After being swept 4-0 by the Celtics, the Nets advanced into the offseason. Last summer, the Nets and Lakers were in full swing, and now both teams have missed this season's championship. At the same time, both teams are facing the toughest team status quo, and they are forced to be the focus of the offseason once again. Compared with the Lakers, the Nets face relatively easier problems, and their overall framework has no obvious flaws, but it also needs to be broken to change the status quo.
According to renowned journalist Shams, Bruce Brown has attracted the attention of several playoff teams, and his stellar performance in four playoff games has skyrocketed, and he has become one of the most watched role players this summer. In this year's playoffs, Bruce Brown averaged 14 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game, shooting 56.8% from the field and 42.9% from three-point range. Among them, G2 and G3 Brown performed well, scoring 26 and 23 points respectively, becoming the second scorer in the team. In these two games, Brown's performance is even more eye-catching than Durant's, and in these two games, Brown's efficiency is higher than any of Durant's. Arguably, Bruce Brown was the Nets' only gain in the playoffs, but now the Nets don't seem to have enough salary space to keep him.
To be sure, Bruce Brown's market price will not be less than $8 million a year. Last summer, Brown had received multi-year contracts from other teams, which were offered around $8 million, but Brown chose to stay in Brooklyn for $4.74 million to further prove himself. Today, Brown has come up with a more eye-catching performance and proved that he is a playoff player. Therefore, Brown's value will only increase, not regress. The Nets may have to pay a small price if they want to keep him, and under the trade-off of pros and cons, the Nets are very likely to give up voluntarily. In fact, Brown's regular season performance was not impressive, not as good as last season. But in fact, after the All-Star Game, Brown played an extremely eye-catching performance, which earned him back value, and the performance of the two playoffs increased his value. Most importantly, he knows how to play around superstars, which is what makes him attractive to playoff teams. So, there will be playoff teams willing to give him a multi-year contract to rob him.
In fact, the Nets hold Brown's bird rights, and they can implement "cap renewals", that is, renewals without restrictions on the salary cap. From the perspective of operational feasibility, there is no problem, but the team's operation is not as simple as in the game, and from the perspective of the long-term development of the team, signing Brown with an annual salary of $10 million is not a good choice. The Nets already have three top-salary contracts — Durant, Irving and Simmons — plus Harris, who makes $18 million a year, Curry Jr., who makes $8.5 million, and Mills, who makes $6.16 million. Just think, if the Nets force Brown to renew the contract, then the Nets will not have any room for reinforcement in the next two years, and they can only hope that the veteran will pay the base salary or other players who the team will buy out. If the lineup is balanced enough, it is not impossible to let the veteran base salary supplement the team's quota, but the Nets' lineup has begun to deform.
After signing Brown, of the Nets' top seven players in annual salary, only Durant and Simmons can not be guards, and everyone else is a 1-2 swinger. In today's era of front-line prevalence, the Nets' roster is not competitive. Therefore, the Nets should give up On Brown, who is not an indispensable player for the Nets. If Simmons can play smoothly next season, then he can completely replace Brown, because he and Brown are already in conflict with each other. Simmons' outside defense is better than Brown's, and he has a better body shape, and although the basket may not be as good as Brown's, the shooting rate can also barely pass. As for the three-point shooting ability, Brown is better than Simmons, but it is also at a level where opponents don't want to defend. So, ditching Brown won't cause a noticeable drop in the Nets' strength.
The trade deadline was an important turning point in Brown's season performance. Brown's personal performance was rather struggling before the Harden trade took place, and he was once deprecated by head coach Nash. After sending Harden away, the Nets accelerated across the board, and Brown, a master of chaos, ushered in the spring, and his performance was also improved. So, he could be the only winner in Harden's deal, and if it hadn't happened, Brown's might have been on the verge of being eliminated.
The Nets should probably send Harris away through a trade to free up pay space for Brown. Defensive line redundancy is the most significant problem for the Nets, and now that the Nets already have Curry Jr., Harris has become a marginal figure on the team, and it's time to consider a trade.