Brooklyn’s lineup flexibility is the new sheriff in town

I preserve coming again to at least one phrase when musing in regards to the Nets’ roster: optionality.

After a summer time wherein strikes and acquisitions trickled in like heat sunbeams between two curtains, brushstroke by brushstroke, Sean Marks’ masterpiece finally reached completion, his signature coiled away within the nook, and a roster constructed for any type of take a look at is tough at work in San Diego for coaching camp.

For these needing a reminder, right here’s what the Kiwi GM achieved over what was a really busy summer time.

Marks retained Bruce Brown and Blake Griffin, two fan favorites and irreplaceable glue guys from final season. Touchdown LaMarcus Aldridge was a no brainer after his 5 video games of prosperity a season in the past, supplied he gained medical clearance (which he did). The draft has already confirmed to be fortuitous up to now in our journey, as Cam Thomas, Kessler Edwards, and even Day’Ron Sharpe may all moderately compete for rotation spots.

Marks additionally scooped up some large and small fish in free company, highlighted by Patty Mills. James Johnson, DeAndre’ Bembry, and Jevon Carter are all stable depth items. Paul Millsap could possibly be one of many larger steals of the summer time, and Marks described the veteran large as “a tricky, clever, expert large who’s seen all of it… one other man that may play a number of positions and stretch the ground or play inside, can cross and play-make and facilitate and perceive and be capable of match into any protection.”

Headed into free company, Marks proclaimed that the Nets “need(ed) so as to add depth on the large place and that’s going to be necessary from a defensive and rebounding standpoint” with out compromising the overall strengths of the championship core. With Aldridge, Johnson, Millsap, and Sharpe rostered, who can all shore up the protection whereas spacing the ground and filling gaps on the opposite finish, that objective has largely been achieved, on paper.

As an example simply how versatile these Nets are, let’s seize a have a look at some believable lineups, starting with what is going to seemingly be the starters come opening evening.

This was Brooklyn’s regular-degular beginning lineup towards the tip of the common season and all through the playoffs. Even when Blake Griffin struggled towards the Boston Celtics and Joe Harris faltered towards the Milwaukee Bucks, for essentially the most half, Steve Nash caught steadfastly with this group. Whereas the pattern is certainly not giant sufficient to make any sweeping declarations, this five-man unit yielded a 140.1 offensive ranking and 36.3 internet ranking in 64 common season and playoff minutes.

Towards sure opponents, the Nets may slide in Bruce Brown or Jevon Carter for defensive functions instead of Joe Harris. Or, Blake Griffin could possibly be changed by LaMarcus Aldridge ought to the Nets need to change their defensive look from switch-everything to drop protection whereas sustaining five-out spacing on offense.

That leaves us with the bench, or what I’ve lengthy referred to as the “Harden plus a number of shooters” lineup.

Patty Mills goes to completely thrive whereas taking part in subsequent to James Harden’s gravity within the backcourt; assuredly, pick-and-pops between both players will turn out to be a staple of Steve Nash’s playbook. We learn about Bruce Brown and James Harden’s chemistry. Spoiler alert, however I’m decently excessive on the potential of LaMarcus Aldridge and Paul Millsap taking part in collectively, which I’ll element momentarily.

Brooklyn may additionally spruce issues up offensively by downsizing a bit, inserting Joe Harris into this reserve unit, and pushing Bruce Brown and Paul Millsap down a peg to the 4 and 5 spots, respectively. The concept of surrounding James Harden with hellacious three-point snipers in Mills and Harris is actually attractive. Right here’s what that might appear to be.

Mixing and matching lineups only for the sake of it’s a enjoyable train, don’t get me improper, however the secret sauce to this Nets group is that it might rigorously recreation plan for its largest foes within the affiliation, past simply schemes and technique. Brooklyn can roll out a lineup tailor-made particularly for the Los Angeles Lakers, who many see because the seemingly NBA Finalist towards the Nets. For the document, I’m working underneath the belief that The Athletic’s reporting on the Lakers’ starting lineup holds true by means of coaching camp.

Whereas I’m slightly squeamish about Kyrie Irving tangling with the mess of power and explosiveness that’s Russell Westbrook, I do assume he’s a greater point-of-attack defender than James Harden due to his quickness alone. Kevin Durant can roam across the ground freely to cowl up for errors by “shading” off of Trevor Ariza, who will seemingly be stashed within the nook (a weight loss plan of Trevor Ariza nook threes isn’t exactly a death sentence).

Paul Millsap has expertise defending LeBron James prior to now, with James Johnson ready within the wings to handle some LeBron reps. I’m fairly excessive on Nicolas Claxton taking over the beastly Anthony Davis, which, sure, sounds ridiculous on its floor; however Claxton has the required zippiness to stay with Davis and a 7’2.5’ wingspan to contest AD’s soar pictures. If that proves to be too tall of a activity, Brooklyn can merely slide LaMarcus Aldridge or Blake Griffin instead of Claxton, as funneling Anthony Davis into taking jumpers has at all times been a prudent technique, if nothing else.

If the Lakers had been to upsize and run one in every of its extra conventional facilities subsequent to Davis — Dwight Howard or former Web DeAndre Jordan — the Nets may deploy a twin towers alignment of its personal, with LaMarcus Aldridge stepping in for Paul Millsap to play subsequent to Nicolas Claxton within the frontcourt. Aldridge in a drop protection may shrink home windows of alley-oops to mere cracks, whereas Claxton may proceed to select up the slack towards Anthony Davis, or vice versa.

(Typically, I discover the Claxton-Aldridge duo extra palatable than the typical NetsWorlder [is that a term?] due to Clax’s fluidity alongside the perimeter — he can guard smaller gamers like a 7-foot defensive wing. In reality, he could also be higher suited at enveloping guards and wings than wrestling with guys at his “place.” Granted, this all will depend on the opposition. Groups with high-level stretch bigs [Minnesota and Karl Anthony-Towns, for example] or a number of pull-up shooters [New York, with Kemba Walker and Evan Fournier, comes to mind here] are apparent sore spots for Aldridge’s drop protection.)

“However what about us?! We’re the champs!” screams a bunch of abruptly slighted Milwaukee Bucks followers. And don’t fear! The Nets have a battle-tested five-man group to dehorn the Bucks.

James Harden’s publish protection (77th percentile in Brooklyn, per Synergy) is virtually inbuilt a lab for Jrue Vacation’s obstinate bully-ball. Bruce Brown was key to shutting down the smoldering scorching Khris Middleton through the closing video games of final yr’s sequence. Brown held Middleton to 13-of-41 taking pictures total (31.7 % FG), per NBA matchup stats, which was the bottom field-goal proportion that Middleton shot towards any of his main defenders in a 2021 playoff sequence.

Blake Griffin, after all, takes on Giannis — one thing he has ample experience with relationship again to the 2020-2021 common season — with assist from Paul Millsap and James Johnson off the bench. Kevin Durant can play free security on the expense of boatloads of nook 3’s from Brook Lopez, which Brooklyn will reside with.

If the Nets needed to additional enhance their defensive profile towards Milwaukee, they may swap in Jevon Carter for Kyrie Irving with out shedding an excessive amount of spacing (Carter shot 37.1 % from deep on 2.5 makes an attempt final season … and 39.7 over two years as a Solar).

Maybe my favourite lineup of all is what I’m calling “Actually Scary Hours,” a coalition of 5 three-point snipers on a mission to strike inconsolable concern in opponents’ hearts.

Real query: Who do you assist off of on this lineup ought to one in every of Brooklyn’s Huge 3 break away towards the rim? Do you simply… let the layup occur? Do you hope for the most effective with a Kevin Durant or Joe Harris nook three? What occurs when James Harden snares one in every of Kevin Durant, Joe Harris, or Patty Mills for a pick-and-pop with a 41 % (or higher) catch-and-shoot specialist flanking the alternative wing?

Clearly, this isn’t a lineup we’ll see towards each NBA staff. It’s finest used towards, say, Golden State with Draymond Inexperienced on the 5 or Utah with Rudy Homosexual manning the middle place when Rudy Gobert is compelled to take a seat.

If the Nets needed so as to add a devious free safety-type to impede ball motion, a reputation I may see changing one in every of Harris or Mills could be DeAndre’ Bembry. Bembry is, in my view, the Nets’ most disruptive off-ball participant, able to flying into the image for crafty steals. Offensively, he may operate as a curler because of his impervious at-rim ending (73% FG), or Bembry may even deal with the ball in inverted units (he’s obtained a quietly implausible dribbling package deal).

You possibly can make a reasonably sturdy argument that the Nets are the deepest staff within the league, and maybe essentially the most versatile — in a position to throw out any and all lineups and mixtures to counter the enemy.

But when there’s a singular quibble one may need… are the Nets too large?

Permit me to clarify. The Nets have 4 rotation-caliber bigs — Paul Millsap, Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Nicolas Claxton — all of whom are best-used at heart, and all are deserving of 15-to-20 minutes a recreation. I’m not the primary to ponder if the frontcourt is uncomfortably crowded, as Steve Nash addressed this concern head-on throughout his September twenty first presser with Sean Marks.

“So far as the massive males, I believe we simply checked out it as a possibility. What’s obtainable? What can we add to our staff? Will or not it’s difficult at instances to search out taking part in time for everybody? Certain. A part of being a championship staff is being a part of one thing that’s larger than your self,” defined Nash. “We now have guys that perceive that all of them come right here figuring out that we’re attempting to get throughout the road, and it’s not in regards to the particular person’s minutes or touches.

So how will the Nets deal with this? Will sure guys sit on sure nights? Or may the Nets pair every of their bigs collectively in lineups and “measurement up” holistically? And the way does that look?

Constructing off that concept, the simple half is one Nicolas Claxton, who can work in unison with nearly any of his fellow frontcourt members, even LaMarcus Aldridge. Final yr, we noticed loads of him and Blake Griffin taking part in collectively, so perhaps that’s what Brooklyn goes with.

However that leaves Paul Millsap and LaMarcus Aldridge collectively within the frontcourt. Can we be ok with that? Are Millsap’s impressive help defense instincts sufficient to counterbalance what could possibly be some difficulties switching off-ball screens and navigating visitors towards larger wings? My guess is sure, for now, because the Aldridge and Millsap frontcourt may operate as Nikola Jokic/Paul Millsap-lite, with Millsap protecting for Aldridge’s immobility.

These are actual questions that have to be answered — who matches with who and the right way to preserve everybody completely happy — and that reply might finally relegate Kevin Durant to taking part in the three full-time, at the very least through the common season.

Brooklyn has 82 video games, after all, to reply these urgent questions — and thoughts you, they’re very, superb points to have. Boasting too many good gamers is rarely a foul factor.

As a Nets fan, there certain will likely be lots to observe for.