Probably for the first time in a long time, the Nets, now playing out of Brooklyn, have their fan base looking forward to the beginning of a season. When free agents were on the loose and trades were going down, the Nets stayed relevant and were rumored from wanting everybody that was available.

Instead of handing over their players for Dwight Howard they signed them and made a huge trade.

Because of this, NBA.com gave the Nets an 'A' for their offseason acquisitions.

They acquired Joe Johnson and then signed the rest of the starting five to multi-year deals: Gerard Wallace was first, Brooks Lopez and Deron Williams followed then Kris Humphries joined. 

Though they possess a dynamic starting five, their worse grade was for their defense where they received a 'D' since Lopez and Humphries are not starlets on defense. 

Their second worse score was a 'C' for their bench. Here is one question that will come up, who will secure leads or keep the team close when the starting five is on the bench getting a breather? 

The important thing however is that this 22-44 team that only won a third of their games will be expected to compete and could finish in 3rd or 4th place in the East.

The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat are the truly dominant teams in the Eastern Conference. The Nets, Indiana Pacers, New York Knicks and Boston Celtics will all be fighting for those top spots. 

The Bulls will not have Derrick Rose for a while, so who knows how the East will shape up.

The Atlanta Hawks will not be the same without Johnson and the Magic will fall out of the race without Howard.

The Nets have the better starting five than the Celtics, Pacers and Knicks. So they have a chance to be great.

Their key will be finding a way to play defense and getting somebody in the bench to play hard and execute when the starting five is resting. 

The Heat and the Knicks have loaded benches that can outshoot the Nets' bench and play tough defense too.