Brooklyn Nets by the numbers

With maybe one camp invite left, the Nets roster is set.  So let's take a look at the roster, by the numbers, measuring it by age, athleticism, experience, etc.

Age: The Nets are now the 10th youngest team in the NBA, with an average age of 25.1, about five years younger than they were after the big Boston trade two years ago.  The team has as many players 20 and younger --two-- as it does 30 and older.

Chris McCullough, at 20 years and 198 days, is the youngest Net since they traded away Derrick Favors in the Deron Williams trade four and a half years ago.  Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is only a month older.   Last year at this time, the Nets had six players 30 or older: Kevin Garnett, Joe Johnson, Andrei Kirilenko, Deron Williams, Alan Anderson and Jarrett Jack and one 20-year-old, Sergey Karasev.

Athleticism: It's hard to measure team athleticism, but the Nets have three players with maximum verticals of 40" or higher, in Shane Larkin (44"), Markel Brown (43.5") and Ryan Boatright (41").  Last season, the most athletic players were Brown, Cory Jefferson and Mason Plumlee. Some of the bigs have big hops as well, with Willie Reed checking in with a 37" vertical, and Thomas Robinson at 35.5" It's hard to get a read on McCullough's max vertical, because he was rehabbing during the Draft Combine, but there was a reason he got votes for "most athletic" from his fellow rookies.

In terms of speed, Larkin is one of the fastest players ever tested at the Draft Combine, with a  3.08 second time in the three quarter court sprint. That's faster than notable speedsters John Wall and Mike Conley Jr. registered at their combines. RHJ isn't far behind at 3.12 seconds. Thaddeus Young is also considerably more athletic at this point in his career than Garnett was.

Experience: The Nets are nowhere near as experienced as they were the past two years. They may have been older, but they also knew what they were doing. They rank ninth in experience. Two years ago, they were second. The Nets are currently carrying three rookies: McCullough, who won't play for a while; Hollis-Jefferson and Boatright plus one player who's had two stints with NBA clubs, but has yet to play a second in an NBA game: Willie Reed. They have two second year players in Brown and Bojan Bogdanovic and three third-year players in Karasev, Larkin, Quincy Miller.

Height: The Nets are the fifth shortest team in the NBA right now, with two seven-footers in Brook Lopez and Andrea Bargnani, one player listed at 6'11", McCullough, and another, Reed, who says he should be.  They also have two players listed at 5'11" in Boatright and Larkin.  They do have a number of players with 7-foot wingspans, starting with Lopez at 7'6"; McCullough at nearly 7'4"; Reed, Bargnani and Miller at 7'3"; Hollis-Jefferson at 7'2"; Robinson at 7'1; and Thaddeus Young at just under 7-feet. All have longer wingspans than Plumlee. Both Lopez and Bargnani are likely taller than 7'0". In fact, Bargnani was measured at close to 7'2".

International: The Nets have three international players in Bogdanovic, Karasev and Andrea Bargnani. Last year at this time, they had five: Bogdanovic, Karasev, Kirilenko, Mirza Teletovic and Jerome Jordan.

Payroll: At $84.6 million, Nets now rank eighth in payroll in the NBA, the biggest change in any category from last year, when they topped the list, as they did in 2013-14. Among the teams ahead of them are clubs who've previously had reputations as conservative spenders, teams like the Spurs at $87.1 million and the Thunder at $97.2 million. The Nets paid out $123.4 million in luxury taxes over the past three years, including the record of $90.6 million last July, which is unlikely to ever be broken. It's doubtful They'll pay anything this year. The taxes are calculated on the last day of the regular season, so the trade deadline is the last day any significant changes can be made. Joe Johnson is the league's second highest paid player at $24.9 million.

Thanks to hispanosNBA and Draft Express