Amigos' NBA Previews: New Jersey Nets

Recent Past They made the finals at one point, and then they were pretty decent for a while, and then guys started getting hurt/old/irrelevant/gone, and now they're left with...this.

Offseason They traded Vince Carter and Ryan Anderson for Skip, Courtney Lee, and...Tony Battie. Presumably, Lee's the only one who'll be around long term, and he's a nice player, albeit a bit overrated at this point. They're pretty clearly not going to do much, so losing Carter is somewhat insignificant as they look toward TWO THOUSAND AND TEN!!!!!! And so, that Russian dude coming in is pretty fucking important. Acus cash rules everything around 'Bron. Or something. And, somehow, the "hip hop act" for the Nets will not be either Wu Tang or Jay Z.

Probable lineup Devin Harris, Courtney Lee, Bobby Simmons, Yi, and Brook Lopez. Off the bench...Christ.

General Outlook Well, they have Devin Harris, and Brook Lopez, and Courtney Lee. That's not awful. 4-12? That has to be among the worst 4-12 spots in league history. Alright, that may be a bit of hyperbole, but it's truly shambolic. Just dreadful. And so they'll suck pretty hard. But that's okay. They'll maybe manage a high draft pick, and then if they can get that right, they'll have four good to great pieces before (hopefully) adding someone (Bron) in SUMMER 2010!!!!

So, really, there aren't many questions coming into this season. It'd be nice to see Brook and Courtney make some improvements, and I guess it'd be cool if Yi becomes a decent bench option (for the future). Other than that, just keep looking at that big, beautiful, cap space. Mmm...cap space. Oh, also? Lawrence Frank. Will they keep him around? No clue. Should they? Again, no clue. I sort of like him, but it's hard to judge when he's been given a tough hand the past couple seasons. And this season, well, really, if they fire him this season, they've been wanting to fire him for a little bit now.

If they were a hip hop act
This is Баста, a big act from Russia. Apparently. Anyway, Mikhail Prokhorov, 2010, etc.

Guessing how they'll do poorly? yes, poorly.