Part 8 of the offseason guides takes us to the Eastern Conference, where we find two teams that have gone in opposite directions in recent memory: the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Brooklyn Nets
The Nets had a fairly regular season. Starting with a fun, up-tempo pace, new head coach Jordi Fernandez's approach worked in favor of the Nets. Denis Schroeder played so well that he needed to be traded to ensure the Nets' tanking. The Nets had a weird collection of players involving lots of wings and kind of figuring out where they needed to go. Getting a front-and-center prospect to build around needs to be step one. Cam Thomas has shown an ability to be that type of prospect with his scoring prowess from all over the place. The passing has seen some steps forward, but it still could probably use some fine-tuning. The Nets said they are looking to take a swing at a top-10 type of player in the NBA. Stashing all of the picks they have from trades involving Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Mikal Bridges. Maybe some lottery helps make that decision for them, or another player, Giannis, becomes available. So what will the Nets do?
The Nets started the offseason by hoarding draft picks at an unprecedented level. They took on the Terrance Mann contract in exchange for a late-first-round pick, a franchise that already had 4 picks in that round going into the draft. They then selected a player with all 5 of those first-round picks and filled out their team. Coming into the offseason, the team had the most cap space in the NBA with over $90 million available to be spent, but as the Nets’ front office had previously said, “We are not going to waste it on a layer who is not a top 1o player in the NBA.” A strategy that I like. It doesn’t make sense to build for all of this cap space and then throw it at someone who isn’t going to make a difference for your team in the playoffs. It also made most free agents realize that and gave some other teams leverage over their players. Outside of the finances, the Nets are in a great spot with their future draft assets. They have over 10 first-round picks in the next 7 years and own swaps with the Knicks, 76ers, and Rockets. While I believe these teams are in a good spot right now, laying wise, anything could happen. The Nets used the trade involving Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Mikal Bridges very wisely to pull themselves out of the Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving era of Brooklyn.
From a player development aspect, it's kind of touch-and-go. I’m excited about the defensive potential of this group, as Jordi Fernandez has this team bought into that end of the floor. Wings such as Jalen Wilson, Noah Clowney, and center Nic Claxton will likely anchor that end of the floor, and throw in Terrance Mann, and the group could be some fun. Overall, the offense will likely struggle. The one trade the Nets made, sending Cam Johnson to the Nuggets in exchange for Michael Porter Jr. and a 2032 first-round pick. Porter Jr. will likely have a bright green light to take shots he wants and an ability for the Nets, if they boost his stock, the ability to flip him and get off the $40 million in salary he will make upcoming year. Overall, the Nets are still very early in the development stages of becoming a good basketball team. The 5 rookies in Egor Demin, Drake Powell, Nolan Traore, Ben Saraf, and Danny Wolf will likely see a ton of time, and hopefully, hitting on 2 of these picks will help. They likely won’t be able to extend all of them when the time comes for rookie extensions. Another year for the Nets in which they’ll lose and try to correctly tank and hope the lottery rewards them.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers were one of the most exciting teams this past season in the NBA. They had Kenny Atkinson take the reins as head coach after letting go of J.B. Bickerstaff last year, and the risk paid off. The Cavs had the best offensive rating in NBA history, and many of their players had the best seasons of their careers. What did this lead to? A second-round exit in 5 games to the Pacers. Unfortunately, the Cavs didn’t give the Pacers much of a fight in the postseason, as they lost and dealt with injuries during the most important part of the NBA season. With Cleveland approaching the second apron at a much more rapid pace, as Evan Mobley made All-NBA and won defensive player of the year, what should the Cavs' offseason look like?
To start, the Cavs made some nice hedges against potentially losing players such as Ty Jerome or Sam Merrill. They traded away Isaac Okoro for Lonzo Ball to bolster the point guard position and bracing for the eventual Ty Jerome departure. He would leave to go to Memphis for 3 years and $28 million; however, the Cavaliers decided to bring back Sam Merrill on a nice 4-year $38 million deal to help the second-round situation. Unfortunately, for the Cavs, that is likely all they will do, but the nice thing is you have a team, and mainly a core 4 of Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Jared Allen, and Evan Mobley that is under contract for at least the next 3 years, assuming Donovan Mitchell picks up his player option in 2027-2028. They still have DeAndre Hunter under contract for the next 2 years, but likely won’t be able to re-sign him due to their limited flexibility. He is also their only asset to use in a trade if they feel the need to get some financial flexibility. Much of the Cavaliers' offseason is already complete as well. The only draft assets they have are their picks in 2030 and 2031, but they do some swaps in 2026-2030; however, they are heavy protections on them that will likely cause those picks to be in the early-20s at best. Overall, the Cavs' season will likely depend on the player development portion.
Donovan Mitchell is coming off a first-team All-NBA type of season, given his impressive scoring in just under 30 minutes a game. The Cavs had a great plan at keeping him and Darius Garland fresh for the postseason; however, injuries play a part in everything, and I think the next steps for the Cavs are figuring out the defensive side of the ball from a guard's perspective. Adding Lonzo gives them a nice 3 and D player, who offers some playmaking around Garland and Mitchell. The next progressive is seeing Evan Mobley become the team’s potentially best player. He tapped into some nastiness and versatility that was very impressive last season. He made strides as a ball-handler and playmaker, now the next progressive will be adding some more shot-making from the perimeter and diversifying the shot-making inside the arc. Mobley becoming a better version than what he was this past season is one of the most important things for the Cavaliers this offseason. Mobley’s progressive play and adding in some sustained defensive effort from the guards will give the Cavs a nice spot at winning the weakened Eastern Conference next season.
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