Last season the Brooklyn Nets finished 38-44 finishing eighth in an easy Eastern Conference. They faced the number one seeded Atlanta Hawks in the first round getting beaten by them in six games. They have some talented key players on their roster, but some real question marks arise with this team.
And now, forward Thaddeus Young has opted out of his player option in his contract with Brooklyn becoming a free agent.
Young was traded to Brooklyn from the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Garnett at the trade deadline last season. Young, 27, averaged 13.9 points and 5.9 rebounds in 29.6 minutes per game with Brooklyn after they acquired him from the Timberwolves at the trade deadline. Minnesota was not going to be a playoff team and they wanted to be reunite with Garnett since they were the team that drafted him. So they shipped Young to a playoff team to bring back the NBA legend back where his career started.
There is a lot to like about Young. He is a very capable scorer, but his staple is his ability to rebound and play very solid defense. He's still a relatively young play but has enough experience that his next team knows what kind of production he brings.
With Young's versatility on both sides of the ball, there will be a bevy of teams that will look to acquire his services. The seven-year veteran opted out of $10.2 million player option so he figures on getting a pay raise. With the salary cap getting ready to skyrocket throughout the league, Young figures on capitalizing.
On the Nets side of things they are going to be losing a good all-around forward, depending on if they can't re-sign him in the offseason or not. Even though Young was only there for half a season he helped the Nets make the playoffs. If they can re-sign Young to a good multiyear deal they will be getting a good scoring forward who stabilizes the frontcourt.