Will the Brooklyn Nets contend next season?

Brooklyn certainly made the biggest trade on this offseason so far by getting Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from Boston, while removing any chance of improving their roster via draft in the following years, as they don't have their future draft picks anymore. This move has been criticized by almost everybody, but in my opinion, this was actually the right gamble for the Nets, as last year's roster wasn't good enough to win a NBA championship with two non-offensive threats in the starting lineup: Reggie Evans and Gerald Wallace. But the first challenge for Brooklyn this season will be having Jason Kidd as their head coach. It's weird to see Kidd coaching players from his generation. More important than that, when he was presented as Brooklyn's new head coach, GM Billy King said that Kidd wanted to implement ball movement and an uptempo offense on his interview. With a potential starting lineup of Brook Lopez, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Joe Johnson and Deron Williams, I don't know if it will be a good idea to implement an up tempo scheme to a team with no explosion whatsoever, but that's something we will need to check when the season starts.

This trade was great for Kevin Garnett, who will have every condition to end his career in a high note. Garnett was great during Boston's Big Three era and he was the main reason why the Celtics had such a great rim defense during most of his tenure in Boston. However, the Celtics were the #7 worst team on rim defense last season, but that was due to the fact that Garnett played as a Center last season, something that didn't allow him to do what he does best on defense: being a help defender! Garnett will now be back at the PF position in Brooklyn, as the Nets have Brook Lopez and Andray Blatche to play at the Center position. In fact, the Lopez/Garnett duo will be very interesting to follow. Brook Lopez is one of the best low post offensive players of the league, while Kevin Garnett has been a solid mid-range shooter over the last few years. In fact, he was really excellent last season on this area:

The differences between Reggie Evans and Kevin Garnett are tremendous and therefore, the floor spacing of the Nets' offense will significantly improve next season.

Regarding Paul Pierce, he is still a great player and he had an underrated last season in my opinion. Since Rajon Rondo went down with a knee injury, Paul Pierce took over the Celtics' offense and he was excellent. In March, he had 50.3% FG, 19.9 ppg, 7.3 rpg and 5.9 apg (all-star numbers!). His last image in Boston was that he struggled on the playoffs series against the Knicks, where he shot 36.8% FG and committed 5.3 TO/game, but Boston simply lacked a decent backup for him and asking a 35-years old player to be on court 42.5 minutes per game like in that series was just too much for him. Now in Brooklyn, with more depth in the roster, Paul Pierce won't be forced to play as many minutes as he had to in Boston.

Deron Williams and Joe Johnson will return to the Nets this season. Both players were banged up for most of the last season and Johnson faded later on the year with a foot injury. But it seems like Johnson won't have any limitations regarding this injury next season.

"I've basically nursed my foot since we got eliminated and my foot is 100 percent." Joe Johnson said. "I'm just working out now, getting in shape and trying to prepare for next season."

On the other hand, Deron Williams bounced back during the second half of the season after a terrible start of the season, even though he was banged up.

So, if Jason Kidd turns up to be a quality coach, the Nets have the weapons to be a tough out in the East. Can you imagine the Heat to guard Kevin Garnett and Brook Lopez down low? Therefore, I believe Brooklyn has the right players to be a contender next season. But do they have the right coach to lead them? We won't have a definite answer for that until the season starts.