Nets normal supervisor Sean Marks stated his workforce’s timeline to compete in significant playoff video games stays the identical — even after he and his entrance workplace used each the twenty first and twenty second picks in Thursday’s NBA Draft so as to add one-and-done school rookies to the roster.
The timeline to compete — and compete for a championship — has been a subject of dialog ever because the group detonated a reliable contender on the commerce deadline with the pair of trades that despatched Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to the Western Conference. When the mud settled, the Nets recognized “The Twins” Mikal Bridges and restricted free agent Cam Johnson as franchise cornerstones.
But now what?
Fresh off a first-round sweep by the hands of the Philadelphia 76ers, the Nets have been anticipated to be aggressive in enhancing a roster with tons of depth but a obvious want for a star scorer. Their most aggressive commerce package deal to take action would have included one or each of Brooklyn’s first-round picks in Thursday night time’s draft.
Marks stated he and his entrance workplace had “a lot of conversations ahead of the draft” about transferring up or packaging the picks to accumulate an influence participant from one other workforce, however in the end he and his employees settled on Alabama’s stretch-four Noah Clowney at choose No. 21, and Duke’s three-and-D wing Dariq Whitehead at No. 22. The Nets additionally chosen Kansas’ Jalen Williams within the second spherical at choose No. 51.
An vital be aware, Whitehead underwent two procedures on his proper foot throughout his freshman season and isn’t anticipated to take part in Las Vegas Summer League.
“I wish I could honestly share the interviews that we had with these guys. I think the public would be pretty impressed with how they were raised and who they are,” Marks stated on the HSS Training Facility in Industry City early Friday morning, the highest two buttons of his white polo shirt unfastened, a telltale signal of an extended day’s work. “That gives me great confidence, when you bring somebody in like that who is about the right things and carries a chip on their shoulder. I think that’s really important.”
Yet as excessive as Marks and his employees are on the workforce’s draft haul — Marks stated the entrance workplace was “very, very happy with how it played out for the Brooklyn Nets” — there nonetheless stays the query of timeline.
After only a style of championship competition, when can Nets followers anticipate a full serving?
The Nets have a payroll north of $145 million in assured salaries getting into free company, which begins Friday, June 30 at 6 p.m. That doesn’t embody the contract they’ll be pressured at hand Johnson, the restricted free agent positive to command a deal north of $20 million in annual wage after a formidable transition from Phoenix to Brooklyn was adopted by an eye-turning playoff efficiency because the Nets’ second offensive choice.
The surest path to meaningfully enhancing the roster for a deeper playoff run stays a commerce, and whereas the Nets proceed to have coveted commerce chips within the type of battle-tested veterans (Royce O’Neale, Dorian Finney-Smith, Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie), draft compensation is all the time wanted to sweeten a deal for a famous person.
And after Thursday night time’s draft, the Nets have two fewer draft property to cut price with — although it should be said: Brooklyn can nonetheless use two firsts in 2025, two extra in 2027 and three first-round picks in 2029 as the overall framework for a deal involving a famous person participant.
“Our timeline — we’re going to compete,” Marks stated after the draft. “That’s what we’re right here for. I’m not going to take a seat right here and say that we’re a contender in a single day. But I believe we’ve proven the flexibility, as a company, to pivot and compete, probably faster than we most likely have been thought.
“At the end of the day, with a new CBA, a new group, some really good returners, let’s let these guys develop. A new coaching staff, let’s let them put their fingerprints all over this group and see where it goes in the next couple months, then a couple years and go from there.”
For now, Marks and the Nets’ entrance workplace seem elated with their alternatives. They have an extended historical past of discovering diamond-in-the-rough expertise with draft picks exterior the lottery: Nic Claxton was a second-round choose. Cam Thomas fell to select No. 27. Marks nabbed Jarrett Allen Twenty seventh-overall and drafted Caris LeVert at choose No. 20.
The lanky, 6-10 Clowney averaged 10 factors and eight rebounds as a freshman at Alabama and shot the three ball at a 29% clip. More notable concerning his perimeter capturing was his willingness to shoot the three: Clowney averaged just below 3.5 makes an attempt from downtown per sport via 36 video games with the Crimson Tide.
“It does factor in. You watch him shoot. We have him here in our building and we critique and evaluate their shots, amongst many, many other things,” Marks stated. “He doesn’t shy away from shooting it. That’s what we want.”
Time will inform with Whitehead. He is starting his rehab course of after present process a second process on his proper foot to handle a “fifth metatarsal Jones fracture.” Whitehead was a 43% school three-point shooter for Duke with prototypical three-and-D dimension at 6-7, 220 kilos.
Which naturally brings us again to the plethora of veteran wings in Brooklyn, lots of whom stay coveted by true championship contenders. It’s clear the Nets are not that — a real championship contender — until they pull off a deal for the ages.
It doesn’t seem, nevertheless, the Nets are in any rush. Thursday night time was all concerning the rookies. And Marks and his employees really feel lucky to have preemptively hit the lotto on one other set of late first-round picks they needed to maximize.
“I don’t think any of these guys quite know how good they can be yet, and I don’t expect them to,” Marks stated. “… And then the sunshine bulb goes off. It’s, ‘Alright: This is what it takes to be a real NBA player. This is what it’s gonna take. I’m gonna need to develop. It’s gonna take time, however I’ve acquired the precise group round me to assist.’
“That’s what we’re committed to do for these three young men.”
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Source: www.bostonherald.com