Potential Play-In Push Could Work Out Well for Brooklyn Nets

The Brooklyn Nets are less than a week away from opening night, and there’s still a chance they could shock the NBA this season.

Over the past couple of years, the Nets have been looking to find the right path ahead through their rebuild. With Sean Marks at the helm, there have been some encouraging signs along the way, but it can also be hard to see what Brooklyn’s plan is.

While the team is coming off a 26-win season where it couldn’t decide between making a play-in push or tanking until it was too late, the Nets still ended up with five rookies in the first round. Of course, none of those rookies were exactly seen as home runs, and Brooklyn has been heavily criticized for how it handled not only the draft but the entire offseason.

While there is an expectation for Brooklyn to be among the worst teams in the entire league, the East is weak, and there’s a chance the Nets could simply put things together. Jordi Fernandez is already touted as one of the top coaches in the league, and if he can put his incoming rookies and veterans in a position to succeed, the Nets could easily hang around the play-in race.

It shouldn’t take much to rise above teams like Washington and Charlotte if things go well early in the year, and taking some games against the next tier in the East might be well within reach.

In general, it might seem strange for Brooklyn to even entertain a play-in run, even if the team gets off to a hot start. While a full-on tank would certainly help the Nets’ chances of landing one of the top picks in the draft, getting the No. 1 pick after making the play-in is far from impossible, as showcased by the Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks over the past two seasons.

Still, those were both notable long-shot lottery wins, and it shouldn’t be Brooklyn’s expectation to end up with a top three pick if it makes the play-in or simply makes that push. On the other hand, neither of the two worst teams last season, the Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards, landed a pick in the top four. 

In an era where the lottery doesn’t fully benefit the worst of the worst anymore, Brooklyn might be just fine if it can make a push into the postseason.