The Post’s Brian Lewis makes answers the biggest Nets questions, makes bold predictions and picks the five biggest games of the 2024-25 season:
Starting five
1. Can Fernandez develop a positive culture?
This might be the most important question they have to answer between now and the season finale.
Make no mistake, the Nets’ record will likely be poor. And a few seasons of constant losing can infect a franchise’s DNA. Just ask the woebegone Pistons, who sank to historic levels of futility despite years and years of lottery picks stacked on top of one another.
Yes, Fernandez is a development coach that will look to guide young(ish) talents like Thomas and still-improving center Nic Claxton. More on that part later. But much of the good habits and positive culture developed under former coach Kenny Atikinson atrophied under successors Steve Nash and Jacque Vaughn, and the player-led team that should’ve developed under the Big Three of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden never did.
Can Fernandez (re)build that?
“A lot of reps. A lot of physicality. How you want to play. Changing the culture a bit,” Schroder said.
That culture will be important, not just in properly molding youngsters like Thomas (and maybe Noah Clowney, Jalen Wilson and the future rookies drafted with a projected four first-round picks in June), but also appealing to free agents next summer when Brooklyn could have $60 million to spend.
2. Can Ben Simmons stay healthy?
The question is just as important as it always has been. Missing Simmons for a few games now — or even a few weeks — won’t have the same impact it did when they had Durant and Irving and legitimate championship aspirations back in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
To say Simmons’ health has let him — and his teams — down is an understatement. He’s missed a staggering 189 of 246 games for Brooklyn and Philadelphia over the previous three seasons due to a bad back, herniated discs and nerve impingements forcing two microscopic partial discectomies.
Few expect Simmons to ever approach his former form as a three-time All-Star and Defensive Player of the Year runner-up. But since his arrival in Brooklyn, the Nets have been on a 45-win pace when he plays and 35 when he doesn’t. He’s the most accomplished player on the roster, and his size and positional versatility make a difference when he’s on the floor. Can he stay there?
“Overall, I feel good,” Simmons said. “I think it’s one of those things the next day is just very telling. But I haven’t had one setback so far, and I feel great. Played the most minutes [25 on Friday] I have in all the preseason games so far, and I feel good. So excited to get the season started.”
It behooves all parties for Simmons to play. With his $40 million deal expiring at season’s end, can he stay fit enough for the Nets to deal him at the deadline, or to boost his value in free agency next summer?
3. How long do the Nets hold onto their veterans?
The veterans’ timeline doesn’t exactly line up with that of rebuilding Brooklyn, in the early stages of a youth movement.
Bogdanovic (35), Finney-Smith (31), Schroder (31), Johnson (28) and Simmons (28) are the five oldest players on the roster, and all but Johnson have expiring contracts. Johnson and Finney-Smith have constantly been mentioned in trade reports, while Schroder’s $13 million salary is both reasonable and makes him eminently movable before the trade deadline.
While Simmons’ departure in free agency at season’s end seems likely, it’s always possible that he stays healthy enough to get moved before February.
Meanwhile, Bogdanovic — a former Net who was reacquired from the Knicks in the Bridges megadeal — missed the entire preseason recovering from April surgeries on his foot and wrist. He still hasn’t been cleared for 5-on-5 contact. Sources told The Post two weeks ago that there had been no talks regarding a buyout, but is it something that could be broached in the future?
The league-low win totals for Brooklyn projected by the betting houses largely reflect an assumption that those veterans will be gone sooner rather than later. But for Marks, it’s likely preferable to get deals that are excellent rather than expedient.
How many of those veterans end up getting shipped out — and on opening night, at the trade deadline or at what point in-between?
4. Does Thomas become a franchise centerpiece?
While Bridges has followed the Big Three out the door, and Claxton has already reached his prime, Thomas is still ostensibly years away from his — ostensibly because he still has a chance to improve.
Still just 22, Thomas averaged a team-high 22.5 points last season, his 11.9-point increase the biggest jump of any player in the NBA. Fernandez has called scoring Thomas’ “superpower,” and the high-volume shooter was given the 10th-best odds to lead the league in scoring by FanDuel Sportsbook, ahead of Durant, Jayson Tatum, Nikola Jokic, Devin Booker and Stephen Curry.
But Fernandez has also challenged the young guard to become more efficient on offense. Indeed, he suggested Thomas’ Brooklyn tenure may hinge on it.
“It’s not rocket science. You either get better or you get worse,” Fernandez said. “If he gets worse, then there’s a discussion of if he’s part of the future. If he gets better, he’s a very good player with great superpowers.”
How does that future look? The Nets let Monday’s deadline to ink Thomas to a rookie extension come and go.
That will help in sequencing deals next offseason, when they’re set to have a league-high $60 million in cap room, double that of the next closest team. Brooklyn can make Thomas a restricted free agent and let the market speak next summer. How he develops over the course of this season will determine that market.
5. Do any of the reclamation projects come good?
There was a time during Marks’ first build in Brooklyn that the Nets did this as well as any team in the league. It worked with D’Angelo Russell, Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris; they even wrung contributions out of salary dumps like DeMarrre Carroll. Can they do so again?
Granted, some of the staff that was in Brooklyn at the time has been swiped by other franchises. But Marks will look to replicate that work, especially with former lottery picks Williams and Killian Hayes.
Williams, 23, has impressed in open runs, camp and preseason. He played all four preseason games, ran the floor like a gazelle and was the Nets’ best defensive player, averaging 11.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in 25.1 minutes while his 10 total steals led the league. Yes, that sorry .273 shooting from deep was on brand, but if he can even moderately improve that, Brooklyn has a steal.
While Hayes is on the last year of his rookie contract — acquired from Memphis as a salary dump — he inked an Exhibit 10 deal as a training camp invite. A hip injury sidelined him in the preseason, but since he was ineligible for a two-way due to service time, he agreed to continue his rehab in Long Island on a G League deal.
With 210 NBA appearances for Detroit under his belt — 145 of them starts — Hayes is experienced for a 23-year-old. And with the Nets needing a young backup point guard to develop, being able to keep him around for his rehab and not have to waive or trade anybody until he’s ready is a boon for Brooklyn.
Buzzer beaters
Newcomer to watch
That’s going to be Fernandez.
Yes, 21-year-old Chinese National Team prospect Cui Yongxi will be much watched, particularly on the other side of the world. Williams has the potential to be Brooklyn’s latest reclamation success. And Bogdanovic is the only player on the roster other than Thomas who has ever averaged at least 20 points in a season, and he’s done it several times.
But Fernandez is the 2024 newcomer that is going to be most pivotal for this team’s success going forward.
How well does the league’s best assistant coach grow into his first head coaching job (at least, his first since the two years guiding the G League Canton Charge)? Does the Spaniard overcome the inevitable losses to build a winning culture? Can he foster the kind of atmosphere that All-Star free agents would want to join in a year or two?
Most important decision
Who to trade and when to trade them?
The Nets picked the perfect time to move Bridges. The basic parameters of the deal had been on the table from the All-Star break, but they’d clung to hope of finding him a running mate and salvaging the experiment. But when they recognized it wasn’t going to happen, they extracted a windfall — five firsts to tie the record set in the 2019 Paul George deal — that showed their patience was prudent.
Now, they’ve got a host of vets — Finney-Smith, Johnson, Schroder and Bogdanovic — they could move before the trade deadline. Marks will have to judge based on a host of factors, including what kind of start the Nets get off to, what kind of other options would be left on the roster and clearly most important of all, what sort of offer he can wrangle from other teams.
Good days to come
Williams is on the upswing.
The obvious pick might be Thomas, who will score in bunches, or Johnson, with a return to full health following last season’s nagging injuries. But frankly, they were Brooklyn’s two leading scorers in the preseason and could be again in the regular season. Williams, however, is unexpected.
The 10th overall pick by Memphis in 2021, Williams ended up as a salary dump due to a jumper that never developed. But the Nets saw his athleticism, length and defensive potential and scooped him up as their latest reclamation project.
Williams was fourth on the team in minutes this preseason, and first in the league in steals with 10. His cutting and floor-running fit perfectly with Simmons and the transition game that Fernandez wants to play. Williams and his wingspan are going to get opportunities, especially if Johnson or Finney-Smith get moved.
Bad days ahead
Dariq Whitehead could have a few.
Fellow 2023 draftees Clowney and Wilson both got playing time as rookies last season, and benefited from it. But Whitehead — who became the youngest player in Nets history — is essentially going through that now.
Foot surgery robbed Whitehead of his rookie Summer League and a stress fracture essentially scuttled his regular season. He played just 24 minutes in a pair of cameos for Brooklyn, and even his time with G-League Long Island was limited.
After struggling badly this summer in Las Vegas, Whitehead averaged just 2.0 points on .222 shooting in preseason. With the regular season starting, it wouldn’t be a shock to see him spend considerable time in the G League, as Clowney and Wilson did in their rookie campaigns. That wouldn’t be the worst thing, considering both developed well under Long Island coach Mfon Udofia.
Don’t be surprised if …
Bogdanovic ends up elsewhere.
That’s not a recrimination of his ability; rather a testament to it.
The once-again Nets wing is still coming back from multiple offseason surgeries, and hasn’t yet even been cleared for 5-on-5 contact.
If Bogdanovic doesn’t return in strong fashion, he could get bought out. If he is, Brooklyn could save 25 or 30 percent of his $20 million salary, while he’d be free to sign with a win-now team more in keeping with his timeline.
And if Bogdanovic does return well, he’s highly tradable to a win-now team.
The veteran has shot .403 from deep over the past seven years, averaging over 20 points twice in the last five seasons and on pace to do so again last season before being traded from the Pistons to Knicks. A reliable 6-foot-7 shooter has value, but with Bogdanovic being 35, so not requiring the kind of draft picks a younger player would, it’s easy to picture him being moved along again.
Story that won’t go away
The tank. As soon as the Nets traded away Durant and Irving without an All-Star coming back in return, many called for a pivot to a rebuild. That chorus became louder as they struggled to a 32-50 mark last season while trying to compete. Few fan bases have so openly embraced a tank.
Expect to hear names like Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey and others all season. With each Nets loss — and there are sure to be many — fans will console themselves with visions of their team winning the lottery, and exercising their four first-round draft picks in June.
Three bold predictions
1. Shooting guard Cam Thomas will top his career high in scoring and hit restricted free agency in the offseason, only to re-sign with Brooklyn next summer.
2. Six draft picks is a lot to select in one year, but the Nets will take all four of their first-rounders in June and maybe even both seconds. That’s no guarantee of success, after Minnesota had four firsts and three seconds in 2009 only to pass on Steph Curry twice. But the Nets can’t mess it up that badly, can they? Can they?
3. After waiting since February 2022, the Nets ironically finally get at least a quasi-healthy season out of Ben Simmons, as his huge $40 million contract expires going into unrestricted free agency.
Five games to watch
Nov. 15 at the Knicks
It’s the first meeting with Bridges since trading him crosstown to the Knicks. Shipping their star across the East River was the first deal between the rivals since 1983, and signaled Brooklyn’s full-on rebuild. That’s actually an in-season tournament game, and a weird quirk of scheduling has the Nets back at the Garden again just two days later.
Nov. 24 at Sacramento
Fernandez goes home again. After serving under mentor Mike Brown as Kings associate head coach from 2022-24, Fernandez takes his new team to face his old one at the Golden 1 Center.
Jan. 25 vs. Miami
Vince Carter is finally — and deservingly — getting his No. 15 retired by the Nets. After Vinsanity went into the Hall of Fame earlier this month, he’ll get his jersey in the Barclays Center rafters with fellow Hall of Famers like Julius Erving and Jason Kidd.
Feb. 7 vs. Miami
There’s nothing special about another game with the Heat, just that this is the first game after the trade deadline. Will the roster look anything like it did the game before?
March 29 at Washington
Speaking of the Wizards, for Nets fans all-in on the tank, this could be one to watch. Brooklyn and Washington are tied for the fewest projected wins on Fanduel, and this late-season matchup at Capital One Arena could matter for lottery seeding.
Prediction : 23-59
The Nets over/under win total is set for a league-low 19.5 wins across the major sportsbooks, a figure that’s even lower than eight years ago when the line was set at 20.5. After being projected for 33.5 last season and finishing 32-50, that’s a precipitous drop-off. Maybe a bit too precipitous.
Sure, last season was disappointing enough to see Brooklyn start a rebuild and trade Bridges. But he’s the only major departure, has never been an All-Star and isn’t worth 14 wins. That would be MVP-level impact only Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reached a year ago. Bridges was closer to four, at 4.2 Win Shares per Basketball Reference.
With Simmons healthy and none of the other vets traded away (yet), the Nets could — and should — be more competitive than expected as currently constructed.