00:00Is Nets GM Sean Marks feeling the pressure to find a savior in the draft after their draft lottery failure?
00:07Let's talk about what options the Nets may have with the sixth overall pick with our Nets beat writer for
00:13the post, Brian Lewis.
00:14Brian, thanks for hopping on with us out there in Chicago for the combine.
00:19Let's get straight into this because after all that tanking, all of that positioning, they still ended up outside of
00:27the top four.
00:27So do you get the sense that Sean Marks stays with the sixth overall pick?
00:33And how likely is it that you think they may try and trade up to go get their guy?
00:39I think it's very likely that they will try to trade up to get their guy.
00:44If you're asking me how likely do I think that they'll succeed in trading into the top four or top
00:50three, I think it's probably damn unlikely.
00:53I think he'll put in an effort.
00:55Listen, they tried to trade up last year, but the cost was just too high.
01:00And you look at what New Orleans spent last year to move up 10 spots.
01:06I mean, it was it was a hefty price.
01:09And this year, when you look at the extent that teams went to to tank to shamelessly tank, and you
01:15look at just the reactions in the drawing room, which you can watch on video, it's obvious how desperately teams
01:25wanted those top three top four picks.
01:28So I don't think they're going to be able to trade up unless it's maybe five, one spot.
01:34But I do think the Clippers at five, that's probably the highest spot that's, for lack of a better term,
01:40open for business.
01:42But you'd have to really be in love with a particular prospect and fear that the Clippers would take him
01:47to give up a ton of assets to move up one spot.
01:50I think it might be more likely that the Nets move down, because there's probably not a huge gap between,
01:57say, five and nine.
01:59So I think that's probably more likely.
02:02But I mean, I think they'll be active in making calls, taking calls in either direction.
02:08So do you think Sean Marks trusts his scouting department enough to sit there at six or maybe even trade
02:17back and find a hidden gem?
02:19Because in your article, you wrote, Damon Lillard went six overall in the 2012 draft to the Trailblazers.
02:25I think we get out of Weber State.
02:27I think we all can agree that that kind of worked out for that franchise.
02:30So which players in this draft could be a franchise altering player and could potentially still be there from six
02:39to nine?
02:41OK, do I think he trusts them?
02:43Yes.
02:44Listen, it's still going to be Sean and BJ running the draft.
02:48But they they added AC Law, who was the director of amateur scouting at Oklahoma City.
02:56And I think we can see that Oklahoma City has done quite well for themselves in the draft.
03:01And so he's going to be he's their director of player personnel.
03:04So they've added to their scouting staff.
03:10Right.
03:10The decision makers.
03:11So I think Sean trusts them.
03:15Now, what kind of players are available?
03:17There are a lot of guards that are going to be available in that range, say, the five to nine
03:25range.
03:26Right.
03:27And I know that there are fans are going to say, listen, they took five first round picks, four guards.
03:32They can't take another.
03:33I would say none of those guards are going to keep them from drafting another one if it's best player
03:41available.
03:43As far as star power, I think probably Darius Acup might have the most star power in that range.
03:52Completely actualized.
03:53I mean, I could see him being Trey Young.
03:56He's that talented offensively.
03:59Unfortunately, he's also that questionable defensively.
04:03So if everything went perfect, I could see him being a star.
04:08Keaton Wagler is I mean, he could be an elite shooter.
04:14You're talking about a guy who's like 6'6", can play on the ball, off the ball.
04:20I would be stunned if he doesn't come in as a rookie and shoot well over 40 percent from three.
04:27The guy I question, and I don't mean question in a bad way.
04:31Somebody that makes me very curious is Mikel Brown.
04:35He had a bad back and it really messed with his freshman season, but he might be the best combination
04:44of athleticism and size because Kingston Fleming, who plays defense, which is something the Nets desperately need.
04:52But Kingston Fleming is measured very small at the combine, and that's a problem, right?
05:00Brown, he's big.
05:03He's explosive.
05:04He's got great range.
05:06But, as was said, you know, his back messed with his season.
05:10So you want to look at his medicals.
05:12You want to see what he looks like Wednesday when they're scrimmaging.
05:17These are the guys that I think they'll be picking from.
05:21So let's talk about who they could potentially target in terms of star power outside of the draft.
05:28So when we look at the Brooklyn Nets right now, no superstar, fan base is frustrated, and this rebuild seems
05:35to be dragging a little bit longer than what folks would generally want.
05:39So what's the smarter play for Sean Marks?
05:42Build slowly or swing big this summer at a guy who could use a change of scenery?
05:49Like, what are you hearing on who they could possibly pursue via trade or even free agency?
05:57Okay.
05:59Free agency is not what it used to be, like a lot of things, right?
06:03Free agency is just not.
06:04The odds, the era of thinking you're going to go out and get one of the top five players in
06:14the league, like with KD, and I know KD was a sign of trade, but you get my point.
06:19Those days are probably done, right?
06:22So let's just put that aside.
06:26Now, that doesn't mean cap space is useless.
06:29It just means you're going to be using it either to take salary dumps to get draft picks, as they've
06:35done, or you can make unbalanced trades and bring back a guy who might be either overpaid or his team
06:44just cannot afford him because of apron issues.
06:49Now, as far as guys that would interest them, listen, I think every team in the league would be interested
06:55in Giannis, but let's put him aside for a minute because he's older.
07:01It's a completely separate timeline than what the Nets are on, so let's put him aside for a second.
07:07In a perfect world for them, I guess the Cleveland Cavaliers go out early in the second round, and Donovan
07:16Mitchell decides he doesn't want to extend there, and they try to bring him home to New York.
07:22Again, I'm not telling you how likely that is.
07:25I think what's more likely is possibly maybe looking at Orlando in case they decide to split up that team
07:33because it just hasn't worked, right?
07:36And it's really difficult to figure that all of a sudden, Franz and Paolo are going to start working together.
07:44There are guys that eventually are going to become available, right?
07:52Whether that's, you know, listen, sooner or later, A.J. Mitchell is going to get paid.
07:56It's not next year.
07:58It's two years.
08:00But could you take a swing and try to pry him out of OKC, which would be exorbitant, but if
08:08you think he's going to be your Jalen Brunson the way that the Knicks had faith in him maybe before
08:15others did, you know, there are a number of things that you can do that are not quite rising to
08:23the level of Giannis that are going to help this team
08:27because, frankly, that's how bad this team is right now.
08:30There are a ton of things that this team can do that will make them better that are not going
08:37to be trading for Giannis.
08:41What probably I would tell you this, falling from third, which is where they were in the odds, to sixth,
08:49it doesn't completely take away the idea of a slow organic build, but it makes it a lot harder.
08:56And you can't think that in the future you're going to tank your way out of this because the tank
09:02between the tanking reforms and not having your pick next year, you probably can't sit there patiently anymore the way
09:12you could have if you had A.J.
09:13And you said, I'm just going to sit back now and build around this guy.
09:15Or I had Darren Peterson.
09:17I'm going to sit back and build around this guy.
09:19You don't have that luxury anymore.
09:22So I do think they'll be more aggressive this summer in the trade market.
09:27It does not necessarily mean, you know, because they have nine or 10 tradable first round picks, it does not
09:32necessarily mean trading five firsts and a swap and MPJ to try to get Giannis.
09:39And then you have Giannis around a bunch of, you know, two ways and minimums.
09:43I'm not suggesting that.
09:44I am saying that there are a number of things beneath that level that they can do that would help
09:50them be competitive.
Comments