Memphis Grizzlies: 3 Playoff Teams To Learn From In Their Rebuild
By Chris Kern
Brooklyn Nets
The majority of teams build through the draft, but the Brooklyn Nets have shown that there are other ways to build a team. They have done a good job getting some players through the draft, but a large part of their roster are guys who are didn’t succeed with their first team, but then Nets gave them an opportunity and they have taken advantage.
While they haven’t made many picks recently besides some later ones that didn’t pan out they do have a few selections that have worked out. They took Jarrett Allen with the 22nd pick in the 2017 Draft and he has been very good at the center spot and will be their starter for years to come.
Their big deal was the trade to acquire D’Angelo Russell from the Los Angeles Lakers. For whatever reason, the Lakers felt they needed to move on from Russell so soon and the Nets were right there as they would make a deal for him.
The deal sent Timofey Mozgov and Russell to Brooklyn for Brook Lopez and the 27th pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. That pick turned out to be Kyle Kuzma so it wasn’t a total loss for the Lakers, but having a young star at point guard in Russell alongside Lebron James would be big rather than having injury prone Lonzo Ball.
Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie are two guys who they picked up who really struggled to find a role with their first teams. Harris was with the Cavaliers and Dinwiddie with the Pistons. They both spent a lot of time in the G-League, but have now made a big impact in Brooklyn and been key players in getting this team to the playoffs.
They have trusted Kenny Atkinson to help with all these players and he has done a good job. He has been the head coach for three seasons and he has a 90-156 record. He trusts his players to do what they need to do and while that seems simple, it wasn’t that way with their previous teams so they have taken full advantage of their opportunities.
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While many teams would love to load up on top talent in the draft there are many different ways to build a winner in the NBA. There’s not one team they should focus on when developing their plan to build a team, but these are three teams who have undergone rebuilds and have done so successfully which helped all three teams earn a spot in the 2019 playoffs and should keep them in the playoffs for years to come.