still better to be a Knicks fan. But that it’s close speaks to just how depressing both teams truly are.