The Brooklyn Nets were by far the worst team in the NBA last season, but that doesn’t phase guard Jeremy Lin at all.
In an Instagram Live video over the weekend, Lin responded to a question about how well he thinks the Nets will do next season by declaring, “We’re making the playoffs. I don’t care what anybody else says.”
Q: How well do you think the Nets will do next season?@JLin7: "We are making the playoff. I don't care what anybody else tells me." pic.twitter.com/9MxougrEuS
— infinity88 (@linfinity88) July 16, 2017
It should be quite the uphill climb to say the least after the Nets finished a league-worst 20-62 in 2016-17. They only improved their roster marginally if anything this offseason by acquiring D’Angelo Russell from the Los Angeles Lakers but giving up leading scorer Brook Lopez to do so. They also landed the likes of Timofey Mozgov and DeMarre Carroll, but both fit the mold of salary dump fodder better than that of active contributor to winning basketball.
Then again, somewhere in the 35-win range might be enough to make the playoffs in the rancid Eastern Conference, and Lin, who often looked like the best player on the team when he was on the court last season, missed over half the year with injury. The Nets also have an underrated head coach in Kenny Atkinson, so if a few things break their way in 2017-18, the prediction of Lin, who has always been all-in on the team, might not be all that outlandish.
Video via SLAM Online
