We Come to Play: Brooklyn Nets Summer Rewind

One year ago at this time, the Brooklyn Nets were a franchise with a regrettable past and a doomed future. However, the appointment of Sean Marks as the team’s GM in February this year turned the entire picture upside down. All of a sudden, the Nets started moving towards a single operational plan. Marks made a couple of important moves early on in his tenure, waiving past-their-prime players for some salary cap relief. Still, this summer was the first true test of his mettle. So, how did he do?

He started off by trading Thaddeus Young to the Indiana Pacers, getting the 20th pick of the 2016 draft and a future second round pick in exchange. Much like Andrea Bargnani and Joe Johnson before him, the 28-year-old Young was of no use to a team at the start of its rebuilding stage. Unlike those players, however, he still had some trade value in the league. Obviously, two middle-of-the-road draft picks may not seem like much of a return for a proven NBA commodity. Still, a franchise that has effectively been kicked out of the lottery will take whatever it can get. With their 20th pick, the Nets took a flyer on Caris LeVert, a potential star with a discouraging injury history. By drafting LeVert, Marks has shown he’s fully aware of the precarious situation the Nets are in. If your team needs quality players, gambling on potential is the only correct course of action.