By Eddie Castro
The second half of the Brooklyn Nets’ season has kicked off, and it is a forgone conclusion that Brooklyn will not make the playoffs this season. In a year where there were few expectations as far as the postseason goes, the priority this year was to improve from last year and develop players like Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf, and Danny Wolf. Those were the five players the Nets drafted in the first-round of last Year’s NBA Draft. Those players along with veteran players such as Nic Claxton and Michael Porter Jr. Could very well lead the franchise into the future.

As expected, the Nets were quiet during the trade deadline. They did acquire a few role players like Josh Minott from the Boston Celtics, Ochai Ajbaji from the Toronto Raptors and Hunter Tyson to go along with a 2032 second-round pick from the Denver Nuggets. The big move Brooklyn made was waiving sharp-shooter Cam Thomas.

The team was hoping to at least receive draft compensation for Thomas, however, opposing team had little interest in sending a draft pick(s) in exchange for Thomas. He eventually signed with the Milwaukee Bucks for the remainder of the season. The question surrounding Thomas is never his offensive abilities. He is one of the most exciting and explosive offensive players in the league. His defensive ability on a consistent basis is the attribute that comes into question often.

Thomas will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season at age 25. According to various sources, Brooklyn was listening to offers for Porter Jr and Claxton but no deal came into fruition. The team was looking to at least receive first-round picks in return.

The Nets currently have a win-loss record of 15-41 which marks the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference. The team is expected to be in the lottery for perhaps a top-tier player in this year’s draft. The draft lottery will be in May and that will tell us exactly where the Nets will pick this coming summer.

This year, the draft will feature probably the best freshman class ever to come out, with players potentially coming out such as A.J. Dybansta (BYU), Darren Peterson (Kansas) Cameron Boozer (Duke), and Caleb Wilson (North Carolina) to name a few.

Overall, this could be one of the deepest drafts we’ve seen in a very long time. Brooklyn currently has one first-round pick and two second-round picks in this year’s draft to go along with a projected $36-50 million in cap space to perhaps land a top-tier free agent to an incredibly young roster.

Coach Jordi Fernandez knows he has his work cut out for the rest of the year, but if Brooklyn can strike gold with a high lottery pick and can lure a top talent free agent to pair with Porter Jr. and Claxton to go along with the young core in place, the rebuilding window to compete in the East will be a lot closer than expected.

Sports Notes: (Basketball) The Nets return to the Barclays Center to welcome Superstar Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs tonight. The Knicks head to Milwaukee to battle a short-handed Bucks team then head back to Madison Square Garden for a Sunday matinee nationally televised game against the Spurs on Sunday.

(Baseball) We are a little less than a month away from the Yankees and Mets baseball season back on our TV screens again. Catch an All-New episode of Sports Talk with Eddie live tonight at 5 pm on the Our Time Press YouTube channel—See last week’s show here