Sean Marks has had quite a run since taking over as Nets General Manager in February 2016.
Unfortunately, when the pace quickened to a sprint to the NBA Championship finish line, his team has fallen behind the pack.
With Brooklyn on the verge of elimination in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals after a disheartening 109-103 home defeat against Boston on Saturday night, it’s time for Marks to stand up and be held accountable.
No one is disputing what he’s accomplished since taking the reins of one of the worst situations in NBA history with a franchise bereft of first-round draft picks and low on marketable assets. Marks was assumed to need at least five years just to restore the Nets to respectability.
Instead, he got it done in a little more than two. Thanks to some shrewd trades and a development culture that allowed the organization to mold relatively unheralded players into solid NBA contributors, the Nets were back in the postseason by 2019.
The hard work paid off with a windfall that summer when Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and DeAndre Jordan all agreed to team up in Brooklyn as free agents in what was dubbed “The Clean Sweep.”
The additions of Durant and Irving in particular altered the franchise’s course in every which way. Winning championships had to be the priority, even above culture, with all of Marks’ moves forthwith designed to get his club as close as possible to that elusive goal. Catering to the stars was supposed to be the way to get it done.
That’s why Marks went all in around the middle of last season to obtain another one in James Harden from Houston, emptying his draft pick cupboard and offloading promising young players like Jarrett Allen and Caris LeVert so that Brooklyn could put out an offensively unparalleled Big 3.
Unfortunately, Marks’ well-intentioned plans since haven’t panned out nearly as well, with the Nets likely to be stuck on one series win in the three seasons since KD and Kyrie came on board now that the Celtics have taken an insurmountable 3-0 lead that no NBA team has ever climbed back from.
Like I noted in my last post on Head Coach Steve Nash (Will Embattled Nash Be Back Next Season If He Can’t Get Nets Out Of 0-2 Hole? (substack.com)), some of that underachievement can be attributed to bad luck, especially the injuries that crippled the Nets in the second round against Milwaukee last postseason. Irving’s refusal to get vaccinated for the COVID-19 vaccine, Harden’s ensuing disillusionment that led to him to passive-aggressively push for the February 10 trade to Philadelphia, and even more injuries this season were all out of Marks’ control.
However, you can’t just dismiss the design flaws.
Look at Marks’ veteran acquisitions from the last offseason, the types of players who were supposed to fill supporting roles on a contending team and help the Nets with their prime weakness of defense: Free agents James Johnson (since cut), DeAndre’ Bembry (cut), and Paul Millsap (salary dumped in the Harden trade) plus trade piece Jevon Carter (cut) all turned out to be low-risk busts.
Marks used his biggest acquisition chip last summer by giving guard Patty Mills the full taxpayer mid-level exception. For about half a season, you could argue that it was a steal. By the All-Star break, however, fatigue from a career-high minutes load after an arduous summer at the Tokyo Olympics got the better of him, and now Mills is averaging a mere 6.7 points per game in almost 18 minutes in this series. It turned out Marks would have been better off using that money to retain forward Jeff Green (if he was amenable), whose size and versatility would have brought far more value against Boston than the 6-foot Mills.
Of the three players Marks did re-sign as free agents (KD was extended with a year remaining on his contract—obviously a huge deal, but, as we’re seeing now, not enough), only Bruce Brown, a 6-foot 4 wing whom no team guards outside of the paint, contributed to the cause in the first two games. Neither of centers LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin, who have 13 All-Star appearances between them, got off the bench until Griffin was called upon at the end of Saturday’s third quarter—and only because starter Andre Drummond’s play was an embarrassment.
Drummond was one of the ancillary pieces to come back in the Harden trade. The Nets also received a pair of first-round picks to help restock the inventory as well as sweet-shooting Seth Curry, but the featured return was Ben Simmons, a player who hasn’t played all season after telling the Sixers he wasn’t mentally ready and then suffered a herniated disc in his back while ramping up his conditioning in Brooklyn.
I’ve never been a fan of Simmons, who must have such a high opinion of himself that he never dedicated any offseason to improving a dreadful shot, and the fact that he said at Saturday’s shootaround that he was able to scrimmage that morning but wasn’t ready to help his new team with his unique blend of size and athleticism in its moment of dire need was perplexing. Gee, I hope that pickup game was some gosh-darned fun.
In the end, Marks saddled Nash with an ill-fitting 15-man playoff roster, with two players (Simmons and Joe Harris) in street clothes, three centers and three rookies who almost never play, and no one other than Durant capable of matching up with the Celtics’ wings without giving up at least four inches.
It’s no wonder that the lilliputian Nets own the third-worst defensive rebounding percentage among the league’s 16 playoff teams after finishing last in the category during the regular season. Boston’s physicality domination also has the Nets turning the ball over 17 times per game, the second-most this postseason after Minnesota. Really, any way you look at it, the Celtics are clearly the better team, with even their All-Star duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown outperforming the more highly-regarded KD and Kyrie.
And, of course, they’re better coached. Marks is most culpable for luring his friend Nash, who never stalked the sidelines as a head or assistant coach after retiring from a Hall of Fame playing career in 2014, to tie everything together prior to last season when a more experienced tactician should have been given greater consideration. After a rocky start, Nash fared well in last year’s playoffs but now he’s getting creamed in the coaching department by Boston’s Ime Udoka, Nash’s assistant last season.
Whether the Nets suffer the ignominy of a sweep or extend the series for a bit longer, this season has been beyond disappointing. There’s plenty of blame to sprinkle around, but it all starts with the man responsible for putting the pieces in place.
Marks deserved the praise for past jobs well done; now it’s time he takes his figurative spanking for missing the boat this season.
I usually agree with your takes full bore. You completely missed the mark on this one. The Nash decision is the only one that he can be blamed for and even that can be reasoned away by the fact that he has had to coach under crazy circumstances. Blaming Marks for Mills having to play too many minutes? That’s pretty unfair I think. Revisionist history is easy pickings …
I agree there is a lot of blame on Sean Marks. The roster construction was always somewhat baffling. With Blake Griffin and Aldridge both playing exclusively at Center last season, Marks was well aware that he was going into this season with 4 centers on the roster in Claxton, Aldridge, Griffin, and Sharpe. Then in a trade he brings back Drummond. So now five centers? Why? And how many backup PFs (zero)? How many back up PG (1ish)?
Historically the two most important bench pieces for any playoff team are a backup PG and a stretch PF that can play big. If a team goes with a tight 7 man rotation the two bench pieces are always PG and PF. Yet, somehow Marks completely overlooked this.
Crazier yet, the Nets do not have a PG in their starting 5. I guess you can say Harden was supposed to be the PG, and Simmons was to be the replacement next season; but when the Harden trade happen, Marks did not fill the PG gap whatsoever. What team plays with no PG?!?
It is so clear that the one of the main problems for the Nets is no PG on the floor. The Celtics pressure, and the Nets fall apart. Any halfway decent PG could at least steady the roster. Instead the Nets panic and turn it over time and time again. Oh how I wish Sherman Douglas was still on the bench.
Moreover, it is clear now that Nash is way over his head. You can, and you do, blame Marks for bringing Nash to Brooklyn, but you also have to blame Nash as well.
The roster rotations are just baffling. Drummond, Curry and Mills are being outplayed in ridiculous fashions. All three are HUGE liabilities on defense and are bringing little to an offense that is sputtering. These three guys do not attack and do help the spacing that Durant should be getting. Why on earth is Nash playing these guys so many minutes when they are getting outplayed?!? And he will even go three small guards (Irving, Curry and Mill) so the Celtics can steamroll even easier for a few minutes. You need aggressiveness and toughness (Griffin). You need a PG that can move the ball when a defense is over-pressing (Dragic). You need a big shooter that spaces the court (Aldridge). These aren't even great pieces, to throw out there, but a lot better than what Nash is doing. For some nutty reason Nash is loyal to his lineup that is simply getting beat in every game.
To be clear, I'm not saying that Aldridge, Griffin and Dragic should be getting all the minutes, but at least try them out. Try and light a few fires.
Further, the coaching is chess vs checkers. The Celtics are playing so much harder. They are also pressuring the ball like crazy, being much more physical, and are making crisp rotations on defense. It's really impressive, but Nash has done nothing to counter it. If someone is bodying, you attack the rim and draw fouls. If Taytum is overplaying the passing lane - go back door. If you can't run your sets because the defense is too aggressive, dump it in the post. If KD can't get the ball in the set; get your offense started earlier and don't let the Celtics set up their defense.
But none of this is even tried. Again, the Celtics defense is playing great, but the Nets aren't even trying to counter. On defense, it's the exact opposite, while the Celtics are playing aggressively and crisp, the Nets are sloppy and lazy.
The only reason the score is close, is Bruce Brown (the one bright spot) along with the ability of KD and Irving to make overly difficult shots. It's laughable how Boston gets a wide open dunk on one end and the best counter by the Nets is an Irving circus shot over two defenders.
You could also blame KD for being lazy. The Celtics are being overly physical and KD is not countering. And that is somewhat on KD. But KD has been playing way to many minutes all season and is tired. Further, it's the coach's job to then convince him of making adjustments (which he has not done).
However, the most frustrating part of all this is I don't enjoy this team.
Irving's non-sense and anti-vaccine stance has been so very off-putting. Ben Simmons has been a joke for the past year. (Irving and Simmons are clearly the two most disliked player in the NBA) Drummond has a foot out the door. Curry has yet to seem like he wants to be here. Joe Harris has been injured for way too long. Most of the roster is fleshed out by one-year vets that will be bailing this summer. Besides Brown and Durant (Harris if healthy), I don't really want to root for these players.
You also had the ridiculous Harden drama that still is unclear what happened.
There is no team camaraderie. The culture is down the tubes. There is no love on this team besides KD and KI ridiculous handshake. These guys do not want to be here.
Lastly, watching the Celtics fans take over the arena was just downright pathetic.
It's clear the Nets are done. Good riddance. Good Luck to the Celtics. This off-season may be the most challenging for Sean Marks. Hopefully he can make magic and turn things around this off-season.