NetsDaily Off-Season Report – No. 16

Yes we missed the last two weekends. Not much going on other than the Olympics which we covered in our “Brooklyn to Paris” stories. Also, family vacations and commitments interfered. Yes, even NetsDaily staffers can use some time off.

So here we are back with only six weeks left till training camp opens and only three weeks before everyone or close to it will be at HSS Training Center, working out, taking part of impromptu scrimmages. We’ve already seen a number of videos of players putting up shots on the eighth floor courts at 168 39th Street in Sunset Park. The tempo will likely jump with the arrival of Jordi Fernandez following his Team Canada stint in Paris.

Just this week, Ziaire Williams announced he had arrived in Brooklyn. The Nets traded for the 6’9” small forward shortly after the Mikal Bridges trade was made official, sending newly acquired Mamadi Diakite to the Grizzlies for Williams, who was the No. 10 pick in the 2021 Draft, and a 2030 second rounder. For his introduction, Williams chose the Nets Weibo page, addressing “my Chinese Nets fans.” It was an interesting choice, based on another of our stories this week…

“Happy to be out here with this new team,” he noted, “Can’t wait. We got special things in store and yeah, can’t want to see you guys soon.”

But aside from that, there’s been no roster movement since the Williams deal a month ago. The Nets haven’t made a trade, haven’t signed any Exhibit 10 deals — they have one or two available — nor have they filled their two two-way openings,

Without much if any evidence, pundits have now moved from suggesting imminent departures for Cam Johnson and/or Dorian Finney-Smith to believing both will still on the roster on Opening Night, also without much if any evidence. No fewer than five teams have been linked to Johnson, another three or four to DFS.

It appears, say those pundits, that Sean Marks is asking for more than the interested teams are willing to give up, also without much to back it up. Bobby Marks of ESPN did note that the presence of unlikely bonuses in Johnson’s contract may not be that unlikely after all and that could further hinder CJ’s trade value. Many rival GMs run teams are perilously close to the cap, the threshold or one of the aprons and don’t want to be surprised if those bonus levers are triggered, changing their roster calculations.

It’s probably best to simply be patient. Sean Marks angered a lot of fans by not taking the Rockets reported offer of four first rounders and at one point Jaylen Green for Bridges as well as another reported Bridges offer that would have reworked aspects of the 2021 James Harden trade, eliminating Houston’s swap rights in 2025 and returning their 2026 first rounder.

In the end, the Nets wound up with five firsts and a swap of another first as well as a second rounder, the Nets own, and the league’s second biggest trade exception for Bridges. They were also able to dump Mamadi Diakite, a late throw-in in the Knick deal, for Ziaire Williams and another second. At the same time, they got back those 2025 and 2026 draft assets from Houston without having to sent a player out. Instead, the two teams re-jiggered their draft assets. That and those additional picks from the Knicks moved the center of Nets draft assets from 2027-2029 to 2025-2027.

You would have to be a real hater to think those two trades weren’t better than ANY of the rumored deals that took up so much space on this here site from the trade deadline through the surprise of the Bridges trade on June 25. In other words, it’s wise to be patient. If you believe that the tear-it-down rebuild was the best option, the Nets have done just fine.

As a side note, we wonder if the Rockets or Knicks knew much about what Marks was doing simultaneously with the other team.

Dennis Schroder’s future

There are no rumors about Dennis Schroder’s future, just an absolute ton of speculation following Schroder’s Olympic performance. Schroder, who turns 31 next month, led Germany to its first Olympic medal in men’s basketball, being named to the “All-Star Five” in the process. This, of course, followed his taking home the MVP and the gold for Germany in the FIBA World Cup a year ago. In other words, it’s hard to imagine his stock being any higher. He’s also playing on an expiring — and very reasonable — $13 million contract.

As Schroder has said repeatedly in interviews with the German and US sports press, he wants to stay in Brooklyn, appreciates the family centric atmosphere. At 30, he sees himself not just as a contributor on the court but as a mentor to the Nets young team members. He said he understands the Nets rebuild “is going take some time.”

“I want to be in Brooklyn long-term. Hopefully that works out,” he told Marc J. Spears of Andscape and ESPN. “I want to be a veteran who shows the young people the way and how we should play and how we play as a team. I understand that the NBA is always more individual, but I want to make one team like we had in Atlanta where it was about just winning and really not [caring] who scores.

“And I want to bring that back to the NBA, to the Brooklyn Nets. And hopefully they see the same vision and of course still compete on the highest level, but that’s going to take some time.”

There have no reports that the Nets are engaging with any team on Schroder. Nor are there reports that any team has engaged with the Nets either. However, fans of the Orlando Magic, having seen the chemistry between Schroder and the Wagner brothers think he’d be an ideal addition. The Magic, a rising team, could use a veteran point guard. (Also, in addition to the Wagner brothers, Moritz and Franz , the Magic drafted Tristan da Silva, a German-Brazilian forward, with the 18th pick back in June.)

For a lot of fans, trading Schroder for future assets — a pick, a young player — is a no-brainer, even if it doesn’t bring back the best assets, as Billy Reinhardt tweeted in recent days…

Ah yes, the point guard conundrum, again. Schroder played well enough for Brooklyn last year, shooting a career best 41% from deep and showing leadership skills, after he was traded for Spencer Dinwiddie. Other than Simmons, the Nets have a few possibilities, as Reinhardt noted, but none of them at this point are starting NBA point guards. (And for those seeking to add Killian Hayes to the list, remember he is on a training camp contract, nothing more. He is, as a fifth year player, ineligible for a two-way spot.)

There are players on the Magic roster who might be appealing in a trade, like Cole Anthony who is seven years younger than Schroder, a New York resident, son of a fan favorite and even a New York Liberty fan. But he has a guaranteed year on his contract beyond next season at $13.1 million, then a team option at the same price in 2026-27. Not what the Nets need and to be quite honest, he’s been disappointing in Orlando. Jett Howard, a nice young player, is Juwan’s son but do the Nets need that dynamic?

Anthony Black, the Magic’s 21-year-old 6’7” point guard sounds intriguing but it’s hard to imagine the Magic being willing to give him up this early in his career. The Magic also have some draft capital, but a lot of it is tied up with swaps, etc.

Here’s the bottom line, it would seem: IF the Nets believe that Ben Simmons will play at a decent enough level, then trading Schroder to the Magic or another team for assets makes a lot of sense in the rebuild. However, there is no way Sean Marks & co. can commit to that. The general belief is that the Nets hope Simmons plays well enough so at the deadline they can find a trading partner and come away with some assets.

There is also this: how deep do the Nets want to go in this rebuild? Do you want to subject Jordi Fernandez to a tank the first year — and almost certainly two — of his head coaching career? Yes, Fernandez can say he understands the franchise is rebuilding, but experiencing it is a whole other thing.

Then, there is the integrity of the game. In recent years, since the 76ers first trusted then abandoned “the process,” the league has shown greater interest in that. The Nets, you may recall, were fined $100,000 for their decision to sit most of the rotation vs. the Bucks on December 27. What could the league do if they felt the Nets were deliberately tanking? A lot. The commissioner has a lot of discretion on a lot of matters.

Sure the lure of Cooper Flagg is enticing, but again, even the worst record in the league gets you only a 14% chance at the overall No. 1. (If the Nets finish in bottom four, they’ll have a 50% shot at a top 4 pick, currently big names like Flagg, Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper of Rutgers or V.J. Edgecomb of Baylor.)

Changes coming

Expect to start hearing about changes to the Nets front office, performance team and coaching staffs in next week or so. As we’ve reported, the Nets have lost a number of staffers in recent weeks, not uncommon after a team moves from contender to competitor to rebuilding.

Actually, there’s already been some indications of staff movement on the pages of LinkedIn.

Jim McDonnell, who has been an assistant video coordinator for the Nets the past two years, has moved into the head spot. Travis Bader who had been the head video coordinator is now an assistant coach with the Nets. Video coordinators work with individual players and the job is seeing as a stepping stone to the assistant ranks. McDonnell, who has bachelors and masters degrees in civil engineering, played college ball at Temple, was a video coordinator in Phoenix and in Israel before running Fairfield University’s men’s basketball program. He could often be seen in Nets practice videos playing the big man role.

Makar Gevorkian who replaced long-time Nets staffer Matt Tellem as capologist after Tellem left for the Suns, has also inherited Tellem’s title, vice president of basketball operations for alignment and strategic planning. A native of California, Gevorkian was trained as a lawyer at the University of Chicago and was an associate at a big L.A. law firm before his basketball interests superseded his legal interests. He’s been with the Nets for four years, working under Tellem.

The big jobs still be filled include assistant GM and co-head of the performance team, left open by the departures of Jeff Peterson and Les Gelis.

Is Europe’s most honored player ever about to join Nets staff?

Over the weekend, there was a report in the Italian press that Kyle Hines, who at 37 is nearing the end of a storied European career, may be headed to Brooklyn as a coach.

It turns out that Hines, a 6’6” power forward from South Jersey, served as a Nets assistant coach in Summer League. It wasn’t publicized except by Hines in a tweet thanking the Nets for the opportunity…

Now comes word from Prealpina, a newspaper in northern Italy, that Hines’ time in Las Vegas may be a “dress rehearsal” for something bigger in Brooklyn. Hines’ future, writes Prealpina, “could be with Brooklyn’s technical staff.”

No further details and it should be noted that Jordi Fernandez already has nine assistants, tops in the league.

If indeed, the Nets are interested, Hines would bring a stunning resume’ to Brooklyn. A native of Sicklerville, N.J. and a product of UNC Greensboro, Hines spent all of his career in Europe. In fact, the 37-year-old set the Euroleague record for most games played in a career this season. Hines also has won four Euroleague championships with two teams and 11 national team championships with three clubs, the most recent this past season with Olimpia Milano of the Italian Lega Basket Serie A. His forte was defense, being named Europe’s best defender three times.

Hines has not officially retired, but it seems at this point that it’s just a formality. Where might he wind up in Brooklyn if not on the coaching staff? Might Long Island be a possibility?

Alternate history corner

Alternate history is that history that didn’t take place but wudda, cudda, shudda. You know, like what would have happened if John Calipari hadn’t wussed out in 1996 and selected Kobe Bryant or if George Mikan, then ABA commissioner, had handed Lew Alcindor, soon to become Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a $1 million check from the New York Nets he had in his jacket pocket when the two met back in 1969. Oh well.

The latest edition came this week when ESPN’s Tim MacMahon told the Knicks Film Room podcast that if the Mavericks had relented to Jalen Brunson’s salary demands in 2022, it could have led to a trade between the Mavericks and Nets later that summer.

“If Brunson signs that extension with Dallas, I think there is a high likelihood that he would be with the Brooklyn Nets right now,” MacMahon said. “Because listen, Mark Cuban has always been about chasing stars… Kyrie was going to become available the next season as he did. At the time the Mavericks did because they needed a star to replace Brunson, but I think they would have looked at that as an upgrade.”

How much of this is speculation on MacMahon’s part or some insider knowledge we don’t know. The Nets were certainly not enamored of Irving at that point in time, somewhere between his anti-vax position and the antisemitic video. But they were also hoping to get him to sign an extension.

And to be honest, what’s the point? It didn’t happen. Move on.

Farewell to Joey Buckets

He took the subway to work at HSS Training Center, was a fan favorite who got along with everyone in his seven years as a Net. He went from essentially a walk-on role to the franchise’s leader in 3-point shooting and a top five shooter overall in NBA history. Twice, he led the league in 3-point shooting, making 47.3 and 47.4 percent of his shots. He beat Steph Curry and Dirk Nowitzki in the 3-point shooting contest back in 2019 in Charlotte.

He didn’t smile until he knew he had won.

For the Nets then and now, he was a model, an example of how a team can strike gold in the oddest of places during a rebuild. When he arrived in 2016, his lone distinction was having been cut and traded while under sedation during foot surgery in January. Kenny Atkinson later admitted he wasn’t sure Harris was an NBA player when he arrived in Brooklyn, but a combination of hard work, development and opportunity got him his shot. Between him and Spencer Dinwiddie, Sean Marks & co. hit the jackpot twice.

That strategy of finding and developing fallen angels, as some call them, is an accepted part of any rebuild and it’s back in fashion in Brooklyn. In 2016, the Nets tried out a number of players who fit that description including Anthony Bennett, the overall No. 1 three years earlier, Archie Goodwin, a first round pick in that same draft, Yogi Ferrell, a diminutive shotmaker along with Harris and Dinwiddie. You can see them trying it again now, taking chances on two former lottery picks in Ziaire Williams and Killian Hayes. Gotta hope it works out as it did eight years ago.

In the meantime, we want to join others in wishing Lumberjack Joe, Joey Buckets, Beef Jerky Joe a happy and productive retirement.