LAS VEGAS — Brooklyn is quietly confident — OK, not so quiet — that injuries were the main thing that came between it and an NBA championship.
But everything the Nets have done this offseason has been about leaving little to chance, shoring up their only other Achilles’ heel: defense.
“If we were healthy, I think everybody knows what would’ve happened,” Bruce Brown said. “So, this year, try to be healthy and continue to have the same mindset each game throughout the season and eventually win this thing.
“I was real salty all summer, I’m going to be honest. I didn’t watch no basketball, I was just pissed that we lost. I just can’t wait to get back there and then win. I didn’t sleep the night after [Game 7] at all. I went and tried to golf the next day, which was a terrible decision. So yeah, I just can’t wait to get back.”
Brown is back after signing for the $4.7 million qualifying offer. Some league personnel felt he might get double that on the market. Brown claimed he had other suitors, but said he never seriously considered leaving.
“I probably had some other options, but I knew I was coming back. I started looking at places right after the season,” said Brown, who becomes an unrestricted free agent after the season and admits he hasn’t found a place in New York yet.
“I’m just happy to be back. It’s a great fit. I didn’t want to go anywhere else. … I think the best option for me was to definitely take the qualifying [offer] and come back and try to run it back.”
Run it back better, with better defense.
While GM Sean Marks hasn’t said it, his actions — and transactions — speak louder than words. Other than extending James Harden and Kyrie Irving (as they have Kevin Durant), collecting affordable perimeter defenders has been a top priority.
The Nets not only kept Brown, but traded for Phoenix’s Jevon Carter and signed DeAndre’ Bembry, all known for their prowess on that end of the floor. The Nets have their Big 3, but what about putting their D 3 on the floor together?
“I don’t think there’s gonna be any easy buckets, I’ll tell you that,” said Brown.
The Nets also added Patty Mills, James Johnson and 3-and-D Kessler Edwards, but it was obvious from re-signing Brown, while still trading for Carter, that guarding guards is a priority.
“Yeah, there’s definitely been a conversation. And defense is very personal. I feel like that’s just a must,” Carter said. “You’re going to have games where you’re scoring and not scoring; but every night you shouldn’t have a game where you’re just bad defensively. That should just never happen. I feel like that’s just a must. That’s just who I am.”
Carter fell behind E’Twaun Moore in the Suns’ playoff rotation, presumably over concerns about his ballhandling and playmaking. But with the Big 3 on board, it’ll be defense that gets Carter on the floor.
“For sure. I’ve always felt that way. I felt like defense is my niche,” Carter said. “Defense is the reason I’m an NBA player. So why stop now? So I’ve got to bring it.”
Carter won both the NABC Defensive Player of the Year and Naismith Defensive Player of the Year at West Virginia, and was a pest with the Suns. Brown even recalled Carter picking him up 94 feet when they went against each other in predraft work.
Bembry has a long-standing relationship with Irving as a fellow product of St. Patrick’s in Elizabeth, N.J. He’d love to win a title with his friend (“A lot of Jersey families out there would be happy for us”), and is acutely aware of what role he’ll have to play to earn a ring.
“The organization is already on their way to what they’re trying to do. Me myself, I know what I can bring to the table. I know the Nets: They need some guys who can go out there and guard, compete,” Bembry said. “They reached out. … That was pretty much the start of it and I was just looking for the next opportunity.”