The Brooklyn Nets are Building Something Special...

Since 2023, the Brooklyn Nets have held the third worst record in basketball, and now with the Eastern Conference being as good as ever, it's going to be very difficult for the Nets to start turning their franchise around.

But since last season, and now with the current roster construction, I can seriously see the light in Brooklyn.

It started with the MPJ trade, but really it all started with the 2025 NBA draft.

Immediately after the draft, the Nets received some major backlash for their selections of Yegor Dioman, Ben Seraf, Danny Wolfe, Nolan Traore, and Drake Powell, But after a full season and summer league, it looks pretty clear to me that at least one of them is a very high level NBA player, as well as other guys like Nolan Traore and Danny Wolf, who have still shown some more promise than the others.

So boom, we got our guy number eight and a fringe all-star in MPJ.

That's awesome.

But obviously, that's just not enough.

And where is the best place to get a young guy with a lot of upside to try and turn your franchise around? The draft, of course.

So we go ahead and fast forward to the end of the season, where they were the third worst team in the league with 20 wins.

Then we're off to the NBA draft lottery, where the odds were not in Brooklyn's favor and they fell to the sixth overall pick.

But the very day before the draft, Brooklyn had a move to make, where the Nets sent off Nick Claxton to the Chicago Bulls and received for the Minnesota Timberwolves their now second all-star caliber player, Julius Randle.

over to randall randall got it off in time oh he's cold-blooded

So now we can finally get to the draft where Louisville guard Mikel Brown was selected, followed by Joshua Jefferson and Tyler Bilodeau.

So between getting one of the highest upside players in the entire draft in Mikel and a very sleeper pick in Joshua Jefferson, I would say that Brooklyn came out pretty happy from this year's draft.

And to cap off the offseason, Brooklyn made some smaller moves acquiring Keon Ellis to help them out on the defensive end.

Points on the Cavs, long leap after, normally up to Ellis.

How do you like that play?

Mo Wagner to bring in some big man minutes off the bench.

while also re-signing Josh Minot and a very important piece of the puzzle, De'Ron Sharp.

So do the Nets have the most glamorous roster you've ever seen? No, definitely not.

But I am really excited about this young core that they've built.

And today I want to talk about some of the most important individual pieces of the puzzle this season for the Nets, starting with the rookie, then my sleeper slash breakout player, then lastly, the sophomore star.

But before we do, welcome to Basketball Intuition.

I'm your host, Ethan Simon.

Make sure to let me know how you feel about the Nets going into next season.

I think that if you're a Nets fan, this is a season that you can actually get yourself excited about.

So make sure to give me your predictions and also let me know which player you think is going to make the biggest jump this season.

Since 2023, the Brooklyn Nets have held the third worst record in basketball, and now with the Eastern Conference being as good as ever, it's going to be very difficult for the Nets to start turning their franchise around.

But since last season, and now with the current roster construction, I can seriously see the light in Brooklyn.

It started with the MPJ trade, but really it all started with the 2025 NBA draft.

Immediately after the draft, the Nets received some major backlash for their selections of Yegor Dioman, Ben Seraf, Danny Wolfe, Nolan Traore, and Drake Powell, But after a full season and summer league, it looks pretty clear to me that at least one of them is a very high level NBA player, as well as other guys like Nolan Traore and Danny Wolf, who have still shown some more promise than the others.

So boom, we got our guy number eight and a fringe all-star in MPJ.

That's awesome.

But obviously, that's just not enough.

And where is the best place to get a young guy with a lot of upside to try and turn your franchise around? The draft, of course.

So we go ahead and fast forward to the end of the season, where they were the third worst team in the league with 20 wins.

Then we're off to the NBA draft lottery, where the odds were not in Brooklyn's favor and they fell to the sixth overall pick.

But the very day before the draft, Brooklyn had a move to make, where the Nets sent off Nick Claxton to the Chicago Bulls and received for the Minnesota Timberwolves their now second all-star caliber player, Julius Randle.

over to randall randall got it off in time oh he's cold-blooded

So now we can finally get to the draft where Louisville guard Mikel Brown was selected, followed by Joshua Jefferson and Tyler Bilodeau.

So between getting one of the highest upside players in the entire draft in Mikel and a very sleeper pick in Joshua Jefferson, I would say that Brooklyn came out pretty happy from this year's draft.

And to cap off the offseason, Brooklyn made some smaller moves acquiring Keon Ellis to help them out on the defensive end.

Points on the Cavs, long leap after, normally up to Ellis.

How do you like that play?

Mo Wagner to bring in some big man minutes off the bench.

while also re-signing Josh Minot and a very important piece of the puzzle, De'Ron Sharp.

So do the Nets have the most glamorous roster you've ever seen? No, definitely not.

But I am really excited about this young core that they've built.

And today I want to talk about some of the most important individual pieces of the puzzle this season for the Nets, starting with the rookie, then my sleeper slash breakout player, then lastly, the sophomore star.

But before we do, welcome to Basketball Intuition.

I'm your host, Ethan Simon.

Make sure to let me know how you feel about the Nets going into next season.

I think that if you're a Nets fan, this is a season that you can actually get yourself excited about.

So make sure to give me your predictions and also let me know which player you think is going to make the biggest jump this season.