The Nets Lose Their 1st-Round Pick to Portland as Draft Lottery Goes (Almost) Chalk

Bleh, this team makes me sick

Last night's much-hyped Draft Lottery was yet another fit of incredible misfortune for the Nets as their lottery balls came up short, landing them in the 6th-spot and giving the Portland Trail Blazers the draft pick as part of the much-scrutinized Gerald Wallace deadline deal. Like the Nets pick, most of the 14 lottery selections went the teams with the corresponding record, such as the Nets having the 6th-worst record and getting the 6th pick. However, this didn't happen at the top of the draft board as the Hornets, who had the 4th-worst record in the NBA last year, ended up getting the #1 pick, presumably to take Anthony Davis. As a result, the league-worst Bobcats got the 2nd-pick while the Wizards landed in the 3rd-slot.

Congrats to those afor-mentioned teams and their fan bases but that doesn't cover the Nets, and us, their beaten-down fans. This news is absolutely terrible for the newly-minted Brooklyn Nets, whose future was greatly leveraged by the Wallace trade while the proverbial knife was dug in deeper with tonight's complete loss of the pick that could have been used as a trade asset for Dwight Howard. Now, Deron Williams has much more incentive to not re-sign with the Nets, a team that only has a 2012 2nd-round pick (57th overall) and four players under contract currently as potential trade bait. Of course, I will have more on this unnerving situation in the days to come but I leave all you readers a final statement: Give us a damn break for once!

The NBA Draft Lottery is Tonight, While The Nets' Future Lies in the Balance

Tonight, at 8pm, in MSG, the Nets' franchise will set out on a road to success....or one of bitter despair

The 2012 NBA Draft Lottery is tonight at 8pm on ESPN and it is obviously one of great importance for the New Jersey Brooklyn Nets. Even though the site has been super-quiet lately (You can blame my teachers), it shouldn't be understated just how crucial tonight is for the short-term and long-term scope of this team.

You know the drill, the top-three protected 1st-round pick the Nets flipped to the Portland Trailblazers could wind up in a very good rookie for the Nets (and potential trade chip for Dwight Howard) or a very good rookie for Portland. There is even some chatter that the results of tonight's lottery will be the deciding factor in whether D-Will will return to the Nets this offseason or sign elsewhere (let it be noted that I don't completely believe in Woj's report, but I must acknowledge its existence.)

Anyway, the consequences of the Nets losing their potentially very-high 1st-round pick in this year's loaded draft would be severe and could lead to another period of extended futility with a team and a fan base that has experienced way too much of that in recent years. The specifics are grim: the Nets only have around a 25% chance of keeping their pick and a 75% chance of losing it.

You don't have to be a math major to know that those are awful, terrible, no-good odds and according to said odds, the Nets and their fans will probably go to sleep tonight without a 1st-round pick and a great chance that their franchise player will be playing elsewhere this offseason.

I'm not trying to scare you, fellow Nets fans, I'm trying to be honest and truthful. Being hopeful that the lottery balls will fall in our favor is the way to go for right now, just keep it in check with the knowledge that that hope will most likely spoil and turn into pessimism in about an hour. The only positive with this grim knowledge is that the Nets are no stranger to terrible luck and us fans are used to it by now. Let's hold on to the chance our luck will turn tonight.

Season-In-Review: DeShawn Stevenson

This post, along with the other posts I will do in the Season-In-Review series, will take a deeper look at how all the Nets did last season on the court and possibly off of it. We start off with the enigma that is DeShawn Stevenson.


The Nets signed Stevenson to a 1-year, $2.5 million contract on December 23rd, 2011, just three days before the Nets played their first game of the season. Of course, Stevenson was a key part of the 2011 NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks but had to look for work elsewhere after the season due to Dallas' cap-cutting measures. The Nets were excited to sneak in and sign the guy who shut down LeBron in the Finals for only the veteran's minimum. However, the Nets didn't get the Stevenson that seemed to want to play defense, they got the Stevenson that played it when he felt like it.

I guess we shouldn't really have expected much from the 31 year-old coming into the season but what we got from him was a significant drop-off from anything anyone thought he would produce. Stevenson shot a dreadful 28.5% from the field, 28% from three, and just 56% from the free-throw line. All of the these numbers were near the worst of his career and that could probably be blamed on motivation alone. When a less-than-stable player like Stevenson goes from the NBA Champion Mavericks to the lottery-bound Nets, there is bound to be disappointment and possibly a reduction in level of play. Actually, just reduction in performance wouldn't do Stevenson's season justice; it would be best characterized as the performance falling off of a cliff.