Keep an eye on their thin frontcourt. Tallest guy they have is an injury prone Mozgov. Their 2nd biggest guy is a poor mens DMC, Trevor Booker. He is listed at only 6'8".
https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/BRK/2018.html
Maybe they will play super small spread out offense more than often, but still they will suffer for the size deficiency on the defensive end. We felt it on our skin how is to go skilled and small. They have much less skill and fewer defensive guards. Nets probably also feel that they can get an (half)effective center more easily and cheaper than at the perimiter spots.
They will rely a lot on their youth and that is a bumpy season for any team.
ATM, my super early prediction is that they finish 28th in defense and 21th on the offense, with 22/24 wins. Finishing with the 3rd to 5th worst record in the league.
Imo they'll be the worst, their bigs are really bad and bigs are starting to make a comeback in the league, all tanking teams have at least a big man who can take advantage of the Nets' weak ass frontcourt.
Every time I think, "Well, they clearly improved their back court and LeVert looks like he could be a real player," I have to remind myself that they also lost BLopez. Last year, they won a lot of games because their 1-3s shot a ton of threes, and math says that there will be games when a disproportionate number go in. This year, with less of a threat underneath, defenses will be more focused on their outside shooters.
Mike
Brook Lopez led the Nets in 3 point attempts last year. He was not an under the rim type player.
I expect the Nets to be one of the three worst teams in the East right there with Chicago and Atlanta somewhere in the lot to mid 20's for wins for all three of those teams.
I mean the Nets basically return their entire rotation except Lopez and Foye (they had Bogdanovic for 55ish games before trading him as well), but they've added Russell, Crabbe, Mozgov, and Carroll, along with Allen and I would expect Lin to play more than 31 games. That just strikes me as far more additions then subtractions, so the Nets should be a much improved team, though I wouldn't expect it to show all that much in the win column. I would however take the over on 20 wins.
PG - Lin, Whitehead, Dinwiddle
SG - Russell, Crabbe, Kilpatrick, Harris
SF - LeVert, RHJ
PF - Booker, Carroll, Acy
C - Mozgov, Allen
Lacks size and I really have no idea how they will work their PG, SG, or SF rotations or positions, but they should be a team that can run and run a lot.