Brook LopezTalk about an awful year for the New Jersey Nets. After finishing the 2009-2010 season as easily the worst team in the NBA, there wasn’t as much success during the 2010-2011 season as new owner Mikhail Prokhorov had hoped for. Despite a few promising roster moves and a front office facelift, the team looked almost as bad as it did the season before. They struggled to win any games throughout the first half of the season and made a desperate attempt to spur some wins with a blockbuster trade. Even after trading for Deron Williams from the Utah Jazz in return for Devin Harris, things only improved for a couple weeks. They managed to win five straight games in a row at the beginning of April, but ended the regular season with a record of 24-58. Williams will spark the future, but they’re going to have to provide him with tremendous amounts of support if they have the slightest hope of earning a playoff appearance. With all of that, here’s a look at some of issues they need to resolve this off-season if they hope to see some sort of improvement during the 2011-2012 season.

1. Bring in players that are more than serviceable starters

Apart from Williams and Brook Lopez, the Nets’ starting lineup mostly consists of former backups from other teams and guys who would only be starters for about 10 percent of the rest of the NBA’s teams. Former Los Angeles Lakers Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic were valuable additions to the team in 2010, but I can’t imagine them being staples in the starting lineup for too much longer. They need to trim off some of the older veterans like Dan Gadzuric and Travis Outlaw and continue to inject the roster with youth. They have the No. 26 pick in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft, and should be able to bring in a talented big man who can team up to make a dynamic duo with Lopez. It’s a tough position to be in during the draft with a mix of first round bubble players and second-rounders available. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them go for someone like USC’s Nikola Vucevic or Lithuania’s Donatas Motiejunas.

2. Learn how to create turnovers

With Williams now on board at the point guard position, the Nets have a young superstar to build around. However, they need some different building blocks because the ones they currently have can’t find a way to cause any turnovers. New Jersey forced their opposition to turn the ball over only 12.32 times per game, the lowest average in the league. Williams should be productive in that category, but they need some more defensive talent at the shooting guard and small forward to help force their opposition to give the ball away. Whether they bring some dominant defenders into the picture or find a way to coach up the defense better, there’s going to have to be some sort of change if they hope to find some more wins next year.

3. Find a way to win in their division

It certainly doesn’t help that the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers are all in their division, but a 3-13 division record is no way to find your way into the playoffs. If it wasn’t for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who had a 1-15 division record, the Nets would have turned in the worst divisional record in the NBA. Their only divisional wins came in the month of April, including two back-to-back games against the Toronto Raptors in London. They’re going to have to find a way to win the important games and show that they have what it takes to win against divisional foes that will mean the difference between a playoff berth and a lottery pick in next year’s draft.

The Nets still have a long way to go before they can even sniff the playoffs. With Williams and Lopez in the lineup, they have a strong start in the talent department. However, the majority of their remaining players are serviceable starters at best. If they hope to find some sort of success during the 2011-2012 season, they’re going to have to do some intense searching for either a couple key free agents or rookies to take during the draft.

Photo: Keith Allison, Creative Commons 2.0