The Brooklyn Nets have essentially made it through all of the important offseason duties when it comes to team-building as the 2026 NBA Draft and Las Vegas Summer League are in the rearview. Brooklyn did what it could over the course of the summer to improve the team as much as possible, but it seems like their efforts will still have them in a similar spot compared to last season.
“Randle should raise the floor for the Nets, especially offensively, where they scored 1.5 fewer points per 100 possessions than any other team last season,” John Schuhmann wrote for NBA.com when discussing the Eastern Conference power rankings. The Nets ranked as the 14th-best in the Eastern Conference for NBA.com, despite adding Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle via trade and guard Mikel Brown Jr. with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2026 draft.
“And it will be interesting to see if their (relative) success with Sharpe on the floor continues if he plays more minutes, presumably as the starting center,” Schuhmann continued. “Michael Porter Jr. is still here and Brooklyn outscored opponents by 3.9 points per 100 possessions in his 373 minutes alongside Sharpe. But how good the Nets are in 2026-27 is not as important as how good they can be a few seasons from now, so it’s important that they hit on their Lottery picks from the last two drafts.”
To Schuhmann’s point, the Nets should have an easier time scoring points on offense given that Randle is another player that averaged 21.1 points and 5.0 assists per game last season with the Timberwolves. More to the point, forward Michael Porter Jr. is coming off the best season of his career where he averaged 24.2 points per game while shooting 36.6% from behind the three-point line.
While Porter and Randle are likely to provide the scoring and playmaking that the Nets need on the offensive end of the floor, Brooklyn’s performance next season will depend on how Brown, Egor Demin, and Day’Ron Sharpe play. Sharpe has shown his ability to compete against starting-level centers, but Demin and Brown are also part of the team’s future plans as high first-round picks. The odds are against Brooklyn next season, though.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets ranked 14th-best team in Eastern Conference NBA power rankings
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire | USA TODAY Network
