The Brooklyn Nets Are ‘Sold’ On Rodions Kurucs And It Isn’t Hard To See Why
If you asked the average NBA fan or writer who Rodions Kurucs was, chances are you’d be met with a confused look. I am no different, as this article was birthed out of doing research to reply to a comment on a Reddit post (hope this suffices, BKtoDuval). Its no secret that the Brooklyn Nets have expended an incredible amount of effort scouting Europe this season, trying to find a diamond in the rough before another franchise can scoop it up.
After doing their homework on the 6-foot-9 three-point shooting, dunk-it-in-your-face small forward out of Latvia, Sean Marks and company are reportedly “sold” on drafting Rodions Kurucs. With two picks in the first round, Brooklyn has a great shot at landing him, but according to Basketball Insiders, Kurucs is quickly gaining steam with teams around the league and could be off the board as early as No. 15 to Portland.
Context Truly Is Key
Towards the end of this season, Trevor Magnotti of The Step Back wrote about how important it is to apply context to Rodions Kurucs’ situation. Unlike most of his peers, who took sparse playing time with their senior teams over real playing time with one of the junior teams, Kurucs played 24 games for FC Barcelona 2 and only one game for the senior team. This was partially due to the fact that the 19-year-old was coming off a meniscus injury, but what it did was allow himself the opportunity to grow and showcase the player he could be.