Nets’ New Direction Has Uncertain Pathways

SI.com

Sean Marks knows exactly where he is. And where he wants to go. The question the Nets General Manager couldn’t possibly answer at Monday’s press conference was: How is he going to get there?

Marks has been here before. When he first took the job in 2016, Brooklyn was a hellhole, devoid of Draft picks thanks to the disastrous 2013 Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce blockbuster. Marks may be significantly better positioned now, with a boatload of future picks and a few valuable (i.e. tradeable) veterans at his disposal, but the starting position is almost the same.

Following the shocking trade of Mikal Bridges to New York and the recovery of their own Draft picks in the next two years, the Nets—and by extension Marks—are under no pressure to qualify for the playoffs this season. In fact, you could argue that they would be better off plunging to the league’s lowest depths in 2024-25 to ensure the best odds at a top lottery slot.

As evidenced by Marks’ responses at Monday’s presser, he is quite comfortable with that. A skeptic might wonder if he engineered this pivot, since it was previously assumed that bottoming out was not something that Nets owner Joseph Tsai would endorse considering the declines in basketball-related revenues that would almost certainly ensue, from more empty seats at Barclays Center to fewer eyeballs on YES Network telecasts. Who knows, maybe Tsai’s sale of a 15% minority stake to the Koch family for a reported price of about $700 million last month played a role in enabling Marks to sway him toward the blowtorch plan.

Make no mistake, Marks crushed it when he previously lifted Brooklyn’s from the NBA abyss and created a culture that attracted the league’s top stars by the summer of 2019. He made some shrewd trades, hit on some relatively low Draft picks, and lucked out on a few reclamation projects.

When Brooklyn suddenly rose to a team with title hopes, however, every Marks move was scrutinized for its consequences. He assembled a team with three of the NBA’s greatest offensive talents in Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden, but had only one playoff series victory to show for it. A bit of the bloom came off Marks’ rose.  

But before that, as it will be going forward, Marks could do almost anything and no one could bat an eye. Trade a veteran for a random pick? Sure, why not? Thaddeus Young for the picks that became Caris LeVert and Kessler Edwards worked out swell. Take on a bad contract or two in exchange for assets? The Nets were open for business. Marks could do all that and more today without fear of criticism. Maybe there’d be some haranguing from the fan base’s pro-tank bedwetters if Marks used some Draft capital to acquire a good player, but such a trade could certainly be defended.

The beauty in all of this is that there isn’t a set timeline. Marks could also simply sit back and watch this season play out if opportunities that meet his guidelines aren’t presented, even if it results in something like a 17-65 record. Who would blame him? It might take two-to-three years before Tsai loses patience. Would Marks have had that cushion if he stayed the course with a re-tool as opposed to a demolition? That’s unknown (and moot), but Marks’ dubious record of coaching hires could have then been used against him if he failed to put Brooklyn back in the “Relevant” column in short order.

Now that he’s back in his familiar environment, Marks was able to throw around some of his favorite terms, like “strategic” and “flexibility”, multiple times over the course of the press conference. I counted eight utterances of either “direction”, “avenue”, and (the winner by a landslide) “pathway.” (Thanks to NetsDaily’s Lucas Kaplan for posting a transcription of the session.)

What all that meant in practical terms is “We’ll see.” Everyone who applauds this new “direction” should understand that its measurement stands at 360 degrees. Other than it will start with Brooklyn losing a ton of basketball games for the foreseeable future while the organization drafts/acquires talent, everything else from here on out is a fluid situation.

I would assume that the Nets veterans on expiring contracts—Dorian Finney-Smith, Bojan Bogdanovic, Dennis Schroder, and even Ben Simmons if he’s recovered from a second back surgery—will be available on the trade market. So might pending restricted free agent Day’Ron Sharpe. Cam Johnson will only be in Year 2 of a 4-year deal, but he too could attract suitors bearing fair trade consideration offers. The Nets really don’t have any untouchables, and that includes leading scorer Cam Thomas and rising sophomores Noah Clowney and Dariq Whitehead.

Based on Marks’ response on Monday that he didn’t “think (this rebuild) is a long process”, he might not want to strip this down to its bare bones. He’ll need to have in house some capable NBA players in order to attract the higher-end talent who desire a change of scenery via a trade request or free agency. I don’t believe Brooklyn’s plan going forward is to roster all 16 future first-round Draft picks over the next seven years while waiting a little bit to build around them with players who fit the kids’ timeline. Before receiving the haul from the Bridges deal, I believe Marks once hinted that the picks acquired in the KD/Kyrie dumps were meant to be traded. The above quote could be interpreted that such a strategy will not change.

Carrying all four rookies from the 2025 class seems excessive (obviously one or more picks could be utilized as overseas stashes). Remember, three of the picks will be routed to Brooklyn from teams who are expected to contend next season, meaning they’ll likely be in the mid-to-late 20s.   

But it’s a conceivable option. After all, the Nets ended the season with all three such lower picks from their 2023 class on the roster, so embracing a full-bore youth movement is one of the many “pathways” Marks can take without anyone telling him he’s wrong.