The Nets went into the offseason again looking for a power-forward low-post threat to replace Kenyon Martin. They landed him. Then they lost him.
But instead of bemoaning the loss of Shareef Abdur-Rahim, the Nets see their summer as a success. They got bigger. They got more offensive. And they got decidedly deeper.
“From an offensive standpoint, it’s probably the deepest team we’ve had since [2001-02],” team president Rod Thorn said yesterday. “In my time here we never had enough guys who can make shots. And now we definitely have enough guys who can make shots.”
Yes, the summer’s No. 1 target, Abdur-Rahim, will play in Sacramento after the Nets were frightened off by knee concerns. But adding the likes of Jeff McInnis, Lamond Murray, Scott Padgett and Marc Jackson eases the loss considerably – for brass and players alike, Thorn said.
A bench that last season was outscored 29.1-22.6 underwent a major makeover. Minutes will drop in cases, but the Nets have 55.3 points on the bench. And that backs up a unit of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, Nenad Krstic and Jason Collins (who will not do two-a-days in training camp coming off arthroscopic knee surgery).
How good can the Nets be?
“Barring injury or something crazy happening, we’re definitely a playoff team [with] a good chance to get a homecourt advantage in the first round,” Thorn said.
“We ended up improving our team. It’s just a little bit different way than what we anticipated. We have a better team on paper than we had last year,” added Thorn, who wouldn’t predict an improvement on 42 wins but noted, “I don’t want to put that burden on coach. If we’re healthy, I’ll be surprised if we don’t win more than that.”