Basketball Prospectus has reviewed the rosters and draft-pick stockpiles of the major contenders for this summer’s free agents, and the results are surprising: They peg the six-win Nets as the team with the brightest future. It’s obviously a speculative enterprise, using computer projections and rough estimates of the value of a draft pick. But the outlines of the case are hard to argue with: The Nets have better talent (Brook Lopez, Devin Harris, decent role players, and an almost-certain chance to draft one of the John Wall/Evan Turner/DeMarcus Cousins blue-chip triumvirate) than teams with more money (like the Knicks), and more money than teams with more talent (like the Bulls).
They also, as of next week, will have an arena under construction in the middle of Brooklyn. Your elected government, having already closed a homeless shelter on behalf of Forest City Ratner, will now be evicting Prospect Heights residents and homeowners (using the threat of police force) to make room for the luxury-housing development of which the Barclays Center will be a part. Having a major sports team in Brooklyn will be exciting, but let’s never forget this: Private property in a thriving neighborhood is being seized and destroyed in a 21st-century democracy so Bruce Ratner and the richest man in Russia can build a basketball stadium and luxury apartments. That the Nets’ roster is in fine shape is great news, we guess, if you missed rooting for East Germany.