Nets GM Sean Marks, loaded with draft picks, has to get this new rebuild right
Nets general manager Sean Marks speaks to the media at the HSS Training Center in Brooklyn on Sept. 26, 2024. Credit: Louis Lanzano
Sean Marks can’t blow this one.
The Nets general manager has been handed a rare do-over, a chance to rebuild a franchise from the ground up like he did when he took over a wreckage of a team with no draft picks eight years ago and built it into a franchise so promising that big-name superstars came knocking on their door.
Not only is Marks getting another chance to rebuild, this time he will be working with what amounts to diamond-encrusted tools.
The Nets, who just finished another unwatchable season with the league’s sixth-worst record of 26-56, have the most cap room of any NBA team and a league-high 31 future draft picks, including five of them this year in what is considered a generational draft class.
The Nets have four picks in the first round on June 25 at Barclays Center, including their own pick and those of the Bucks, Knicks and Rockets.
With so many assets at their disposal, there has been a lot of talk about them going after a star. One that has been named often in trade rumors is Giannis Antetokounmpo. In a news conference Monday with coach Jordi Fernandez, Marks made it clear that he would only sign a star player if he thought he could make the Nets a contender.
“If you’re going after max-level talent, they have automatically and absolutely change the trajectory of your team,” Marks said. “This can’t be like, let’s go get this guy and lock ourselves into being a 6-7 seed. When we go all-in, you’re going to compete at the highest level and contend.”
Of course, that’s pretty much what the Nets thought they were doing after their last rebuild when they broke apart the team that they built from the ground up to go with Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and then later James Harden.
Yet, there were some sure signs that the Nets learned their lessons from that painful debacle as Marks also listed some non-basketball skills that he would want from his next superstar.
“We’re looking for somebody that fits our culture,” Marks said. “Somebody that fits the Brooklyn grit we’ve talked about. Competitive, selfless, being part of something bigger than yourself, and so forth.”
The Nets never got out of the second round of the playoffs in the Durant-Irving era. One of the biggest reasons why was Irving’s unwillingness to bend to the culture established by owner Joe Tsai.
Irving’s trade to Dallas in February 2023 ended a disastrous tenure in which the point guard refused to get vaccinated (causing him to miss home games for nearly a full season), was suspended for sharing an antisemitic documentary and played in only 143 games over 3 1⁄2 seasons.
Misjudging the superstars he added to the team wasn’t the only mistake Marks made. He repeatedly failed to hire the right person to coach the players he had assembled. He continually misread the mindset of his star players, underestimating how their unhappiness could torpedo the team. And, in the case of Harden, he wasn’t able to get a maximum return when he finally figured out that a superstar needed to be traded. (See: Ben Simmons.)
Yet, as the Nets head into what is surely to be an offseason more uplifting than the season the Nets just had, Marks has made one very impressive move that should give fans hope that this time they get it right.
Not only did Marks determine that Mikal Bridges wasn’t the right kind of player to rebuild around, he was able to convince the Knicks that he was important enough to be worth five draft picks.
The loss of those picks could come back to haunt the Knicks for years, especially with Bridges’ inconsistent play this season.
The Nets have the Knicks’ 26th pick in the upcoming draft. Not high enough to get a superstar, but high enough to get a decent player who can contribute.
Marks has shown he can rebuild this team once. This time, he needs to get it right.
Barbara Barker is an award-winning columnist and features writer in the sports department at Newsday. She has covered sports in New York for more than 20 years.
