The Brooklyn Nets Showed The World Why They Might Be The Scariest 7/8 Seed We've Ever Seen

Jacob Kupferman. Getty Images.

There are still a lot of unknowns when it comes to the Brooklyn Nets. Will Kyrie be able to play in home games in the playoffs? How will Ben Simmons fit? Will their defense (22nd) be good enough when it matters most? Is it a good idea to actually have to rely on Andre Drummond in the postseason? Plenty of questions exist.

But one thing that is not up for debate is this. The Brooklyn Nets are going to be the most terrifying 7th/8th seed we'vever  seen. I say that not even factoring in Simmons. We all know his talent, but the dude hasn't played in a year. I'm mostly just talking about the roster and players we saw last night. One thing became abundantly clear. Nobody is going to want to play this team in the first round, and that reality is going to have huge implications on how the seeding race in the East shakes out. For starters, let's take a peek at how things stand as of this morning

Considering Kyrie is only eligible to play in 4 more games this regular season/play in, I think it's safe to assume they are going to stay in that 7/8/9/10 range. The Cavs are too good to blow a 5 game lead in my humble opinion and barring something truly insane, I can't see any of the other top 5 seeds having a collapse like that. Given that they still have Kevin Durant, I feel confident in saying the Nets are going to stay in the 7/8. That's obviously very important as we look to what is going on at the top half of these standings.

In previous seasons, the goal is usually to always strive for as high a seed as possible. There's normally some benefit of finishing 1/2 in the conference. It doesn't guarantee a deep playoff run, but in theory, it should give a team an "easier" path. That's not always the case though. The 2017-18 Raptors were a 1 seed and lost in the second round. The 2019-20 Bucks were a 1 seed and lost in the second round. The 2020-21 Sixers were a 1 seed and lost in the second round. Things can look a certain way on paper, but the playoffs are about who can actually perform at the highest level of basketball we have.

The 2021-22 season has sort of flipped this idea on its head. There's a good chance finishing 1/2 this year could be the kiss of death for a team that fancies themselves a contender. I think we can all agree, when the Nets are healthy they are devastating. They just are. Remember, on 12/31 they were atop the East at 24-10. When KD got hurt a few weeks later, they were in 2nd at 26-15. This was all while Kyrie was a part time player and they did not have Ben Simmons. Basically, this is not your average 7/8 seed. When you are talking about a team with the best player in the world and one of the most gifted point guards in the league with great depth surrounding them, that's not your basic 7/8 seed that is just happy to get some postseason experience. I mean look at these two

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So what does this mean for the race in the East? My guess is a whole lot of teams are going to start positioning for the 3/4 seeds to avoid these two in the first round. To me, that's the sweet spot. You get homecourt and you don't have to worry about the Nets for a while. My question is how this will impact certain teams. With how close things are, any sort of losing streak can cost you homecourt rather quickly. If you're someone like Joel Embiid, winning games is pretty important to his MVP case which we all know he very much wants. But after what we just saw last night, should the Sixers be trying to move up to 1/2 and potentially have this meeting in the first round? If you're the Bucks, you're winners of 6 straight, but do you maybe let up a little bit so you can have a potential easier path to repeat as champs? If you're the Celts, you've turned your season around, but how crazy do you want to get with that if your reward is another first round date with Kevin Durant? If you're the Bulls, do you even really care that you're sliding right now and might not finish top 2 despite being there most of the year?

Here's where things get even more tricky. If you look at the strength of schedule of the remaining games for all these teams, here's how they rank

Bulls - 2nd toughest

Bucks - 3rd toughest

Celtics - 6th toughest

Cavs - 11th toughest

Sixers - 16th toughest

Heat - 25th toughest

Nets - 28th toughest

Also, a huge portion of the Heat's remaining games are at home. I can't see them dropping out of the top spot, especially when it's more than likely the Nets finish 7th. They'll most likely be one of the teams you can say will be actively trying to stack as many wins as possible. 

We've certainly seen some 1/8 and 2/7 playoff upsets over the years, it's happened a total of 10 times since the league expanded to 8 playoff teams in 1984, but those teams weren't exactly these Brooklyn Nets. It's likely that they could be favored in their first round matchup as a 7/8 seed which is crazy to even think about. When is the last time you could say that?

Do you tempt the Basketball Gods and maybe try to manipulate the bracket in your favor if you're one of these top seeded teams? That can certainly backfire. You have to be careful what you ask for in that situation. But make no mistake about it. There's going to be a team that has a great regular season, finishes in the top 2 and their reward will be to stop a healthy Brooklyn Nets team. Pretty unfortunate for whoever that ends up being in the first round.