The Brooklyn Nets are going into the 2023-24 season with hopes of making a playoff run thanks to players like Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and Nic Claxton leading the way. However, the team could be arguably described as a middling team in the NBA right now.
In a recent article by Bleacher Report, Greg Swartz described Brooklyn’s offseason as one that secures “mediocrity”. While the Nets are expected to be one of the teams in the middle of the league in terms of quality of roster, Brooklyn is headed in a different direction now that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are elsewhere.
As of right now, the Nets have invested its future in the young players on the team and even if that does not result in wins right away, Brooklyn is biding its time until its ready to compete for championships again. With that being said, most of the sportsbooks and analysts believe that Brooklyn will be more of a play-in kind of team and there isn’t much to refute that at this point in time.
Here’s why Swartz characterized the Nets’ offseason as mediocre:
“In the end, this new-look group appears to be a very mediocre one in the Eastern Conference. Brooklyn doesn’t have the horses to run with the Milwaukee Bucks or Boston Celtics but won’t be bad enough to battle the Washington Wizards for the worst record in the conference, either.
The Nets were 13-15 after the All-Star break, limping into the playoffs where they were promptly swept by the Philadelphia 76ers. Brooklyn’s net rating of minus-1.6 ranked just 22nd in the NBA and put the team on a 37-win pace over an 82-game schedule.
Maybe we see another leap from Mikal Bridges, Nic Claxton and Johnson and anything this team gets from Ben Simmons at this point is a bonus.
At the end of the day, this is a good (but far from great) team in the East.”
Story originally appeared on Nets Wire