Should the Nets do this trade?
The Brooklyn Nets are stubbornly trying to milk the hell out of their Mikal Bridges-led team littered with starter-caliber players who seemingly can’t gel together given their overlapping skillsets. The result? A deflating season that would probably be replicated should they keep holding on to their roster currently on life support.
Bridges is a tremendous two-way player, but he is at his best when tethered to a role where he’s expected to be a floor-raiser on offense. Instead, the Nets are treating him like he’s prime James Harden, and he’s simply not that kind of a scoring and playmaking monster to shoehorn into a primary role.
It’s clear as day that the only direction that Brooklyn should be taking is to do the Oklahoma City/Utah/San Antonio strategy of strockpiling draft picks and selling high on their current deck. There’s no path for this team to be in the postseason while hanging onto their loose threads.
Philadelphia’s hypothetical offer of three first-round picks, while one of which could vacillate, will help kickstart a full-blown rebuild that they can later ameliorate through star signings given their big-market allure. But for that to happen, the must bottom out, and it won’t get any better than this.
Grade: A