Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated is the latest to try his hand at guaging how the Nets did in the off-season. He, like most, sees it as a big disappointment and gives the Nets a C-, better than the Raptors and only slightly worse than the Knicks in the Atlantic Division.
He broke it down into what went right and what went wrong: Mannix sees the Nets' draft of Derrick Favors as one big thing that went right, calling him "an athletic power forward with Bosh-type skills" who could be a "cornerstone". He also likes the restructuring under Mikhail Prokhorov. "The Nets are looking at a long road back to respectability, but they have the organizational pieces in place."
What went wrong? The lottery for one, but also Mannix claims the Nets spent money "just to spend money". He writes, "For a team going nowhere this season, preserving that cap space might have been a better bet." For the record, the Nets are $14.95 million under the cap and their payroll is barely at the league minimum. Finally, he says the loss of Rod Thorn "sure hurts".