It seems like they're worse than a lot of folks around here thought. I really don't see a way they can avoid giving us a top-10 pick, even if EVERYTHING goes right for them. They're one Brook Lopez injury away from being a genuine, 100% dumpster fire. If he gets hurt for any significant period and that pick is easily top-5.
Karma needs to work for us here, I think were due for the Nets to finish with the 4th worst record but they win the lottery and we get a #1 overall pick to go with our 48 win, 4th seed season where we lose to Cleveland in the ECF. Then the aura of CBS, a team on the rise and the #1 pick score us a big time FA. Oh, and we trade our other two picks and the 2018 Brooklyn pick for DMC 
Alas, Karma has never worked for us. Also, having grown up a Red Sox fan, it's so hard to be optimistic, since I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I know they've won three since 2000, but the scars are still there.
Having said that, if I were looking at it with no memory of the past, it does appear that this team could be really bad. First 10 games:
Bulls, Spurs (away), Grizzlies (away), Bucks, Hawks (away), Lakers, Bucks (away), Houston (away), Sacramento (away) and GS (away).
Possible hurdles: I have to admit, that Lakers game makes me nervous. Sure, Kobe and Hibbert should still be in good shape, but they're only a few players deep and Randle & Russell won't have hit their stride yet. Maybe they win another in there somewhere because, well, everybody makes a run. 2-8
Next 10 look a little better, with home games against Detroit and Phoenix at the end of the run, and an "away" game at New York. That Detroit game really worries me, but maybe, after a hard-fought battle, they manage to pull out the loss. 3-7
So we're 20 games in and I'm 5-15. And even though I've got Orlando, Philly and the T-Wolves coming up in the next ten, I've gotta be thinking that this year isn't going to be the year and I've got no shot at Durant in the off-season. It gets worse: several months ago, 2016 was a hot free agent class. I could hold out hope that I could bring in a few max players. Then, everyone resigned. Who do I have now? A 30-year old Al Horford? A dozen guys named DeMar DeRozan? There's nothing worth a max contract. And even if I did have a shot at somebody good, so do a lot of other teams with real players that are much closer to the Big Win.
So here's my choices: start the rebuild now or be prepared to pay $23m per year for Al Jefferson. I desperately need draft picks, so I'm willing to trade anyone that is upright. Assuming that that group includes BLopez, maybe I get lucky and a bubble contender is willing to give me a couple of picks in the 2017/18/19 region. Maybe Indiana or New Orleans gets on a hot streak and thinks it has a shot, or Washington thinks that Lopez will help them bring in Durant. Perhaps one is willing to send a 2017 and 2019 pick/right to swap for Lopez. Maybe somebody pays up for Thaddeus Young. Point being, they will have opportunities and, if 20 games in, somebody thinks they have a chance, they might be willing to overpay for Brooklyn.
I'm a pessimist, but this could end up being a lot of fun. As things stand now, I have Brooklyn finishing ahead of Portland, Detroit and Philadelphia, as well as a pick 'em, but there's always hope.
Mike
Topic: Official 2015-16 Brooklyn Nets Season Watch Thread (21-59, 3rd slot as of 4/12) (Read 572537 times)