Blame Rockets For Nets’ Tank Diversion

Frank Franklin II/Associated Press

I wasted too many minutes (ok, hours) on Tuesday afternoon attempting to assuage the boisterous pro-tanking segment of Nets Nation, who were apoplectic over Brooklyn’s two-game winning streak that pushed them further away from the lottery slots with the highest odds for prime picks.

One such fan accused Nets management of malpractice, since they swapped the equivalent of four future first-round picks this past summer to recoup the full rights to their 2025 and 2026 1s that were originally dealt to Houston in the 2021 James Harden blockbuster. Ergo, in many fans’ eyes, each Nets win is a kneecap whack to their ability to maximize the value from that trade.

After what transpired on Tuesday night at Barclays Center, I can only imagine what went through those fans’ minds. I’m guessing the veins in their necks were bulging as much as Rockets postgame studio host Calvin Murphy’s following the Nets’ stunning 99-97 victory that saw them outscore Houston, 6-1, in the final 11 seconds. At 17-33, Brooklyn’s race to the bottom is going to be hard to pull off.

Folks, I’m not sure what you want General Manager Sean Marks to do about it. Cam Johnson, whose continued presence on the roster ignited the above debate, has played three games since January 2 and none since January 21 due to ankle woes. He had nothing to do with these last three wins.

So, should Marks fire Head Coach Jordi Fernandez for the sin of getting a bunch of G-Leaguers and back-of-the-bench guys to play hard and cohesively? Of Brooklyn’s 15 players on NBA contracts, seven suited up on Tuesday night. Their most decorated player, point guard D’Angelo Russell, shot 3-for-15.

Of course, DLo’s third make was colossal. The Nets had cut Houston’s lead to two points on Keon Johnson’s three-pointer with eight seconds remaining. All the Rockets had to do was inbound the basketball and get fouled. Only Amen Thompson’s pass was knocked down by Nets two-way player Tosan Evbuomwan, who had the presence of mind to tip the ball back to an open Russell above the arc. With 3.4 seconds left, Russell’s 3 swished through the net, sending YES announcer Ryan Ruocco, who somehow gets all the crazy finishes, into euphoria and the pro-tanking Nets fans into deep despair.

I give up trying to talk these fine folks off the ledge. I had warned them all season that this team was too good to tank in the manner they had hoped, that the preseason oddsmakers that put their over/under win total at 19 were ridiculously disrespectful. I wrote that taking Russell back from the Lakers in the Dorain Finney-Smith trade, which they had to do to make the money work without affecting next season’s salary cap space, wasn’t a move that would accelerate the tank like the prior Dennis Schroder-for-garbage trade with Golden State did.

I do expect more roster machinations in the coming days and weeks. Even if no one else gets traded by Thursday’s deadline, buyouts seem like a logical place for Marks to pare talent. Veterans like Russell and Ben Simmons, who sat out Tuesday’s first game of Brooklyn’s back-to-back, might prefer to play meaningful games down the stretch.

But with Fernandez establishing a Nets standard of how to play, they’re bound to win a few more games than their meager talent would ordinarily allow them to. Should those wins diminish the value of their 2025 first-round pick, well, I’d counter that having a quality coach on board after so many poor hires has its own value. Marks is not going to have Fernandez take a sabbatical and return only when the roster is ready to compete for the playoffs.

So don’t blame Marks, Fernandez, the players, or the gods for these wins. OK, maybe you can direct your ire at Houston, who literally gave Tuesday’s game away. Lost in the frenzy and their ineptitude during the final seconds was the wild sequence with about a minute to go when the Rockets, up by four points, kept putting up quick 3s instead of draining clock.

Before Houston lost to Brooklyn at home on Saturday, they were the Western Conference’s No. 2 seed. The previous week, they defeated Boston and Cleveland twice. The Rockets have no excuse (if you’re pointing to injuries, again, refresh your screen to see who the Nets had on the floor in crunch time).

The Nets graciously accepted Houston’s largesse. Despite the best efforts of management, coaches and players do not tank. This is their livelihoods. In my mind, that will translate into about a 22-win season and maybe a fifth-best odds at the lottery drawing.

I get it, it’s not what the pro-tankers, especially those who worship probability over the randomness of a single drawing and Draft board, want. However, the upside is that if this is what Fernandez can do with figurative trash, Nets fans should be giddy over the prospect of how he’ll develop young treasures, no matter what slot they’ll be drafted in.