The Brooklyn Nets are ranked as the 15th-best team in the NBA by Bleacher Report going into the All-Star Break. The Nets, at 34-24, are no longer among the NBA’s elite now that Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving have left town. Going into the trade deadline, Brooklyn was ranked by B/R was the 10th-best team in the Association.
The fact that the team’s current ranking without Durant and Irving and with four new players to go along with a brand-new starting lineup and rotation is impressive. In the last three games (with Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, Mikal Bridges, and Cameron Johnson all playing), the Net have an offensive rating of 117.6 and a defensive rating of 122.2. Those numbers would rank fourth and 30th in the league over the course of a full season, respectively.
In those three games, Brooklyn has gone 1-2 after losses to the Philadelphia 76ers and the New York Knicks. The Nets were able to go into the All-Star break with an impressive victory over the Miami Heat as Mikal Bridges scored a career-high 45 points. B/R gave their thoughts on the new-look Nets:
“The Brooklyn Nets aren’t going to fade away quietly after trading Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
Those deals made way for a haul of three-and-D wings (including Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith) and one of the league’s most interesting defense-first rosters.
Finding consistent sources of offense is perhaps a concern, but Bridges put some of that to rest Wednesday, when he dropped 45 in a win over the Miami Heat’s top-five defense.”
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