We are currently 3-12, tied for last in the Western conference. This season couldn’t have started any worse.
We get Ja back in 10 games, on Dec 23rd at Atlanta Hawks. Meanwhile Luke Kennard will be reevaulated after first week of Dec, Tillman is ‘week-to-week’, and Smart is 2-4 weeks out as of today. Clarke is estimated to come back in March, and Adams is out for the season.
That means at worst, we will have these three guys back 4 weeks from now when Ja returns. We have a 9 day break between Dec 2nd and 11th with no games - did I miss something?
Possible scenario:
The next 10 games:
- vs Wolves
- vs Jazz
- @ Mavericks
- @ Suns
- vs Mavericks
- @ Rockets
- vs Rockets
- @ Thunder - Kennard back
- @ Pelicans
- vs Pacers
- @ Hawks - Ja Morant back, Smart back
Being realistic, we probably go at best 2-8 out of these ten games. I would guess we will end up 5-20 by the time Ja, Smart and Kennard are all back.
If we assume Tillman is back within 1-2 weeks from then, we would need to go 35-22 in the remaining games to finish with 40 wins, which might hopefully be enough to squeeze into the play-ins.
Do you see this happening? Is it even worth trying for?
Nets don’t have to tank to miss the playoffs, they’re a sub-500 team right now and outside of the play-in (small sample size, sure). Being so far behind the pack in their conference and without a pick in 2024, it’s not unreasonable to think you can’t entice them with a 2024 lottery pick (again, assuming that’s where we end up). Bridges doesn’t fit any realistic timetable for them to contend within unless they believe they can make a splashy move in free agency, so he’s almost certain to go at some point.
Anyway, the point is that they need a wing and they’re not having much luck finding one in the draft.
I’m more interested in getting a elite young big that we could keep on a budget for years. As we now know, a big like Adams is not easy to replace. There’s really no assurance getting an elite big from the draft but there is close to zero chance we will get an elite big on the open market.