The Brooklyn Nets 2021-22 NBA season ended embarrassingly. They earned the No. 7 seed, defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first Play-In Game, matching up with the Boston Celtics.
There were a lot of people that believed that the Nets had a good chance at not only competing with the Celtics but beating them in the series. That ended up not being close to the reality, as the Nets were swept 4-0 by their Atlantic Division rivals.
Getting swept is hard enough to stomach, but when you entered the season with championship aspirations, it is even tougher to handle. Granted, there were some major changes, as James Harden was traded and Kyrie Irving was not full-time eligible until the last few weeks of the season. But, a team with Kevin Durant and Irving on it should be able to compete with anyone.
Alas, that wasn’t the case against the Celtics. Boston’s stars played like stars and they got contributions from their role players as well. Brooklyn needed outstanding performances from Durant and Irving to win and they didn’t get them. Their role players had some flashes but not nearly enough to keep up with their counterparts.
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This offseason will present the Nets with a chance to revamp their roster. The loss of Joe Harris was felt, as he provides size and shooting on the wing. Against the Celtics, too often the Nets had to go small and gave little resistance defensively.
Adding more two-way capable players should be atop Brooklyn’s to-do list this offseason. One player that should be squarely in their crosshairs is TJ Warren.
Warren has essentially missed the last two seasons because of foot fractures. He was one of the best players in the Orlando Bubble in 2020 but has appeared in only four games since. That should limit how much money teams will be throwing at him in free agency, which will only help the Nets.
The N.C. State product will likely be choosing between similar deals from contending teams. Almost all of the teams with projected cap space are in some stage of rebuilding, so they are unlikely to throw money at a 28-year-old Warren coming off two missed seasons, minus four games.
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That leaves contending teams lining up pitching to TJ Warren about why he should take their mid-level exception. The Brooklyn Nets need to recruit him hard as he would fit perfectly in between Irving and Durant.
Warren has transformed himself into a knockdown shooter, knocking down north of 40 percent of his 3-pointers the last two seasons he played. Thought of as a liability on the defensive end earlier in his career, Warren also put a ton of work into becoming a good player on that end of the court as well.
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Standing 6’8”, Warren has the size to play either forward spot, providing some versatility to a Nets team that desperately needs it. He can handle playing power forward alongside Durant in a small-ball lineup that has Irving, Seth Curry and Joe Harris, for example.
Warren’s improvements defensively will only endear him to contending teams even more. He could provide one of the biggest bargains of the offseason if he can return anywhere close to the form that he showed before the foot injuries.
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Depending on what the Brooklyn Nets do with Ben Simmons, TJ Warren could be offered a big role in the Nets’ rotation. There is a chance he could start, but at the very least, he would be a high-scoring sixth man off the bench. A potential closing lineup of Irving, Harris, Warren, Durant and Simmons would be a handful on both ends for teams to produce against.
