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After Brooklyn Nets are swept 4-0 in the first round, new question marks over team's future. Blame owner Tsai and GM Marks?

NY Daily News, 4/23/23
It's an interesting turnabout for the city's two NBA teams, given the historic dysfunction of the New York Knicks and the relative functionality--albeit not in the past two years--of the Brooklyn Nets.

While the sixth-seeded Nets were swept 4-0 by the Philadelphia 76ers--playing with former Net James Harden but without MVP candidate Joel Embiid--on Saturday, the fifth-seeded Knicks yesterday beat the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers, taking a 3-1 lead and earning space on today's New York Post's front page, as well as the full back cover. (Credit point guard Jalen Brunson for the team's turnaround.)

Meanwhile, the Nets' fall earned the back of yesterday's New York Daily News (right), and only a tiny mention (below left) on the Post's back cover.

Despite Embiid’s absence, the Nets faced with the same problems they dealt with for the first 75% of this series; a lack of shot-creating, shot-making, and defensive rebounding. It was another root canal of a game for Brooklyn, particularly on the offensive side, a painful and awkward way to end a painful and awkward season. Perhaps mercifully. 
NY Post, 4/23/23
Not the same team

Then again, the Nets' seeding resulted not from the performance of the current roster--with four of the five starters arriving via mid-season trades--but by the star-driven team, led by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, that last December (!) looked like it could torch its way through the league.

(Such high hopes also surrounded the Nets when they had Harden, at least before Irving's unwillingess to get vaccinated for COVID, leaving him ineligible for home games, spurred Harden to seek a trade.)

Then--in an overly compact summary--Irving's seeming endorsement of an anti-Semitic film earned him a questionable suspension from owner Joe Tsai, a dispute over Irving's contract extension led the star to seek a trade, and then co-star Durant was gone too.
NYDN, 4/23/23
As independent journalist Steve Lichtenstein put it, Nets’ “Likability” Doesn’t Assuage Bitter Disappointment Of End To 2022-23 Campaign,
Looking at the big picture, however, this wasn’t anything close to what Nets fans signed up for the last few seasons. The organization blew opportunities to build a legitimate championship contender around three of the greatest offensive players in the game. I don’t think enough fans fully appreciated the privilege it was to watch an all-time great like Durant perform in 129 regular season games. Sure, you could blame the bad luck of injuries, Irving’s cancerous behaviors, and anything else you wish to add for why it didn’t work.
Lichtenstein blames owner Tsai and GM Sean Marks, whom he doesn't fault for embracing superstars but does fault for hiring untested Coach Steve Nash, accepting the oft-injured Ben Simmons in trade for Harden, and for building an unbalanced team.

What next?

Unlike Marks' much-praised rebuild circa 2016, finding diamonds in the rough, the Nets actually have a good number of draft picks--though, as Lichtenstein notes, that "doesn’t automatically make it easier."

Yesterday, as NetsDaily summarized it, Sean Marks weighs rebuilding, competing, Brooklyn Nets roster in exit interview:
Bottoming out is not in the cards for the Nets, that much is for sure. As for those other two options [guard Spencer] Dinwiddie mentioned, going all-in or standing pat, Brooklyn’s plans are less obvious.

There are justifications for either; it all depends on how optimistic your view of the Nets that finished out this season is. 

....So begins another potentially transformational summer for the Brooklyn Nets. After last offseason started with the chaos of Kevin Durant’s trade request and Kyrie Irving’s flirtation with opting out of his contract...nothing really happened. This offseason may produce the inverse, starting fairly normally but containing a whole lot of action. Stay tuned.
Assigning blame is complex, but, despite its absence from the main sports stories, do note, at least on Twitter, significant fan resentment toward Tsai.
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