The Brooklyn Nets are finally normal. They made the ultimate swing for stars in the summer of 2019 when they acquired Kevin Durant in a sign-and-trade with the Golden State Warriors and then agreed to a max contract with Kyrie Irving. Roughly a year after, they swung a massive trade to bring James Harden into the mix. When those three were on the floor together, the Nets looked unstoppable. But that's the thing: they hardly ever played.

Soon, James Harden walked out the door and was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. Roughly a year after that trade happened, the Nets decided to walk away from the superstar experiment entirely. They traded Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns for Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and a massive trove of draft picks and sent Irving to the Dallas Mavericks for even more picks and Dorian Finney-Smith and Spencer Dinwiddie.

The Nets took a mish-mosh of a roster into the playoffs and were promptly swept by the Philadelphia 76ers. But, they now have had an entire offseason to build their roster the way they deem fit. However, that roster still has some questions. Questions that warrant answers sooner than later.

2) What is Ben Simmons?

Remember Ben Simmons? The guy who was an All-Star as recently as 2021, made back-to-back All-Defensive teams in 2020 and 2021, and was named to an All-NBA third-team selection as recently as 2020 as a soon-t0-be 24-year old? That wasn't that long ago, but it feels like a decade though. That's because a lot of things have happened since then. He lost all confidence for the world to see in the 2021 playoffs that culminated with him passing up a dunk in front of the rim in Game 7 against the Atlanta Hawks.

He never played again with the Philadelphia 76ers. Once he got traded to the Brooklyn Nets, he didn't do much for them either. He's played in only 42 games for the Nets since joining them midway through the 2021-22 season and the last time he played for them he was being used as a backup center to Nicolas Claxton.

What exactly is Ben Simmons' role going to be? Is he still going to be rendered as a dribble handoff offensive fulcrum? In an interview with Marc Spears of Andscape and ESPN, Simmons flatly said he's a point guard. He also expressed confidence in himself and his game.

People will be skeptical, but it's nice to at least see Simmons carry himself with confidence. It really wasn't that long ago when Simmons was routinely earning awards for his play on an NBA floor. But shaken confidence along with a nagging (and real) back injury has taken that player away for a couple of years. How he is deployed and how he performs doing so is a question he and the Nets will have to answer.

1) Are the Nets even good?

The answer to this shouldn't be no. It isn't quite a definitive yes at the moment either. The Nets benefitted greatly from the work Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving did while they were still members of the Nets. Kevin Durant played his final game for the Nets on January 8th, 2023. Irving's last game as a Net was on February 1st. After Durant's final game as a Net, the Nets were 27-13 with a +4.2 net rating, which ranked fifth in the NBA at the time. After Irving's last game, the Nets were 31-20 with a +2.5 net rating; that ranked ninth in the NBA at the time, per NBA.com.

That means after those two were traded, the Nets were below .500 the rest of the season. They finished that stretch of the season 14-17 with a net rating of -1.2. That was the 10th-worst net rating during that time. The Nets still managed to sneak into the postseason, but got swept by a Sixers team that didn't have Joel Embiid in Game 4 and had the worst net rating of any team in the playoffs.

The Nets have some solid pieces. Mikal Bridges took a turn to stardom last season. Cam Johnson is one of the best shooters in the NBA. Nic Claxton is one of the best defenders in the NBA. They're a solid team. But it's fair to wonder how good they really are. And with some rising young teams like the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic, it's fair to wonder if the Nets are even a lock to make the play-in. They'll tell the world how good they are soon enough.