What's Next for the Brooklyn Nets?

How the franchise should rebuild this off season.

How the Brooklyn Nets Should Rebuild This Off Season - Call it a $180 million-plus bust for the Brooklyn Nets. The upwards of $180 million in salaries and luxury tax that billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov spent on this year’s squad was supposed to spell an NBA championship or at least a trip to the Finals. Instead, the Nets fell 4-1 to LeBron James and the two-time defending champs the Miami Heat in only the second round of the playoffs. Now Brooklyn's general manager, Billy King, and head coach, Jason Kidd, are left with many questions to answer. So, what’s next for the Brooklyn Nets? Read on for some ideas the franchise should roll the dice on to rebuild during the off season.  (Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar)

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How the Brooklyn Nets Should Rebuild This Off Season - Call it a $180 million-plus bust for the Brooklyn Nets. The upwards of $180 million in salaries and luxury tax that billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov spent on this year’s squad was supposed to spell an NBA championship or at least a trip to the Finals. Instead, the Nets fell 4-1 to LeBron James and the two-time defending champs the Miami Heat in only the second round of the playoffs. Now Brooklyn's general manager, Billy King, and head coach, Jason Kidd, are left with many questions to answer. So, what’s next for the Brooklyn Nets? Read on for some ideas the franchise should roll the dice on to rebuild during the off season.  (Photo: REUTERS/Mike Segar)

Trade Deron Williams, Explore Detroit Option - Brooklyn, let’s keep it funky — Deron Williams just hasn’t cut it for the Nets and doesn’t seem to be worth the $100 million contract that the franchise signed him to back in July 2012. It’s time to cut ties with the point guard, who pocketed nearly $18,500,000 this season alone but only averaged a paltry 11.2 points and 6.2 assists per game during Brooklyn’s 4-1 playoff series loss to the Heat. We say trade D. Will — and unload on his awful contract — to the Detroit Pistons for Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings. The players made a combined $21,155,503 million during the 2013-14 season, signaling that the Nets would at least get more bang for their buck. But would newly-hired Pistons coach and team president Stan Van Gundy bite on such a deal? Brooklyn should hope so.(Photos from left: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images, Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Trade Deron Williams, Explore Detroit Option - Brooklyn, let’s keep it funky — Deron Williams just hasn’t cut it for the Nets and doesn’t seem to be worth the $100 million contract that the franchise signed him to back in July 2012. It’s time to cut ties with the point guard, who pocketed nearly $18,500,000 this season alone but only averaged a paltry 11.2 points and 6.2 assists per game during Brooklyn’s 4-1 playoff series loss to the Heat. We say trade D. Will — and unload on his awful contract — to the Detroit Pistons for Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings. The players made a combined $21,155,503 million during the 2013-14 season, signaling that the Nets would at least get more bang for their buck. But would newly-hired Pistons coach and team president Stan Van Gundy bite on such a deal? Brooklyn should hope so.(Photos from left: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images, Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Pierce Says Brooklyn Needs to Be Tougher in Playoffs - Paul Pierce ripped into his Brooklyn Nets following their 100-95 road loss to the Toronto Raptors in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series on Tuesday night. "We gave them everything they wanted, 50 points in the paint and [19] offensive rebounds," Pierce told ESPN after the Nets loss, which tied the series 1-1. "We were a soft team tonight." Brooklyn allowed Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan to drop 30 points, 17 coming in the fourth quarter, Tuesday.(Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images) 

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Re-sign Paul Pierce - He’ll never be ‘The Truth’ like he once was, but Paul Pierce still has something left in the tank to offer a team. A few steps slower, Pierce is still a double-digit scorer (13.5 points per game this season), can still hit the big shot and take pressure off Joe Johnson on any given night. And that’s the Truth! (Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images) 

Kevin Garnett Likely to Return - According to the New York Post, Kevin Garnett will likely return to the Brooklyn Nets for the 2014-15 season, the final year of his contract of which he’s owed $12 million. Playing 54 games during the regular season, Garnett averaged a career-low 6.5 points per game. (Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)

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Figure Out Kevin Garnett’s Status - Garnett has flirted with retirement before and this off season won’t be any different. First task at hand is to talk to KG and see what he wants to do. He’s either going to want to call it a career or stay another year…or perhaps he desires to be reunited with Doc Rivers and wants to be shipped off to the Los Angeles Clippers. In the latter case, it would be great if the Nets can pry Clippers back-up point guard Darren Collison loose. The kid can ball. (Photo: Elsa/Getty Images)

Continue to Build Around Joe Johnson - Although a lot of questions swirl around the rebuilding of the Nets, one aspect is clear — keep building around Joe Johnson. The 12th-year shooting guard was reliable for the Nets this year, upping his 15.8 points per game during the regular season to just over 20 points per contest during the playoffs. He’s a solid NBA player. Facts. (Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

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Continue to Build Around Joe Johnson - Although a lot of questions swirl around the rebuilding of the Nets, one aspect is clear — keep building around Joe Johnson. The 12th-year shooting guard was reliable for the Nets this year, upping his 15.8 points per game during the regular season to just over 20 points per contest during the playoffs. He’s a solid NBA player. Facts. (Photo: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

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Brook Lopez - Center, Brooklyn Nets. Eastern Conference. (Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Keep Brook Lopez, Pray He Stays Healthy - When Brook Lopez is healthy, he’s one of the most capable big men in the league. When he’s not, he misses games — a lot of them. After a great start to this 2013-14 season, in which he averaged 20 points, six rebounds and nearly two blocks per game through the first 17 games — Lopez broke his right foot and underwent season-ending surgery. The injury marked the second time Lopez broke his right foot. That being said, Lopez has time on his side at just 26. Plus, having a legit big man like him is still a luxury in the NBA, so if we’re Billy King, we’re rolling the dice on Lopez bouncing back and praying that he stays healthy. (Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Report: Stephenson Rejects Pacers Offer - The Indiana Pacers' five-year, $44 million contract wasn't quite enough to get swingman Lance Stephenson to re-sign. According to ESPN's Chris Broussard, with the Pacers and Stephenson at an impasse, Lance will talk to other teams including the Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Charlotte Hornets. (Photo: Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)

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Bring Lance Stephenson Home - Lance Stephenson is averaging 13.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, while being paid just over $1 million this season. Yup, this is the last season that the Indiana Pacers will get him on the cheap, especially considering he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. We would love to see Brooklyn give “Born Ready” his payday — without totally breaking the bank — and return him to the borough he was birthed in. Coney Island, stand up! Brooooklyn, Brooooklyn! (Photo: Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)

Keep Shaun Livingston as Sixth Man - Shaun Livingston proved to be a serviceable player for the Nets, averaging eight points per game and, more important, playing a career-high 76 regular season games, many of which he started. If we’re the Nets, we’re honoring Livingston by extending his contract and giving him the role of providing the team a spark off the bench next season. (Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

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Keep Shaun Livingston as Sixth Man - Shaun Livingston proved to be a serviceable player for the Nets, averaging eight points per game and, more important, playing a career-high 76 regular season games, many of which he started. If we’re the Nets, we’re honoring Livingston by extending his contract and giving him the role of providing the team a spark off the bench next season. (Photo: Claus Andersen/Getty Images)

Make Aggressive Play in NBA Draft - We know that Mikhail Prokhorov isn’t afraid to pull out the checkbook and drop major M's on players, but buying talent outright isn’t the only way to improve personnel. Brooklyn currently does not have a pick in the 2014 draft, which they traded to Boston in the Pierce/Garnett deal, so we’d love to see Billy King orchestrate moves to get back into this talent-laden draft.(Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

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Make Aggressive Play in NBA Draft - We know that Mikhail Prokhorov isn’t afraid to pull out the checkbook and drop major M's on players, but buying talent outright isn’t the only way to improve personnel. Brooklyn currently does not have a pick in the 2014 draft, which they traded to Boston in the Pierce/Garnett deal, so we’d love to see Billy King orchestrate moves to get back into this talent-laden draft.(Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)