The calendar has turned to September. You know what that means, right?! Our offseason outlook series is back for the third-straight year!
Hot Hot Hoops senior writer Matt Hanifan will provide his take on the offseasons of all 30 teams for the next 30 days! We will be going in alphabetical order, beginning with the Eastern Conference. Today, we will look at the Brooklyn Nets’ summer!
Previous offseason outlooks:
Evaluating the Brooklyn Nets’ 2026 offseason
Additions: Julius Randle, Moritz Wagner, Keon Ellis
Subtractions: Nic Claxton, Jalen Wilson, Ochai Agbaji, EJ Liddell, Ziaire Williams
Re-signed: Josh Minott, Day’Ron Sharpe
Draft: Mikel Brown Jr. (No. 6 overall), Joshua Jefferson (No. 28)
Hanifan’s outlook: Coming off a 20-62 season, the Nets needed to retool. Egor Demin exceeded expectations as a rookie, and Michael Porter Jr. played legitimately good basketball. But the rest of the Nets’ core left plenty to be desired.
They ended up with the No. 6 pick in June’s draft. And one year after drafting three point guards in the top-26 — plus another very good ballhandler in Danny Wolf — they seized another in Mikel Brown Jr. with their top overall selection.
Brown is easily the best of the bunch, with all due respect to Demin, Ben Saraf — who I am still bullish on, despite a rough past ~15-16 months — and Nolan Traore. I also like Jefferson’s processing as a ready-made wing; his superpower is his brain and ability to process on both ends of the floor. Those two moves collectively raise Brooklyn’s floor and upside.
Additionally, Brooklyn elected to reshape his supporting cast by signing two-way guard Keon Ellis (one of my favorites), Moe Wagner and trading for Julius Randle. They’re not exactly a free agency hub, so those aren’t bad moves, although I’m not in love with Randle’s fit.
Randle and MPJ fighting for the ball at halfcourt will be a sight to behold (I’m only half joking). I’m not quite sure how he helps the Nets’ young players. Plus, another big drawback was waiting way too long to sell off Claxton.
All in all, the Nets will be more competitive, but they are still in a hamster wheel of mediocrity, and even that is putting it way too kindly.
Grade: C+
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Sounds like Nets have too many PGs and Miami has too few. Hmm?
Davion, Dru, Conwell, plus Donaldson on a two way is plenty IMO
Davion yes. Dru meh. Conwell and Donaldson unknown. Back-up/second unit PG still up in air.
Dru was 100th percentile in STOP%, steals, and deflections per 100 last year, after Caruso he has to be in the conversation for best backup defensive guard in the NBA
Heat were -1.9 in Dru’s minutes last year but +4.8 in Dru’s minutes without Ware, and +9.5 in the Dru-Bam minutes. A team can win with Dru at backup PG.
That was one of my favorite of your stat contributions, the apparent inefficiency of Ware and how we did not fare that well during his minutes. Many of us, myself included, did not catch by just using the eye test, some of the drawbacks to Ware’s presence on the court.
Stats pick up tendencies that the observer, particularly on the tv screen, often does not. Things like being out of position for rebounds or having a low “motor” are only parsed out by stats over time, and if you have a large enough sample, the statistics can’t be denied. It’s easy for me to say this now that Ware is gone, as when he was with us I had so much hope for him achieving his potential.
OTOH, It would not surprise me if we did reasonably well this season with our guard group currently available. And If Dru stays healthy, he should be adequate as a backup. I do think the guards we have are not a strength, but not a glaring weakness either, especially when you factor in their defense. And, we may have as strong an inside game as anyone in the league now, which will further offset any deficiencies.
The first problem are injuries. Any injury of Dru or Mitchell could be a serious problem for the team.
Next one is quality. Both are good players, but a lot of the teams has better ones at that position. Sooner or later there will be a trade for a starting level point guard. There are no available at the moment, but that should change in the future.
Adding a high quality point guard would make Heat a serious contender.
Based on your stats, maybe Dru should start and Davion should be back-up.
No there isn’t an argument for Dru over Davion but there is an argument that both are underrated in their roles. Both are also on very cheap contracts which is important on a team where the salary is going to the frontcourt.
And they aren’t my stats, they are just publicly available on off numbers from databallr.
You can see how Wiggins and Ware had the same pattern as Dru and Ware.
Heat with Wiggins on court -1.1
Wiggins on, Ware off +0.9
Wiggins on, Ware on -4.6
It can’t be overstated how bad Ware was on defense last year. Spo tried to hide that by starting Ware when possible next to Bam and Wiggins, playing Bam increased minutes, taking Bam out for short stretches in the 1Q and 3Q and leaving a Wiggins Ware frontcourt, but nothing worked. Ware’s contract as positive value and a key part of a trade for a MVP was a really good trade for the Heat.
Ware is still developing. Centers usually take longer.
I hear Oladipo is begging for a job. Pat should not sign him. The guy is done.
u would think hes made enough $$$. ragu
It’s not about the money. He just loves the game.
Sure, he loves the game. But he can’t perform at NBA level anymore. He could try coaching or join UD in the scouting department if he wants.
I wish him the best and hope he gets an opportunity, but with another team. Any time he would go for a rebound or a dunk, all I could picture is him on the ground holding his leg with that shocked expression on his face. And another catastrophic injury.
hof talent he had
Plus, he wouldn’t be happy riding the bench. He wants to make a difference, which could be hard to do on this team. We’ll know more about what we have by end of preseason. First game Oct 3rd.
i wouldnt mind taking a flyer on dipo especially when we play phily.hes arguably the best defender ive seen in a heat uni.ask jalen brown.when u need a stop who u gonna call Dipo
I think Conwell’s shooting, playmaking and poa defense may surprise folks. McDonald may also. Heat might not need to look outside for a backup guard. Preseason should be very revealing on several fronts.
Oops. Make that Tre Donaldson.