Nets Fans Find Long-Awaited Draft Night Uninspiring

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My expectations for the Nets’ unprecedented Draft Day were relatively low. Despite Brooklyn General Manager Sean Marks having five shots in the first 27 picks on Wednesday night, I was aware how difficult a move into a top 5 slot was going to be.

However, with the darts he had at his disposal, I had hoped Marks would prioritize players who possessed the necessary skillset for the modern NBA, such as shooting and defensive versatility, which happened to coincide with areas in which Brooklyn was lacking.

With his five picks, Marks couldn’t even reach my low bar. In an uninspiring night, the Nets seemed to aim for constructing a roster that would thrive in the 1950s under coach Norman Dale. And from the views of their war room at the HSS Practice Facility in Industry City, they seemed quite pleased with it.

Fans should be irate. With the caveat that those analyzing Drafts (in all sports) get things wrong all the time, I don’t know how Marks could have had BYU guard Egor Demin as his top-ranked player on the board when it was Brooklyn’s first turn to make a pick at No. 8 overall.

Nyet, Nets!

Demin, 19, is a 6-foot 9 guard whose elite NBA skill is passing, particularly the opposite corner finds coming off a pick-and-roll set. If you’re thinking he could be the next Luka Doncic, Demin has never shown proficiency as a shooter, posting a 41/27/69.5 split as a college freshman. At BYU, he was often the secondary ballhandler behind Richie Saunders because he doesn’t beat guys off the dribble and he was turnover prone. So then, he’s more like an unathletic version of Ben Simmons? This is the franchise’s first lottery pick since 2010?

Duke center Khaman Maluach was there for the taking, as was French wing Noa Essengue if Marks was looking for higher upside players with foreign flavors. If unimpressed, did he even look into trading down?

Marks then took two other international point guards who can’t shoot straight—Frenchman Nolan Traore at No. 19 and Israeli Ben Saraf at No. 26. Traore at least has some speed, albeit Europe speed, not Jeremiah Fears speed. A player comp I heard was another former Net—Killian Hayes—which doesn’t inspire confidence. As for Saraf, maybe the Nets can keep him stashed overseas for another year since he would likely enter Nets training camp as no better than the third PG.

In between was Marks’ best work of the offseason to date, his weaponization of Brooklyn’s salary cap space to take on the remaining three years of Terrence Mann’s $47 million contract for the price of Atlanta’s No. 22 overall pick as part of the Hawks’ Kristaps Porzingis acquisition. The Nets then used the pick to select North Carolina wing Drake Powell, who is perhaps the best on-ball defender in the class. Powell is uber athletic, besting all comers in the vertical leap at the NBA Draft Combine, and, despite questions about his stroke, actually made shots in real games, converting almost 38% of his three-pointers on 2.6 attempts per game as a Tar Heel freshman. As we just witnessed, Lu Dort types can contribute to winning programs.

Unfortunately, Marks went back to old school thinking with his last two picks. With its back-to-back after Saraf, Brooklyn tabbed Michigan big man Danny Wolf, who also happens to own Israeli citizenship. At about 6-foot 11, Wolf might be able to develop into a backup stretch 5 next to a more physical teammate. His ability to read the floor to play-make from the high post is mitigated by his ungodly turnover numbers (ESPN had him with the seventh most in the nation last season).

The frustrating part of the night from a fan’s perspective was the apparent missed opportunities. In addition to Maluach/Essengue, the Nets passed on Michigan State’s Jase Richardson, a bucket-getter, in favor of Traore, and St. Joseph’s Rasheer Fleming, a high-motor 3-and -D wing, when making the Saraf/Wolf parlay.

Obviously, we can’t give Marks a “grade” for a Draft class whose development is years in the making. And if it turns out that one of his record-setting five first-round picks evolves into an NBA All-Star, other whiffs will be forgiven.

Still, Nets fans waited a whole wasted year for Wednesday night, so to have such an underwhelming outcome should feel disheartening.