As for the Nets, Brooklyn’s nightmare officially became a reality when Brook Lopez went down for the season with a foot injury.
Without Lopez, Brooklyn lost its go-to option and has lost a collective offensive identity in the process.
Meanwhile, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce have looked like shells of themselves this season and look one step closer to retirement with each game.
Deron Williams has also continued to battle ankle injuries, which have plagued him since joining the franchise.
Andrei Kirilenko and Jason Terry have seen limited action due to injuries and haven’t been able to anchor the bench unit as expected.
In the absence of Kirlenko and Terry, Andray Blatche has been a bright spot for Brooklyn. However, Blatche is an unrestricted free agent after this season, so his return is uncertain.
Similar to the players, Jason Kidd has failed to meet expectations and has struggled in his coaching orientation on the fly. With a partial ownership stake in the team, and in the first year of a new four-year coaching contract, Kidd appears safe – for now.
In hindsight, hiring Brian Shaw or Lionel Hollins – while adding Kidd as an assistant coach – would have provided the team with a more experienced coach ready to lead now while Kidd developed and was groomed to eventually become a head coach, as I outlined in this FOX Sports Radio guest appearance:
Brooklyn finds itself in neutral regarding any trade talks since the team lacks any readily available draft pick compensation for the immediate future and many desirable assets who aren’t being stashed in Europe.
Mirza Teletovic has played well when given the opportunity of late, and Mason Plumlee has developed into one of the few impact players from the previous draft. Both are Brooklyn’s top trade chips at the moment looking toward the trade deadline.
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With Lopez – the team’s best player – done for the season, Brooklyn has looked defeated in the immediate present while currently riding a four-game losing streak in which coach Kidd has publicly called out the team for a lack of effort and implied the team has grown comfortable with losing.
Therefore, without any plausible trade scenarios for Garnett, Pierce, or any other notable star player on the roster, Brooklyn is expected to stand pat.
By the end of the season, something has to change.
Either Kidd needs to be demoted while a more experienced coach is hired, or another trade needs to be made over the summer to shake up this aging roster.
Keeping this entire team intact will be difficult financially and wouldn’t sit well with the fan base if this losing trend continues throughout the season.
Owner Mikhail Prokhorov has proven he will spend whatever it takes to make the Nets into a winner.
Thus, if the team can acquire a player who is talented – but has a long-term deal that would give other teams cause for salary cap concern – Prokhorov may pull the trigger knowing his roster is built for the short-term and with no salary cap space in sight until the summer of 2016.
Sadly, Brooklyn and New York were built on paper – in terms of money and talented rosters – but both have now learned that money and talent on paper doesn’t guarantee success.
Instead, we’ve seen the prototypes of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers sustain success through the draft, developing young players, and making smart free agent signings at discounted prices.
In a large market, it’s assumed you can’t rebuild and develop talent due to an inpatient fan base, especially due to the high ticket and concession prices. Yet, I defer those nonbelievers to the New York Yankees, who did so with Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera.
Speaking of which, with the demise of Knicks and Nets all but a formality at this rate, pitchers and catchers are right around the corner.
Michael Scotto is a Sheridan Hoops NBA columnist. You can follow him on Twitter.