The Brooklyn Nets will be really young this season. Young teams don't win very much

Brooklyn Nets

Last season: 26-56, missed playoffs.

COACH: Jordi Fernandez (2nd season, 26-56).

SEASON OPENER: Oct. 22 at Charlotte.

DEPARTURES: F Cam Johnson, G D’Angelo Russell, G Keon Johnson, G Trendon Watford.

ADDITIONS: F Michael Porter Jr., G Terance Mann, F Haywood Highsmith, G Kobe Bufkin, Egor Demin, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf, Danny Wolf.

BetMGM championship odds: 1,000-1

What to expect

Young teams don’t win much, and the Nets will likely be the youngest in the league, so expect another season with plenty of losses. Their training camp roster included no players who were even 30 yet and 14 of the 21 players were under 25 — including three teenagers. So the Nets might be good in a few years, but they’re not ready yet.

Strengths and weaknesses

The good: The Nets are happy with Fernandez, who perhaps got them off to too good of a start last season that hindered their chances of having one of their picks land closer to the top of the draft. They have a couple bona fide scorers in Cam Thomas, who averaged 24 points last season but was limited by injuries to 25 games, and Porter, who scored 18.2 per game last season in Denver. Otherwise, their biggest strengths are probably future salary cap space and draft capital, which won’t help them win any games.

The not-so-good: The Nets aren’t very big and they certainly aren’t very experienced. So there’s far more that’s bad than good about their current roster. But nobody is pretending Brooklyn has any sort of postseason aspirations this season, anyway. The only really bad thing would be if fans completely lose interest in a market where there’s plenty else to do and the building grows emptier as the season goes on.

Players to watch

For a team that won’t be good, Brooklyn has a number of them. The Nets became the first team in NBA history to make five first-round selections and need at least some of them to hit, so keep an eye on the progress of Demin (the No. 8 pick), Traore (No. 19), Powell (No. 21), Saraf (No. 26) and Wolf (No. 27). And how Thomas plays — and how much — also will be a story. The Nets didn’t give him a long-term contract extension over the summer and he will be a free agent next summer, so he definitely will be playing with something to prove. Unless at some point the Nets decide he won’t be part of their future and cut back his playing time.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA