The Nets have been rumored as a potential participant in a Damian Lillard trade — either acquiring him directly or helping to facilitate a deal between Portland and Miami — but Mikal Bridges believes the team is done with major offseason moves, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post.
Speaking at his youth camp, Bridges said the opening night roster is probably more or less set and he’s looking forward to seeing how the team can benefit from stability and what Jacque Vaughn can implement in his first full season as head coach.
“Just excited for him to have a preseason, have his guys he wants around and pretty much have it his way,” Bridges said. “And I’m excited for us to all be together and have these schemes from jump, (instead of) being thrown out there with three different teams in one lineup and just trying to go figure it out. So I’m definitely excited.”
Brooklyn still has some minor decisions to make before training camp, Lewis adds. The team has a two-way slot to fill and it has to decide whether to keep guard David Duke, who is an unrestricted free agent after not receiving a qualifying offer. Lewis notes that the Nets have also received trade interest involving Royce O’Neale and Dorian Finney-Smith.
Bridges is relieved that Brooklyn was able to re-sign forward Cameron Johnson, who has been his close friend since they both entered the league in Phoenix. The Pistons in particular were viewed as a potential destination for Johnson before he agreed to a four-year, $94.5MM deal early in free agency.
“I think Detroit was in talks a lot, and I know (former Suns coach Monty Williams) is over there, so I’m just like, ‘All right now, calm down. Don’t take Twin away,’” Bridges said. “So definitely very, very for the team — outside my selfish reasons, but for the team — big-time. We need Cam. And for him to get paid and kind of get that baby weight off his shoulders, I think it’s great for the team and great for him.”
I don’t see any 30 or older player being a legitimate target.
If Luka, SGA, Brown, Ja, or Trae become available, unload the picks. Picking up Herro or Simons in the interim isn’t a bad deal. They need a young guard.
Mikal looked absolutely spectacular for them, but if no one else steps up I don’t see the Nets escaping the play-in. They need to make a move for another guy who can score – someone like Tyler Herro (young guy who can come in and give you 20 a night) should be perfect as a second option behind Mikal. Any other scoring guard, really. Dinwiddie is a solid starter but I can’t see him become a true second option. If Clax gets a consistent jumper this offseason I can see him be a nice third option on offense.
Mikal 1st, Cam Johnson 2nd, DinWiddie 3rd, Claxton/Royce/DFS/Walker 4th, Everyone else.
If they make a move its bc they’ll get a 1A or 1B type to play alongside Mikal. But that’s the pecking order above for this season.
Most likely. I’m also waiting to see how Vaughn plays Cam Thomas this season – I think he can provide well on offense but the gaps in his defence will probably only allow him to play ~10 minutes a game.
I wouldn’t mind sending LaVine to them for Simmons and some of Those picks
Bulls hang up. Even if they’re willing to blow it up, LaVine is valuable enough to warrant a better package. Ben Simmons as salary filler + Cam Thomas, DFS/Royce O’Neale (who can be flipped for 1 or 2 more 1st rounders) and 3 picks sounds much fairer in my opinion. Nets still wouldn’t be giving up that much (considering who they’re getting) while Bulls get more possible trade pieces and a solid young player.
Waiting for Mikal to demand a trade to NYK