Ever since the former New Jersey Nets moved to Brooklyn and rebranded as the Brooklyn Nets, the franchise has been mired in several consecutive losing campaigns and little draft capital to show for it. A 2013 trade with the Boston Celtics to acquire Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett hampered the franchise significantly, opting to trade a minimum of three first-round picks, effectively blocking them from acquiring top talent via the amateur draft. With this talent drain, their current rise becomes all the more intriguing. To the surprise of many, the Brooklyn Nets have established themselves as a legitimate playoff team in 2018-19 with sleeper potential to make it past the first round. The Nets’ talent and play style point to a continued presence in the East Conference playoff picture, both now and in the future.

The roster the Nets have assembled, without the luxury of drafting lottery talent their abysmal records merit, has been incredibly effective. First, look at Caris Levert, who was easily the best player on the roster before his right foot injury, leading his team in points and assists at one point in the season and garnering serious All-Star consideration in his sophomore campaign. Furthermore, the combination of Spencer Dinwiddie and All-Star D’Angelo Russell has been incredibly effective for the Nets as they entered the All-Star break, putting up some of the league’s best performances down the stretch during clutch time. This is all the more impressive when one considers the fact that Dinwiddie was a G-League castoff undervalued by GMs everywhere. Russell, a former number two overall pick, had been included as part of the Lakers’ salary dump for Timofey Mozgov, relegated to the unenviable position of poster child for immaturity during his time in LA. Furthermore, the additions of defensive ace Jarrett Allen, three-point marksman Joe Harris, and prototypical 3-and-D wing rookie Rodions Kurucs fill important archetypes present in modern NBA styles. Coach Kenny Atkinson has been able to effectively leverage this rotation–along with strong play and mentorship from veterans such as DeMarre Carroll, Jared Dudley, and Ed Davis–to create a balanced and unselfish style that allows any of these individuals to shine on any given night, while limiting them to less than 30 minutes per game. On paper, this roster doesn’t have any outright superstars consistently able to put the team on their backs, but the Nets have been able to keep the games competitive and opponents honest. So, why have they only started winning recently?

First, the Nets have been absolutely unbeatable in the clutch as of late. At the beginning of the season, the Nets were unable to close out games, ending November with only winning 22.2% of the games they played that are considered close contests per NBA criteria. However, since the All Star Break, the Nets have been absolutely amazing on that front, winning 71.4% of games that are considered close down the wire. Largely the product of the strong play by Dinwiddie and Russell, these closeouts occur as the field goal percentages per quarter for these players have been shown empirically to increase as the game goes on. This has led to incredible performances against Houston, Orlando, and notably Sacramento, where D’Angelo Russell scored 27 points in the 4th quarter against the Kings to win the game.

Second, the Nets have eschewed the mid-range game to either drive to the paint or take high percentage looks from three-point range if possible. Their offensive scheme, much like the Rockets, is analytically friendly and conducive to good nightly performances if shots keep falling.

At the end of the day, the Nets have been able to field a competitive roster and an efficient modern day NBA offense and defensive scheme. Going all in on the trajectory of NBA, they have adopted the concept of eschewing the midrange in favor of shooting beyond the arc and in the paint while creating a switch-heavy defense with long players for their positions and strong rim protection. One can argue that their emergence is ahead of schedule, seeing as they do not have the established stars (sans a rapidly improving D’Angelo Russell currently in his breakout season) to compete with the upper echelon of Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Milwaukee in the East. Yet, their pivot towards embracing the trends of modern day basketball along with their strong player development, coaching, and culture makes this team a serious force to reckon with, especially if they are able to attract a superstar this coming offseason to join them. The Nets’ transformation from a team unable to pull through victories in the final moments of a game to one of the best performing teams in the NBA during clutch time point to their growing improvement and experience as a roster and playoff core in the Eastern Conference landscape. When it comes down to the wire, one can evidently make the argument that as of late, the Nets really do have, as D’Angelo Russell famously said, “ice in their veins”.