The Nets miss the playoffs for the first time in six years.
But that doesn’t mean they don’t play for anything.
These are still high-paying competitors, and they need to show they are still competitive.
Interim coach Kevin Ollie, and more importantly general manager Sean Marks, will be left to figure out who will compete and who will quit.
And even if the Nets don’t reach the postseason, their eventual return will need to build some kind of positive atmosphere heading into the offseason and next season.
“Yeah, we’ll learn from that,” said Ollie, who plans to rethink his rotation going forward. “Through the process, you learn from it and how you can do it better. And when you have the opportunity to do it again, you will gain valuable experience from it.”
There are certainly many hard lessons to be learned from this trying season.
The Nets entered Saturday’s game against the visiting Pistons with a 30-47 record and were eliminated from Wednesday night’s play-in contention.
This will be the first time they have missed the playoffs since the 2017-18 season.
Are they learning that organically as this disappointing campaign drags on, or do they learn as they look in the mirror and self-evaluate their organization over the summer?
“Both,” Ollie answered. “Both. You can still grow during the season, and you can still grow now. Why don’t you ask yourself what you are really made of? Because many people quit in this situation. However, Ask yourself what kind of person I am. What kind of team are we aiming for? [the] Will it be the Brooklyn Nets? And now is the time, and the difficult time, to find out your true character.
“That’s the message I give them. Yeah, that goal, we wanted to make the playoffs. But we still have great fans who pay to attend, and you pretty much We’re getting paid. We’re getting paid. We have to get up and do the work. And tomorrow’s not promised to anyone. And we’re not promised that we’ll wake up tomorrow. .”
Despite winning four of their last six games on Saturday, the Nets will fall short of their goal and miss out on a postseason berth.
But with five days left on the schedule, it’s worth at least finishing on a high and trying to regain some momentum this season.
Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson were both on the 2019-20 Suns team, which missed the playoffs but finished as the only undefeated team in the bubble with eight straight wins.
Phoenix advanced to the NBA Finals the following season.
Sure, the Nets won’t have the next Chris Paul, but at least they can take some pride in their finish.
Bridges didn’t make the All-Star appearance many expected, Johnson (though questionable to play against the Pistons) was plagued by a lower-body injury, and Ben Simmons paid a high price. I was unable to participate.
But that’s not permission to surrender.
“Sometimes in life things happen that you don’t get where you want to be. But don’t just stop playing, start playing,” Bridges said. “You keep going until the end.
“[You] Learn from it and get better. It’s not rocket science. Just get better, learn what you have to do to get better, and attack it. ”
Bridges and Johnson will be part of the core going forward, as will Nic Claxton if the Nets can keep free agents.
Dennis Schroder just arrived at the trade deadline, but he quickly figured out what Brooklyn needed to do.
“When we come in, team chemistry is always the biggest thing first. We have to build that and set the tone,” Schroeder said. “On the court, we have to make sure we’re the most competitive group every night. This gives us a chance to win basketball games, especially in the NBA. That’s all we have to do defensively. If we compete at the highest level both offensively and offensively, we’ll do well.”
