New Jersey Nets End of Season Wrap Up

Predicted Outcome: 20-62, fifth place Atlantic Division
Currently: 24-54, fourth place Atlantic Division (4 games left)

If one word could describe the New Jersey Nets’ season, it would be "deflated." The Nets had so many high hopes at the end of last season. They had a new majority owner, a Russian billionaire named Mikael Prohkov, who promised a championship team within five years (or less). Coming off last season, the Nets were one of the teams that had the most salary cap space to attract free agents, and hired former Coach of the year, Avery Johnson.

Unfortunately none of those assets proved fruitful as the Nets could not attract the marquee free agents such as Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudamire, or Joe Johnson. They could not even attract what were considered "second-tier" free agents such as Rudy Gay, Matt Barnes, and Richard Jefferson. All they could entice were what can be considered as the left-overs. The most notable player the Nets acquired was Travis Outlaw—a career bench player who only played well in limited minutes. The team also managed to wrangle up a back up player in Jordan Farmar, a big man with little or no fundamental skills in Johan Petro, and a perennial journeyman in Anthony Morrow. It looked to be another long season for the folks in Jersey.

At least until it was discovered that the Nets front office was aggressively attempting to acquire former Denver Nugget Carmello Anthony via sign and trade. The dance went on for months with reports that the deal was almost complete. Unfortunately none of these rumors came to pass as Carmello snubbed the Nets choosing their next door neighbors, the New York Knicks leaving Nets fans again deflated and dejected. The team’s Russian billionaire owner’s fearless and strong prediction seemed more and more like an empty pipe-dream.

That was until the end of February where Nets GM Rod Thorn pulled off one of the most talked about trades of the season. He traded starting point guard Devin Harris along with their first round pick Derrick Favors for who else, but one of the best point guards in the league in Deron Williams. With Deron on board, the Nets finally had a marquee name that gave the team some credibility and could possible change the fortunes for this down and out franchise. Deron’s impact upon arriving was instantaneous as the Nets won five of their next eight games. (To be continued)