One win doesn't end low-balling

The Nets win over the Rockets may have been impressive to the fans, but not to national (and some local) writers.  They are still knocking the Nets future as well as its present.

As Ian Levy of Sports Illustrated writes,

"The Brooklyn Nets are a five-alarm dumpster-fire, even after they shocked Houston on the road Wednesday night for their first victory of the season ... Sure, there will be some inevitable upward progression to the mean—like, Wednesday night, for example—but not nearly enough to mask the stench of doom and decay hanging over this team."

Levy doesn't exactly plow new ground in suggesting the Nets and their fans are in for a long period of mediocrity at best.  He even describes the Nets present at "putrid," stealing Bradford Doolittle's famous adjective.

Max Resetar of SLAM takes a different tack.  He expresses nostalgia for the Meadowlands, fantasizing about the family nature of the New Jersey fans with the hipsters of Brooklyn.  He offers no data to support either.

Going to Nets games isn’t about the Nets. People show up to watch the opposing team or they show up because it’s something to do. You’d be lucky to find more than a handful of people who would know who Richard Jefferson is at Barclays Center. You’d be lucky to find 50 people that know where Brook Lopez went to college. And good luck finding anyone who remembers Kerry Kittles.

Steve Lichtenstein of CBS, who's taken his share of shots at Billy King and Lionel Hollins in the past, believes that the Nets problems should be laid at King's feet.

Young is not an elite rebounder. Neither is Lopez. Of course, that didn’t matter much to King, who has no concept as to what makes a player valuable in today’s game, nor has he any clue as to how to fit pieces into a puzzle. I believe King when he told the media in the preseason that he thought this group could contend for a playoff berth. It’s just further proof of his incompetence.

Like we said the other day, it's a daily drumbeat of despair ... except of course in Boston where fans are scoreboard watching already, believing the Nets will be bad enough to assure that the Celtics will get a top five pick.

• The great Brooklyn tire fire: How the Nets made their own mess - Ian Levy - Sports Illustrated
• The only hope for the Brooklyn Nets may be 'tanksharing' - Joseph Flynn - Sports Illustrated
  
• So Far Gone - Mark Resetar - SLAM
• Billy King, Not Lionel Hollins, To Blame For Nets’ Start - Steve Lichtenstein - CBS
• Brooklyn Nets pick? Trades? ‘Really early to get excited’ says Danny Ainge - A. Sherrod Blakely - Comcast Sports Net