Brooklyn Nets trade rumors: Still lacking needed players to be competitive

Despite still being in the summer, many are already predicting trouble in Brooklyn.

According to ESPN, the Brooklyn Nets are set to have a real bad season given the line-up they have and the direction they are headed.

In the list that tries to project where the teams will be at the end of the regular season, the website forecast is that the team will be at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, tied with the Philadelphia 76ers with a dismal 20-62 record.

This projection means that the Nets will fare worse than they did last year, as the Nets won 21 games in the 2015-16 season.

SB Nation notes that ESPN has a knack for being nearly on point with the predictions. It predicted the Nets to win 39 games two seasons ago, and the Nets eventually won 38. Last year, ESPN thought the Nets would win 30 games, and they ended up winning 21.

Even with the addition of new players, the Nets are looking real bad as they failed to address the biggest problem they had, which is in terms of the defensive end.

According to reports, the Nets were second-worst in defensive efficiency and instead of getting defensive-minded players, they settled for Jeremy Lin, Luis Scola and Greivis Vasquez who are all offensive threats.

That is no knock to those players but the Nets need someone who wants to stop the ball instead of shoot it.

And despite Brook Lopez staying with the franchise, it offers little help as they are still far from an improvement from last year's roster.

Lopez had a great season last year, playing all but nine games in the regular season and averaged 20.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game.

On the other hand, many expect Lin to have a good season with the Nets, and he should still average around 11 points and four assists like his previous season in the league. But even with Lin, the Nets are still in dire need of a defensive presence.