Top Five Seeds in Eastern Conference for 2012-13 NBA Season (Part 4) – NBA Feature
Brooklyn Nets: Seeded 4
The story in the Eastern Conference throughout this offseason has been the newly shifted Brooklyn Nets. And for a franchise that had not reached the playoffs since 2007, what an offseason it has been.
The Nets moved to their new home in Brooklyn after the end of the last season, into their luxuriously built $1 billion Barclays Arena. They changed their name from the New Jersey Nets to the Brooklyn Nets, and immediately grabbed the attention of the city which is one of the five boroughs of one of the greatest cities in the world. But the Nets knew that in order to move into New York and compete with the Knicks, a franchise having its roots deep in the city, they would have to work real hard and spend a lot of money. And with the billionaire Russian owner at the back, they did exactly just that. Nets launched an extensive marketing campaign to welcome the dawn a new era in the history of the franchise. But the task they accomplished that was most critical to the success of their offseason was the roster upgrade.
The Nets met their first success of the offseason when they convinced free agent point guard Deron Williams to re-sign a five year max contract with the team. Williams had said during the season that he wanted to move to a different team during free agency to compete for an NBA title, and the Dallas Mavericks were the team with the best chance of landing him. But after talking with Nets GM Billy King, Williams decided to stay. That unleashed a whole range of team acquisitions for the Nets. They traded for Joe Johnson with the Atlanta Hawks, and re-signed Gerald Wallace, Brook Lopez and Kris Humphries to the team. They were even in conversation with the Orlando Magic for a trade involving Dwight Howard, but the deal never materialized.
It seemed as if the Nets had an unlimited budget to work with in the offseason, as they kept on signing player after player for multi-million dollar deals. But in the end, they had a starting roster that couldn’t have looked better, making them playoff contenders before they played a single game in their brand new arena with their brand new jerseys.
The Nets hence became the first team in 10 years to have five players earning more than $10 million per year in salary. It was a big price to have the Nets in playoff contention since day one of their re-birth, but something owner Mikhail Prokhorov didn’t have a problem with as he was more focused on the ultimate goal of winning an NBA title within three seasons.
With all the big signings, many thought that the Nets were done with their offseason acquisitions. But they surprised everyone when they acquired C.J. Watson from the Chicago Bulls and Andray Blatche from the Washington Wizards. This helped the Nets fill up their bench with some talented backups, giving them a further advantage over other teams in the Eastern Conference. Watson was the backup point guard to Derrick Rose in the Chicago Bulls roster the past two seasons, and made a name for himself there by averaging 9.7 points and 4.1 assists in only 23.7 minutes of playing time per game last season. Similarly, Andray Blatche was another big signing for the Nets as the seven year veteran averaged 16.8 points and 8.2 rebounds for the Washington Wizards in the 2010-11 season.
With a heap of talent and a new fan base that is excited about the future of the franchise, the Nets are looking set to make their NBA debut this coming season. And they are expected to make the debut in style, taking the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference and making a deep push in the playoffs.
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