NBA Preview: Nets turn to Julius Randle, young core for signs of progress

The Nets won 20 games last season. The Knicks won the NBA championship.

That pretty much summarizes the current basketball arrangement in New York.

Brooklyn isn’t expected to close that gap anytime soon. The more immediate goal is to stop drifting, begin identifying legitimate building blocks and give people a reason to believe the Nets are actually headed somewhere.

Julius Randle should help with the first part. The rest remains very much unresolved.

What changed

The Nets acquired Randle in a trade that sent Nic Claxton to the Timberwolves, bringing the former Knicks forward back to New York under considerably different circumstances.

Randle is no longer being asked to rescue a franchise or carry a contender. At 31, he is essentially a bridge between Brooklyn’s assortment of prospects and whatever comes next.

The Nets also added guard Keon Ellis, center Moritz Wagner and No. 6 overall pick Mikel Brown Jr. They retained Day’Ron Sharpe and Josh Minott on reasonable deals while preserving significant salary-cap flexibility.

That flexibility matters because Brooklyn can absorb contracts in future trades and demand assets for doing so.

It also means the Nets still haven’t committed to much of anything.

General manager Sean Marks has assembled a remarkable number of young players, including Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf from last year’s five-player first-round class. Three more rookies have now joined the experiment.

At some point, collecting prospects has to become developing a team.

The biggest question

Can the Nets establish an identity while the Knicks own the city?

Brooklyn may insist it isn’t concerned with what happens across the East River. Nobody is required to believe it.

The Knicks just celebrated their first championship in 53 years. They have stars, relevance and a fan base that once again expects to win. Meanwhile, the Nets are coming off the third-worst season in franchise history.

Randle adds another layer to the comparison. He helped make the Knicks respectable again, watched them eventually win a title without him and now returns as the most established player on New York’s other team.

He should provide points, rebounds and enough shot creation to make Brooklyn more functional. He will also absorb plenty of minutes, attempts and attention while the younger players develop.

That has value. It just shouldn’t be mistaken for a long-term plan.

Players who matter most

Demin offers the clearest reason for optimism. His rookie season was shortened by injury, but he showed enough to look like a legitimate NBA player. A strong summer-league appearance raised the possibility of a second-year breakthrough.

Brooklyn needs it. The futures of Traore, Powell, Saraf and Wolf are considerably less certain. No team expects to hit on every first-round selection, particularly when most were picked outside the lottery. The Nets do need one or two of them to emerge as dependable pieces.

Brown adds another promising guard to an already crowded backcourt. That could create an awkward rotation, but talent takes priority on a 20-win team. Brooklyn wasn’t in position to draft for fit.

The Nets must use this season to determine who belongs before eventually deciding who fits.

The outlook

ESPN’s Basketball Power Index ranks Brooklyn 29th entering the season. That feels low for a roster featuring Randle, Michael Porter Jr. and several capable veterans, but not outrageous for a team with so many unanswered questions.

Porter is entering the final year of his contract after producing well before being shut down late last season. Randle is owed $33.3 million and declined noticeably during the second half of last year. Either player could become a trade consideration depending on Brooklyn’s direction.

The Nets also have little incentive to stage another race to the bottom. Houston owns the right to swap first-round picks with them in 2027, reducing the potential reward for another miserable season.

So Brooklyn should be more competitive. Whether it will be meaningfully better is another matter.

Randle can raise the floor. Demin may raise the ceiling. Marks still has cap room, draft assets and options.

What the Nets don’t yet have is a clear answer to the simplest question facing any rebuild: Who, exactly, are they building around?