Nets Crisis: Is it a loss or a win?

The Nets are at a critical turning point, and they have chosen a path of reconstruction with extremely high risks. In the new season, we will not only face the team cultural impact that may be caused by bad play and lose, but also need to overcome the uncertainty brought about by large-scale changes in the management.

From a long-term perspective, this is a double gamble, and the bet is the fate of the team in the next ten years.

The first round rookies selected in this year's draft are selected. What is certain is that the goal of the new season has basically been determined early. They need to strive for the worst record in the league, mainly to get one of the three talented rookies in 2026, the draft year:

is Brigham Young's wing AJ Dibanca, Duke's power forward Cam Boozer, and Kansas's double-season guard Darling Peterson.

Judging from the scout report, any of these three young players is seen as having great potential to completely change a team's future.

For fans, losing a bad game is like fighting for a lottery opportunity again. In the face of historical talent, fans naturally hope that the Nets can play correctly and not end up with only one eighth pick in the eighth pick in the end like last year.

However, judging from the draft situation, the shortcut to rebuilding the bad draft has never been a team with the bottom of the record since the league implemented the new regulations in 2019. Especially in the past two years, the No. 1 pick has been given to the Hawks and Mavericks who entered the playoffs respectively.

Referring to the Philadelphia 76ers ten years ago, they also chose to lose the game and play badly in the reconstruction, but based on the poor record after the reconstruction, Philadelphia seems to have completely lost the winning culture in the process of losing. Even though the lineup they formed is luxurious enough, they have never been able to break through the Eastern Conference.

Previously, a former NBA player publicly stated that he believed that the biggest problem for the Sixers now is likely to be the sequelae brought about by Sam Sinki after he had no lower limit.

Especially for rookies, facing endless losses as soon as they enter the league is a huge loss for their confidence in their future careers.

Borrowing a previous reporter's report, a league insider questioned:

"The Nets hired a coach who is completely focused on developing culture, and Fernandis happens to have a good time in this regard. But who is he coaching? Who is he cultivating, and who are the young players playing for? They are not in the Grizzlies or the Kings, but in Brooklyn, which is a big city, and the team is playing badly." Although this kind of inference is not necessarily completely reasonable, from a pessimistic perspective, if the Nets' reconstruction is not smooth, excessive losses may eventually turn into a difficult future disease. There are also precedents in NBA history: the Kings won the top 10 picks in the draft for ten consecutive years from 2009 to 18, but no season has been won; the Hornets held the top 10 picks for 10 years in the 12 years from 2004 to 15, but they didn't win a playoff game until 2016; the Wizards won the top 10 picks six times in the past seven drafts, but are still in the last bus of the league.

Judging from these failure cases, although being able to gain high talent by making bad things, it does not necessarily guarantee absolute success. Even if the Nets ended up at the bottom of the regular season record, they had less than half the chance of getting their favorite top rookies.

And playing badly is also an irresponsible thing. Any rookie has the right to get enough space to play during the rookie contract period. As high-ranking rookies, they should not be the target of ridicule for other teams in the league. In recent years, they have only been to help the team digest and transition a season.

Not to mention that when the team selects top talent, other low-coupons may even be given up directly, which is very unfair to mediocre players who originally had the opportunity to stand firm in the league by relying on their role position.

While dealing with the reconstruction of the winning culture on the court, the Nets management has also undergone drastic changes. General Manager Sean Max performed very well in the draft during his tenure. According to statistics, 10 of his 15 drafts have exceeded draft expectations since 2016, which is an excellent result that the Nets have never had a 20th pick.

He successfully discovered Clarkston, and his victory contribution ranked second among the 2019 rookies. Others such as Dellon Sharp, Cameron Thomas, as well as Jaylen Wilson in the second round, and even Leville and Jarrett Allen, were also quite successful choices before being traded.

But the situation seems to be different now. The team's strategy has changed from attracting superstars to sustainable development and building the team, which is also the reflection brought about by the Nets' Big Three after the failure. This idea is not a problem, but the first step of the reconstruction does not seem to be smooth. At the 2025 draft, the Nets used all five of their first rounds, and the outside world generally has a voice that is not optimistic about this choice.

The real hidden danger is that the core team that helped the Nets achieve initial success has been lost. Assistant general manager Jeff Peterson and basketball operations director Ryan Gisriel went to Charlotte, scout director JR Holden went to Detroit, development director Adam Capron went to Washington, and salary expert Matt Tellum has left.

Not only that, the Nets' physical fitness team has also undergone changes. None of the team's four physical fitness management directors can last more than one year, and the team's rehabilitation director also resigned this summer. Referring to the data, the Nets missed 374 games due to injury last season, setting a team record in one fell swoop.

Borrowing an internal source:

"The Nets have the most resources in the NBA, but they have been doing the same thing, and this should have been an easy thing to do." The problem now is that with more and more high-value draft picks in the future, the Nets face much greater risk of betting than in the past. Can this brand new scout management team replicate the success of the past under tremendous pressure? The success or failure of the team depends entirely on this.

And in this high-stakes reconstruction path, every step of the Nets is crucial.