What's Next for the Brooklyn Nets?
How the franchise should rebuild this off season.
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How the Brooklyn Nets Should Rebuild This Off Season - Call it a $180 million-plus bust for the Brooklyn Nets. The upwards of $180 million in salaries and luxury tax that billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov spent on this year’s squad was supposed to spell an NBA championship or at least a trip to the Finals. Instead, the Nets fell 4-1 to LeBron James and the two-time defending champs the Miami Heat in only the second round of the playoffs. Now Brooklyn's general manager, Billy King, and head coach, Jason Kidd, are left with many questions to answer. So, what’s next for the Brooklyn Nets? Read on for some ideas the franchise should roll the dice on to rebuild during the off season. (Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar)
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Trade Deron Williams, Explore Detroit Option - Brooklyn, let’s keep it funky — Deron Williams just hasn’t cut it for the Nets and doesn’t seem to be worth the $100 million contract that the franchise signed him to back in July 2012. It’s time to cut ties with the point guard, who pocketed nearly $18,500,000 this season alone but only averaged a paltry 11.2 points and 6.2 assists per game during Brooklyn’s 4-1 playoff series loss to the Heat. We say trade D. Will — and unload on his awful contract — to the Detroit Pistons for Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings. The players made a combined $21,155,503 million during the 2013-14 season, signaling that the Nets would at least get more bang for their buck. But would newly-hired Pistons coach and team president Stan Van Gundy bite on such a deal? Brooklyn should hope so.(Photos from left: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images, Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
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Re-sign Paul Pierce - He’ll never be ‘The Truth’ like he once was, but Paul Pierce still has something left in the tank to offer a team. A few steps slower, Pierce is still a double-digit scorer (13.5 points per game this season), can still hit the big shot and take pressure off Joe Johnson on any given night. And that’s the Truth! (Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images)
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Figure Out Kevin Garnett’s Status - Garnett has flirted with retirement before and this off season won’t be any different. First task at hand is to talk to KG and see what he wants to do. He’s either going to want to call it a career or stay another year…or perhaps he desires to be reunited with Doc Rivers and wants to be shipped off to the Los Angeles Clippers. In the latter case, it would be great if the Nets can pry Clippers back-up point guard Darren Collison loose. The kid can ball. (Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)
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Continue to Build Around Joe Johnson - Although a lot of questions swirl around the rebuilding of the Nets, one aspect is clear — keep building around Joe Johnson. The 12th-year shooting guard was reliable for the Nets this year, upping his 15.8 points per game during the regular season to just over 20 points per contest during the playoffs. He’s a solid NBA player. Facts. (Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
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