A Nets Too-Good-To-Fail Story
The closing weeks of an NBA season are notorious for bringing out the strange as teams play out the string of the marathon slog, with minds focused on either the upcoming playoffs or getting out of Dodge.
In this year of The Great Tankapolooza, the oddities, to put it kindly, have come fast and furious, some warranting league investigations for blatant attempts at game fixing. We’ve seen a good, but not great scorer produce the second-highest point total in league history, a curious intentional foul, missed potential game-winning free throws, and coaches calling timeouts as their teams embarked on fast breaks, Of course, nothing of significance has come of them, with Commissioner Adam Silver channeling Sergeant Schultz’s “I see nothing!” while only looking forward for ill-conceived ways to minimize these transgressions.
In the meantime, the Nets have completely forsaken their prior ethical philosophy in joining the slew of teams egregiously tanking for better odds at the May 10 Lottery. They’ve shut down players, “rested” 19-year olds, and benched others in fourth quarters.
Still, it wasn’t enough to guarantee a run of losses to close the season. The Nets’ once comfortable “lead” for the third-worst finish that would assure them of the same 52% chance of a top four pick as those beneath them had dwindled to a game by Thursday’s “contest” versus Indiana in the Barclays Center season finale. The tank could ill afford another win.
Which brings me to the Nets’ most recent “WTF” organizational decision: In a game where Head Coach Jordi Fernandez went with a seven-man rotation on the front end of a back-to-back, Chaney Johnson was deemed too good to tank against the Pacers.
For those asking, “Who?”, Johnson is a 23-year old undrafted free agent rookie who signed a two-way contract with Brooklyn on December 26. He toiled solely for G League Long Island, where he wasn’t even a regular starter, until Fernandez began giving him NBA minutes a month ago.
An athletic 6-foot 7 and 220 pounds, Johnson is exactly the type of player whom one would think would reap the benefits from Brooklyn’s, um, rotation restructuring down the stretch. If he had so much as a hangnail, the Nets would have put him on their lengthy injury list. Otherwise, why would a team so undersized at the moment make such an unheralded player a healthy scratch?
It had to be because he was upsetting the tank with his effectiveness. In Tuesday’s affair against Milwaukee, the team was plus-16 during Johnson’s eight minutes in a six-point victory. Before that, he registered 9 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks in 21 minutes while going plus-seven in Sunday’s 121-115 defeat of Washington. In his last eight games, he was averaging 15 points per 36 minutes on a 62.8/36.4/87.5 shooting split.
Beyond that, Johnson was delivering hustle plays, getting after loose balls and setting good screens. The Nets were always going to get hammered on the boards with Johnson as a small-ball five, but it wasn’t because of a deficient battle level—he’s actually tied for the team lead in box outs per game this season, per NBA.com.
The Nets gave Trevon Scott, a 29-year old G League lifer, a 10-day hardship contract last week and proceeded to give him 40 minutes in Johnson’s place in each of the last two games. That’s more in line with tanking lore—putting middling minor leaguers under the bright lights to ensure losses. Johnson was upsetting the already rotten apple cart.
I can’t tell if Johnson has a real potential feel-good development story in him or if he’s a small-sample meteorite owed to the uniqueness of this portion of the season. Eye-popping at the time, but gone and long forgotten in a week.
Johnson will be a restricted free agent this summer, meaning the Nets have the best shot at keeping him for 2026-27. However, with all the other young players expected to litter the roster and a likely mandate to get this thing turned around after two seasons in hell, management may not have room for such a literal and figurative flyer.
So this was supposed to be Johnson’s golden chance to showcase his talents. Who would have thunk he’d be snakebit by being too good for this failed Nets season?
Heck... he can do way more things on the court than I can, but I'll question Chaney's athleticism for a guy at his height. He looks like a stiff version of Kuminga who needs to shed about 20 pounds to make up the gap in speed AND athleticism. Just another decent role-player off the bench for a team with no foundational building block.
Can't wait for the Draft Lottery to learn we're gonna pick at the worst possible spot for our standings... 😔