On Media Day 2015, the Brooklyn Nets are team of uncertainty

With their first preseason game scheduled next Monday at home against Fenerbahce Ulker of the Turkish Basketball League, the Brooklyn Nets held their 2015 Media Day yesterday morning at their practice facility in East Rutherford, New Jersey. This day catered to the media and the Nets organization to bring the world up to speed on how they feel going into their 2015-16 NBA campaign. If I could use one word to describe the Nets state of mind, it’s uncertainty. There are no expectations and there are no guarantees.

When I asked Brooklyn Nets head coach Lionel Hollins how he feels about Jack starting, he also replied with a question.

“Who said Jarrett Jack was starting?

I responded, “I read that in the paper that those core guys are going to have the first dibs at training camp and then as we go forward, there will be one or two guys that are pretty much set in stone and then after that everyone has to earn the right.”

Despite promoting an open competition for the lead guard, with Donald Sloan, Ryan Boatright, and Shane Larkin, as the other candidates, Hollins has confidence in Jack due to what he accomplished last year. Jack averaged 12 points, three rebounds, and nearly five assists during the 2014-15 Season. Jack provided steady play for the Nets off-the-bench and as a starter on occasion. The 10-year veteran should be able to beat out his contemporaries, but Hollins wants to see it play out in training camp.

Hollins is also unsure of what the strength of the team will be this year, hinting to depth as a possible answer and wants to see who will solidify themselves as the team’s best wing defender. Markel Brown, the Nets second round pick last year had some great moments as a perimeter defender and Dahntay Jones, whom the Nets signed earlier this month, was brought in for that exact reason. The Nets first-round-pick this year, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson has a reputation as a strong defender as well, giving Hollins plenty of options for, as he put it, “controlling” the other team’s best player.

Along with Jack, Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young and Joe Johnson represent the other key returners for the Nets, and all feel that they need to step up in different areas on-and-off the court. Johnson, a veteran, talked about being a bit more vocal which will be needed on a particularly young roster and doing whatever Hollins wants him to do for the team to be successful.

Photo left to right: Brooklyn Nets team members: Brook Lopez (center); Joe Johnson (shooting guard); and Thaddeus Young (forward)

“Whatever position he wants me to play I’ll play it,” Johnson said. “I don’t consider myself as a two, three, four, I’m just a basketball player that can play multiple decisions.”

Heading into his 15th season, Johnson believes that he still has more years left in the association and credits working on his body to get through the 82-game stretch.

“Throughout this grueling season, if you’re not lifting weights and doing a lot of lower body stuff, that’s how you develop tendinitis,” Johnson added.

Young, who helped the Nets secure a playoff spot last year, talked about family being one of the main reasons for his return.

“TJ starts school this year, so that was one of the biggest things on my mind, was just to have them settled and not continue to move them around,” Young said.

For humor, Young poked fun at Brooklyn traffic saying that it is “Brutal” and regarding basketball, Young talked about how he gelled playing alongside Brook Lopez. According to Young, he and Lopez have known each other since the 8th grade and that relationship translated into wins during the Nets 2015 playoff push.

As for Lopez, becoming a complete player is his main focus. Lopez is more known for his scoring in the low-post, more than anything else and in moving forward, Lopez plans to move the ball, more than usual, to improve on the 1.3 assists he recorded in 2014-15. Chris McCullough, the Nets first-round pick this year who is recovering from an ACL injury, expects to play sometime, later this year but Hollins thinks otherwise.

“Basically, this is a ‘redshirt year’ and secondly, somebody said it, he’s like our lottery pick for next year and I agree with that,” Hollins said. “He’s a guy that is definitely part of the future, so hopefully, we can get him back early so he can get a lot of work in and then go through the summer and Summer League.”

The Nets also added former New York Knicks players, Andrea Bargnani to stretch the floor and Larkin, who Hollins likes because of his speed. Although the Nets had a lot of things to talk about regarding this upcoming year, you had to figure that a Deron quote was due and Johnson shed light on his former backcourt mate.

“I don’t know if he wanted the buyout or if they just bought him out, but if he wanted the buyout, I don’t think it was that bad [here]. That’s just me.”

There are a lot of questions surrounding Hollins and Co. for this upcoming season and with Nets owner, Mikhail Prokhorov slated to attend training camp, the Nets will have to answer them in a timely manner, which will hopefully amount to plenty of wins.