Atlantic Division

Brooklyn Nets Power Rankings - 2012-13

Power Ranking
WEEKRECORDRANKCOMMENT
Week 2447-3310Can't ignore the trusted scout who keeps telling me that the Nets, with a rejuvenated D-Will, are built better for the postseason than the Knicks. The counterargument: If they're built so playoff-tough, why did the Nets go 15-27 against winning teams compared to 32-6 against sub-.500 teams?
Week 2344-3211Is the fourth seed in the East, if you're the Nets, really where you want to be? Their reward is a likely first-round series with the Bulls, who'll surely make it a grind win or lose, followed by an unavoidable second-round date with Miami even if Brooklyn advances. No. 6 is truly more appealing.
Week 2242-3110The Nets surely will win in Cleveland to make it a promising 5-3 on their eight-game answer to Chicago's trademark Circus Trip and a tidy 31-6 against sub-.500 teams. The problem? New York's eight-game winning streak, after the team's three months of mediocrity, has decided the Atlantic Division.
Week 2141-2910The Nets clearly thrive off bulletin-board material. Deron Williams has been a different player since Bill Simmons took such strong issue with his contract. And they're off to a 3-1 start on their very own, Chicago-esque eight-game Circus Road Trip after doom was predicted in this cyberspace.
Week 2038-2815The injury-fueled nosedive by the hated Knicks has given the Nets new life in terms of winning the Atlantic Division. The problem: After costly losses last week to Philly and Atlanta, D-Will & Co. won't see Brooklyn again until (whoa) April 4 with its next eight (count 'em, eight) games on the road.
Week 1937-2614Eleven of their final 19 games are against teams that'll definitely miss the playoffs. And few teams are as ruthless against sub-.500 teams as the 23-3 Nets. But 12 of those 19 games are on the road, so Brooklyn needs this recharged D-Will to keep delivering to cling to the East's No. 4 seed.
Week 1834-2618D-Will has been a better player, bad ankles and all, since returning from the All-Star break. Brook Lopez leads all centers with 26 20-point games. And still Brooklyn has given LeBron little reason to amend his All-Star Weekend statement that omitted the Nets as a threat to Miami in the East.
Week 1733-2414The celebration of Joe Johnson's big buckets at the end of the fourth quarter and OT in Brooklyn's win over Milwaukee coming out of the break feels like an ancient memory now with JJ plagued by an increasingly worrisome case of plantar fasciitis on top of all the concern about D-Will's ankles.
Week 1631-2212Brook Lopez's all-around maturation is notable, but the former All-Stars (Deron Williams and Joe Johnson) have stagnated. And top-tier teams still give the Nets fits. Translation: Not sure about those conference finals, Mr. Prokhorov. (Jeremy Gordon, TrueHoop Network)
Week 1529-2215Joe Johnson has gone 10 straight games without scoring 20 points. Gerald Wallace is averaging 8.9 points per game after the Nets surrendered the pick that became Damian Lillard to acquire him from Portland. And Deron Williams? Shooting less than 30 percent from the floor in fourth quarters.
Week 1428-1911Good news: Brook Lopez, who ranks as the highest-scoring center in today's NBA at 18.7 points per game, has been granted his rightful All-Star spot by decree of David Stern. Bad news: D-Will and Joe Johnson are making a combined $37 million in the Nets' All-Snubbed backcourt.
Week 1326-1810Frustrating week all around for the Nets thanks to the All-Star snubbing of Brook Lopez and Deron Williams, as well as the fact they can't quite squeeze past the hated Knicks. Home wins over Orlando and Miami this week, however, would tie the winningest month in team history.
Week 1224-169Buckle up. The toughest schedule stretch of the P.J. Carlesimo era starts with Monday's holiday visit to MSG and continues with stops in Minnesota, Memphis and Houston before our next batch of rankings ... with a homestand soon after that including visits from the Heat, Bulls and Lakers.
Week 1122-1510For all the talk about how easy the schedule has been since P.J. Carlesimo took over, his Nets have now won in Oklahoma City and scored 97 points in a big comeback win over the Pacers. Ninety-seven against Indy? Given where this offense was before the coaching change? A real achievement.
Week 1019-1515Four of the five victims are lottery-bound, so it's way too soon to say interim coach P.J. Carlesimo's 5-1 start has legitimately stabilized things in Brooklyn. But a win in Oklahoma City, under any circumstances, holds some promise. Deron Williams has looked a touch sharper, too.
Week 916-1418Weak as the weekend comp was, seeing Brook Lopez rumble for 30.5 ppg and 11.0 rpg in interim coach P.J. Carlesimo's first two games reminds you that the forces behind Avery Johnson's demise really started to snowball when Lopez hurt his foot (again) so soon after the Nets' great November.
Week 814-1217D-Will is shooting an unsightly 39.7 percent from the floor. Joe Johnson has picked it up lately but isn't faring much better at 42.9 percent. Throw in the Nets' league-leading six losses in games they led by at least 13 points and you quickly grasp why the pressure is mounting on Avery Johnson.
Week 713-1011Forget the game-winning J that beat Detroit and Joe Johnson's struggles before that. The trade, for all the crowing out about how much better Atlanta is without him, is working out for the Nets, too. Have to draw that conclusion if JJ's arrival indeed helped convince D-Will to stay.
Week 611-810No special sources needed to confirm that the Nets, after four straight defeats against teams with records over .500, officially miss the ailing Brook Lopez. Deron Williams, meanwhile, recently averaged a mortal 11.4 ppg over seven games and clearly ain't himself thanks to that bad wrist.
Week 511-56The Nets just posted their first 10-win November since the second of their back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals in 2002-03. Our dilemma: Focus on the steadily improving D and Jerry Stackhouse's renaissance? Or the slumping (Joe Johnson/Gerald Wallace) and ailing (D-Will and Brook Lopez)?
Week 48-49The Nets of Brooklyn vintage have their first win of real quality courtesy of Friday's worthy shutdown of the high-flying Clips. Which means that Brooklyn's team will be taking some undeniable momentum into Monday night's rescheduled first installment of the New York derby with the Knicks.
Week 36-212The victims in this five-game winning streak have a composite record of 13-27. The most impressive win of the five came against the Rondo-less Celtics at home. Yet there is some noise coming out of Brooklyn courtesy of some encouraging flashes from an improving (we think) Brook Lopez.
Week 23-218A home-and-home against the overmatched Magic was a needed tonic for the Nets to distract them from (A) that 22-point blown lead at home to Minnesota, (B) Gerald Wallace's latest ankle twist and worst of all (C) Joe Johnson's tepid start (13.8 ppg on .362 shooting) to life in Brooklyn.
Week 11-014There are obviously bigger things to worry about in the city these days, but if you're going to press me for a weekly update on the matter: Brooklyn is indeed back to looking up at its MSG rivals. The Knicks' Week 1 brilliance had to take them past the defensively challenged Nets.
Preseason0-011The building cost a cool $1 billion. No one in the starting lineup makes less than Gerald Wallace's $9.7 million. The Nets couldn't be more ready to launch their new, opulent life in Brooklyn against the Amare-less Knicks ... except for the worrisome news about D-Will's ankle.
Training Camp22-4412OK, OK: They didn't get Dwight. But the Nets did just enough, by trading for Joe Johnson and signing a slew of others, to convince D-Will to stay, ship a watchable team to their gleaming new Brooklyn palace and give themselves a shot at finishing higher than the Knicks. It's a start.

Brooklyn Nets