Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Victorious Hannibal Views Italy From the Alps for the First Time; Francisco Goya; 1770

Consider the eras of the Brooklyn Nets since they moved across the Hudson and East rivers.

You had the Faceplant Superteam — trading for Joe Johnson was one of the first things the franchise did in Brooklyn, and the fateful Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett trade happened within a year. All of that resulted in a single playoff series won (for the Nets anyway, the Celtics have won a lot of playoff series because of this Nets era).

You had the Vibes Not Picks Rebuild of Sean Marks and Kenny Atkinson, starring D’Angelo Russell getting an All-Star nod, the rise of Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert, and legitimate NBA careers for Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris.

You had the Kyrie Era, and yes I’m calling it the Kyrie Era because unfortunately he — not Kevin Durant, not James Harden, not Steve Nash, not Sean Marks, not even DeAndre Jordan — he, Kyrie Irving, defined it. This is recent past, and we are all too aware that having Kevin Durant still near the peak of his powers and those talented co-stars resulted in exactly one playoff series win.

Now you have something new. The Nets traded their best player, Mikal Bridges, for a bucket of picks in the summer and made the interesting move to trade a little extra draft equity to get the rights to their own 2025 pick back from the Rockets, who had it from the Harden deal. This — spending a premium to get the rights back to your own pick — is the clearest possible signal that you expect and intend to be a terrible team. And the roster matched the expectation, with possibly Cam Thomas or Dennis Schroder being the best player on the squad.

And yet: the Brooklyn Nets are 8-10, having just won in Sacramento and Golden State back to back. They are 4-0 on the road against the Western Conference for the first time in franchise history. Under rookie head coach Jordi Fernandez, who has spent time under Mike Brown and leads the Canadian national team, the Nets have the No. 8 offense in the NBA. Cam Thomas, Dennis Schroder, Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, Ben Simmons (!), Nic Claxton, Jalen Wilson, Ziaire Williams, Noah Clowney: the No. 8 offense in the NBA. They are No. 3 in three-point frequency and No. 4 in three-point percentage. They are playing the math game, and winning way more than they should and perhaps want to.

And the vibes … far be it from me to harken back to the halcyon days of D’Angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie, but the vibes are strong. Ask the Warriors, who got shredded by Brooklyn at home in crunch time with half the Nets’ rotation in street clothes or on the bench. It was Schroder — not living legend Steph Curry — making all the right plays and saying Net Net to the crowd.

On both Sunday and Monday, Brooklyn trailed in the fourth quarter on the road against postseason-caliber opponents. (Take this walk with me regarding the Kings.) Terrible teams don’t usually win those games. And yet, Fernandez continues to play his best players, despite their age (Schroder is 31), and the players go hard on both ends, sticking to the plan and disrupting that of the opponents.

This is not your normal total tank rebuild team. The happiness from a ragtag bench — again, with key guys like Bojan Bogdanovic and Ben Simmons (?) in street clothes, with Cam Johnson having exited in the first half, with Cam Thomas having sat since the third for mysterious reasons sorta related to a possible injury — is not normal.

The Nets, sitting No. 8 in the East, probably will not and should not make the postseason, even in this conference. The talent base needs a strong addition, the kind usually found in the top-10 in the NBA Draft. But this is nowhere as bad as it looked on paper in the offseason, and there’s a real foundation for a future good team in terms of base buy-in, theory and vibes. Sean Marks just might have done it again. The Vibes Not Picks Nets are back. (They have picks this time, thanks to the Suns, Mavericks and Knicks.)

Share

Scores

Pelicans 110, Pacers 114 — I don’t know what to do with either of these teams right now so how about some highlights of Elfrid Payton (!!) getting 21 assists. He was in the G League two weeks ago and played for a Puerto Rican club owned by Ozuna two years ago. Stay Ready All-Star.

Raptors 100, Pistons 102 — Jaden Ivey for the win!

Magic 95, Hornets 84 — LaMelo Ball scored or assisted on 61 of the Hornets’ 84 points. And he “only” played 40 minutes. (The Hornets scored 10 points in the eight minutes LaMelo sat.) But Ball took 30 shots and had seven turnovers, too. This player totally confounds me. Usually, I’d say that a player like this clearly has talent that needs to be harnessed and supported. But this dude plays like a video game character controlled by a self-assured 13-year-old. Like, what the hell is this?

Until we figure out this LaMelo Ball thing, I’m just posting Franz Wagner highlights. It’s getting quite clear that this team should be top-4 in the East barring catastrophe.

Leave a comment

Clippers 94, Celtics 126 — Kristaps Porzingis is back. Seems unfair.

Mavericks 129, Hawks 119 — Just a quick appreciation for P.J. Washington, who is incredibly important to this Mavericks team. It’s probably not a coincidence that the team’s swoon happened during his absence.

Blazers 98, Grizzlies 123 — What if you made the entire Ja Morant out of Ja Morant comeback games?

Knicks 145, Nuggets 118 — The theory of the new Knicks is that adding Karl-Anthony Towns to the other recent additions could give New York one of the best offenses on the planet, and having Tom Thibodeau coach a team with Mikal Bridges, O.G. Anunoby and Josh Hart on the wings could get the defense where it needs to be.

That theory seems to check out.

The Knicks shot 61% from the field and had an eFG of 71%. Anunoby was shooting flames out of his smile and Towns dominated Nikola Jokic. Sheesh. When it hits for the Knicks, it hits.

Thunder 130, Kings 109 — I think I will [sigh] write about the Kings at some point. My quick take is that maybe they are one of the two worst three-point defending teams in the league for the second straight year but there’s no damn way they are really a bottom-five three-point shooting team. I blame the tiny center logo on their city court.

Meanwhile, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is an absolute terror.

Nets 128, Warriors 120

NBA Cup Schedule

Just a couple games, so I’ll drop notes in here. All times Eastern.

EAST A
No action. Only the Nets and Hornets can spoil the expected clash between Orlando and New York next week.

EAST B
Bucks at Heat, 7:30, TNT

Miami (1-1) likes ruining things for Milwaukee (2-0), but Giannis is on a tear. Interesting game here in the normal league standings as the Bucks can hit .500 and leap the Heat with a win. The 2-0 Pistons actually don’t have a dog in this fight — even with a Heat win, Detroit will need to beat Milwaukee to move on.

EAST C
Bulls at Wizards, 7

Will the Wizards ever win again?

WEST A
Rockets at Timberwolves, 8

It seems like the 2-0 Rockets can clinch a knockout berth with a win here, though I don’t really know for sure. No one knows, actually. We’re all just making this up as we go. Interesting game.

WEST B
Spurs at Jazz, 9
Lakers at Suns, 10, TNT

All the Lakers do is win NBA Cup games. But Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are expected back in this one, so …

This group is actually kind of crazy (the Thunder are the inactive team). Wins from the Suns and Spurs would set up a wild final day next Tuesday.

WEST C
No action, and the Warriors have already clinched. The Mavericks have a strong chance at getting the West wild card … if they can beat Memphis next week.

Links

John Schuhmann’s Power Rankings.

Katie Heindl on Russell Westbrook, a combo that rivals peanut butter and jelly or banana pudding and vanilla wafers. Truly, Westbrook is an icon of this generation is so many ways. Possibly my favorite player … ever?

Dan Devine on gentleman pickpocket Dyson Daniels.

Marc Stein talked to Mark Cuban and got a very, very funny scoop about why the former Mavericks owner, who still shows up to home games, doesn’t travel with the team anymore. Funnier than I could have imagined!

Michael Pina talked to Ime Udoka, coach of the most interesting team in the NBA.

Speaking of the Rockets, here’s Tom Haberstroh on their title chances.

Every week is a great week to read Scott Hines but Thanksgiving Week is the best week to read Scott Hines.

David Skilling at Culture of Sport with theories on why NBA ratings are down.

Jared Dubin on Tari Eason and more.

Keith Smith on the Pelicans’ decision tree.

Alright, that was Tuesday. Be excellent to each other.