Can the Brooklyn Nets pull off these MASSIVE NBA draft trades and lottery STEALS?

Can the Brooklyn Nets pull off these MASSIVE NBA draft trades and lottery STEALS?

coming up what trades could the Nets make on draft night What prospects are they targeting What free agents are priority I’ll answer all those fan questions and more after this [Music] you are locked on Nets your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast part of the Locked on Podcast Network your team every day welcome in to the Locked on Nets podcast right here on the Locked On Podcast Network it’s your team the Brooklyn Nets every single day i’m Eric Slater Brooklyn SB reporter for clutchpoints.com thank you for making me your first listen of the day this show is 100% free on all those great platforms today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel right now new customers can get $150 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins and on today’s show it’s a delayed fan take Friday i took questions and takes from all of you late last week but news about Ace Bailey and the Kevin Durant trade forced me to push it back a couple days but we got draft questions we got free agency questions and we have a lot more so getting to those in the order that they came in no order of importance first one what’s the overunder on total Nets pick in the draft I’d set it at 3.5 i I think 3.5 sounds about right and I’d take the under there i’d probably go with three we know the Nets have 19 26 27 36 and eight obviously so they have five picks there um and I think that there’s a lot of different ways that they can go about this but I think the one thing that is kind of assumed and known at this point is that they’re going to look to consolidate i think moving up to the late lottery could be something they could look to do and if that’s not feasible I think there’s a lot of teams that are going to want to get into the 20s of this draft potentially who don’t have picks there because of the depth of this class so they could look at 26 27 they could try to move off one of those or both of them to you know push that maybe to a later draft or something where it could potentially um have some ability to fall higher for them so there’s a lot of different ways they can go about it but I would expect them to consolidate i think bringing in five you know even four rookies is pretty difficult so I’d say three is probably the number I’d take so 3.5 feels like a good overunder and I would take the under there probably going with three next one all Ace Bailey stuff three of them i’m going to bunch them all together but first being Eric do you know if there were private meetings or workout held with Ace Bailey other than the 10 Ruckers home games that the Nets attended Next one just give us your opinion on this Ace Bailey stuff is there a possibility he wants to be the to be a Net And last one do the Nets draft Ace Bailey at eight if he is available is that a red flag to take him there Um answering all those you know I don’t know of any private workouts that were held with Ace Bailey um I can’t say whether that has or hasn’t happened i know the Nets obviously have that ability to have some late meetings some private meetings because everybody’s in New York you know getting there for the draft ace Bailey a guy who played college ball in New Jersey at Ruckers so the Nets have done late workouts with some guys i mean usually they do some high level guys i remember I think they brought Derek Lively in um for a really late workout the year of that draft could they have done that with Ace Bailey They could have could they still do that Maybe yeah but I I don’t know whether or not that’s happened but it’s a possibility uh next next one is there a possibility he wants to be a Net Definitely a possibility i think it’s been reported that he does want to be a Net jonathan Gavone just went on ESPN and said that um AC’s three preferred destinations were the teams that are picking six seven and eight um with the Wizards Pelicans and Nets in that order of where they’re picking so I don’t think there’s any question that he sees the Nets as a desirable landing spot and you know that’s that’s not surprising given what his camp is reportedly seeking which is an advantageous geographic location and a playing time you know a team that can offer him playing time you look at the Nets a team that’s playing in the NBA’s top market but is in the early stages of a rebuild and could offer Ace you know all the ability to you know do what he wants offensively or within what their structure is give him an extended leash and a featured role offensively i think that that’s a team that makes a lot of sense for him and that’s a team you know obviously that he has some interest in do they draft him at eight if he falls that low or is it a red flag I would take him at eight if he were there i think when you look at a guy who has his blend of size shot making you know fluid athleticism I think there’s just so many tools that you could work with obviously the decision-m is a red flag um the shot selection the passing the ball handling those things but you know there’s a lot of tools that you can work with there you know the camp uh and the the circle of people that he has around him that obviously has some people concerned but he is a very tantalizing prospect and if you have intel and you know the circle that’s around him and you’re comfortable with that and you’re confident in your development staff which I think the Nets are based on what they’ve been able to do I think that you definitely take him at eight if he’s available there um next one if the Nets draft at eight realistically who would you be pleasant pleasantly surprised that could be available Um there’s a few guys but staying on Ace Bailey like if he were available at eight I think I’d be pleasantly pleasantly surprised he’s a guy who was you know mocked in the top three top two some people were even saying that he could potentially challenge Cooper Flag for the top overall pick um entering this college season i think that obviously turned out looking foolish but there’s a reason that he was mocked up there and it’s the size the shot making some of the things he’s able to do offensively just the baseline tools that he has um on both ends the defensive end I think he has some potential also but if you if you have all those things you know those are things that aren’t often available at the eighth pick in a draft so I think that it would be a pleasant surprise if he was there and the Nets were able to get him there without giving up any assets um would it be a red flag Potentially but it all depends on the Nets intel and what they have and I think that they’re confident in their process another guy who I’d be pleasantly surprised being available at eight and he’s a guy that really hasn’t been linked to or mocked to the Nets much because I think the expectation is that he goes ahead but Trey Johnson out of Texas a guy who I would be surprised if he’s there at eight but it would be pleasantly surprised that it would be a great player for the Nets to come away with in my opinion because the best three-point shooter in this draft just a certified bucket getter can score in a variety of ways really a tough shot maker but also has some good ball handling ability i think he’s underrated as a passer and you know while I think the defense isn’t anything that he’s known for is going to be a calling card he’s a guy who’s still close to 6’5 has 6’10 wins span so there’s some measurables there I think you know based on some of the athletic profile and the combination of that and the size he should be able to not be a liability defensively maybe he can come out just being a wash there and if you couple that with the offensive ability I think that that would be really intriguing um you know for the Nets to be able to potentially come away with a player like that at 8 going to take a quick break and then when we come back we got more draft questions we got rebuild questions we have free agent questions all that coming up next but before that want to tell you about our friends over at 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questions first one up here just a take and want to know what you think about it bj Johnson seems to value a lot of size and versatility as he said in scout episode 3 will Riley can be interesting between 19 and 27 considering that and if it really matters a lot taking fears might be a little surprising um yeah I think you know size versatility i think things that every NBA team is going to be valuing especially when you look at you know how the finals just played out what those teams had from a roster building perspective will Riley I think a very interesting player a guy who you know a bigger wing you know 6’8 close to 6’9 winspan really has some you know secondary uh shot creation self-creation playmaking ability i think things are really interesting from that perspective the um you know three-point shot is a work in progress he didn’t shoot it consistently well this past season at Illinois but he shot I think close to 40% as a senior in high school um also was just a tough shot maker made some really tough shots you know off the catch off the dribble um you know put on tape there at Illinois so he’s a guy that I think is intriguing from what he can do you know from at the on the wing from you know some of those secondary skills he can get he has if he can get that you know shot creation if he can get that facilitation if he can develop that further and also you know the three-point shot comes around then this year was more of just an outlier year he’s a guy who can be really interesting offensively and then defensively you obviously have the size he’s taller you know a little bit of a slighter frame but that size that potential offensive versatility I think is really interesting think would be an interesting pick for the Nets at 26 or 27 i think 19 is probably a reach there but a guy that I definitely could see them having interest in and on Jeremiah Fears I get what you’re saying if the Nets are valuing you know uh versatility and size he doesn’t necessarily check those boxes he’s not small from a height perspective uh 6’2 and a half without shoes probably plays like 6’3 6’4 so that’s not terrible size for a point guard but he does have a slight frame and it’s definitely not known for his defense but if the Nets were to take him that would be a bet on its offensive upside you know the name of the game in basketball it’s still putting the ball in the basket and Jeremiah Fierce has really intriguing skills from his avail um his ability to just you know be a paint touch and get into the paint whenever he wants so if he can develop if the Nets are confident in you know the finishing coming around if they’re confident that his three-point shot and this was just an outlier and shot diet and all that played into it and they think he can be efficient really good offensively I don’t think the size or the defensive concerns are necessarily going to scare scare them away from him that’s why we’ve heard that they are you know pretty interested in him they’ve been linked to him consistently so if they are to take him I think that that would be a bet on his offensive game and it would be you know them you know them kind of considering that the priority and you know that stuff being hard to come by and then living with some of the other stuff so that’s how I see that there next one what’s your take on our current development staff given Cam Thomas’ botched development Um so this fan clearly has some strong opinions about Cam Thomas’ development saying that it was botched i think that that’s a little bit strong um you know Cam’s first two seasons he didn’t play uh because the Nets were trying to compete around Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving and he is a guy you know they were looking for more of those role player attributes and the guys alongside those stars and you know 3 and D guys who have more of those complimentary skills and those obviously weren’t Cam Thomas’ strengths i have said though you know during that 2022 uh 23 season after they traded Kevin Durant Kyrie Irving and they brought in um you know Male Bridges Spencer Dimwy Cam Johnson Dorian Vinnie Smith they were still trying to win and they desperately needed scoring you know with that team during the second half of the year and they still kept Jo kept Cam Thomas on the bench throughout that season i think that was a mistake and I’ve you know been pretty open with that take but since then they you know have really given Cam a feature role he’s emerged as the team’s leading scorer you know since Jock left Kevin Ali was brought in and then Jordy Fernandez he’s really been their go-to guy offensively so to say they botched his development I don’t think that’s necessarily fair could they have gotten him more reps early on Sure but he’s still shown you know really elite scoring flashes you know the playmaking and defense are things that I think he’s going to need to buy into i think the Nets staff can do things to help him there but at the end of the day they’re going to have to get him to buy into that and I think he has at point shown um you know a buyin in in some regard to be a a more willing playmaker a more engaged defender so if he can continue to do those things I think he has an encouraging runway as a prospect and I expect him to be back in free agency the Net’s exclusive negotiating period began Monday morning is going to run until June 30th so I think he’ll be back i think he’ll have more time to audition for this Nets team as they continue the rebuild i think if he can round out some of those less polished aspects of his game he still has a really encouraging runway so I wouldn’t at all say it’s a botched development i think he’s a guy who’s going to get an annual salary probably close to $20 million or maybe even above and for a guy who was picked you know at the very end of the first round I can’t I don’t think you can say that they botched his development in that regard next one with the Nets not being able to tank successfully this past season as well as they should have who is more to blame Shawn Marks or Coach Jordy Um you know I I don’t necessarily think anyone is to blame i mean I think a lot of fans look at it and say that Shawn Marx could have shown more urgency could have gotten off of guys like Dennis Shruder Dorian Finny Smith earlier than he did and the Nets obviously opened the season nine and 10 and that kind of put them behind the eightball but you know I’m I’m not available i’m not I don’t know what trades were available to the Nets you know during last off season so it’s tough for me to say could Shawn have gotten off of them easily Obviously he was prioritizing taking back expiring contracts and ultimately did do that taking back the Anthony Melton from the Warriors and D’Angelo Russell from the Los Angeles Lakers and the reason he was prioritizing that was to maintain the cap space that we’ve heard so much about leading into the offseason i think we can see why because the Nets are now the only team with significant uh cap space and that could put them in a position to potentially gain some assets so if Shawn is able to capitalize on that cap space gain some more assets that could you know you you would see there’s more of a trade-off and maybe that makes it more worth it him not getting off those guys early on so you know and then from Jord’s perspective Jordy just got guys to buy in you know he got guys to punch above their weight a little bit in a lot of these games last year when you’re a coach you’re getting players and you know your job is to win with whoever’s put out on the floor jordy is not going to tank that’s a management decision so I guess you could blame Jordy saying he got them to buy in and got them to do more than they should have but that’s a it’s not a bad blame that’s a good blame and um you know from Jord’s perspective I think that’s you know what he’s going to continue to try to do as he should so I’m not sure anybody’s to blame i think you know Shawn clearly was prioritizing cav space this summer and was able to get that so if he’s able to capitalize on that I think that makes it maybe not look as bad the way some of this ended up but you know we’ll see uh next one do you think we wait until draft night to make some trades to ensure they get the guy they want Trades can happen before draft night they could happen you know today they could happen tomorrow they can happen whenever do I think that the Nets could look to you know make trades as things are unfolded when they have a sense of how the board is going Definitely like that’s how a draft goes uh BJ Johnson talked about it on scout that you know the draft’s unpredictable you need to be prepared for anything so you know the Nets are going to be prepared trades i think trades could come you know right after this is posted trades could come on draft night but I think that the Nets will be involved in trades and I think that you know they’ll be looking at how the board shakes out and trying to see what is advantageous for them in those scenarios last one before another quick break mock trade Raptors get number 27 in this draft plus their 2029 first round pick the Nets get their 2027 swap negated um that one doesn’t really work because the Nets don’t own the Rockets 2029 first round pick there’s like three swaps on that and the Nets own the least favorable so the the Rockets don’t have to worry about getting that back from the Nets because you know they already got back that in the uh deal where it was the pick for pick deal last summer you know that’s a swap on that so Houston doesn’t have to worry about um you know getting that pick back from the Nets is there a framework where the Nets could potentially get that 2027 swap back Sure i mean they have a lot of assets but I also think that you know that’s going to be the season after next i think the Nets are going to be hoping to take a step back towards contention there so I think the assets that they would potentially be using to get that swap back I think they’d rather keep those assets and use them to make the team better to you know a point where they don’t really have to worry about that swap being too bad so I think that’s the more realistic path there going to take one more quick break and then we got back when we when we come back we got more uh draft questions we had a couple free agent questions and a little bit more so I’ll round out today’s locked on Nets episode after this before we get to that want to tell you about our friends over at FanDuel the NBA playoffs are in full swing and every night delivers highlight worthy performances major momentum shifts and can’tmiss moments whether it’s a game-winning shot or a breakout player there’s never been a better time to get in on the action fanduel makes it easy to stay in the game before tip off and live with player props performance trends and same game parlays fans have more ways than ever to play smart and win big look guys maybe you’re watching a Nets game and Cam Thomas is heating up while Nick Claxton’s blocking shots with FanDuel you can combine live prop bets as the action unfolds if you’ve got a read on who’s heating up why not back it up with a same game parlay New to FanDuel It’s the perfect time to sign up head to fanduel.com and place your first $ five dollar bet if it wins you’ll get $200 in bonus bets make every moment more with FanDuel official sports betting partner of the NBA rounding out today’s Locked on Nets episode this delayed fan take Friday got a few more of them here this is a take it says at 8 you get Noah Asen if we fall if we get if we can get a second lottery pick you pair him with Jay Fierce Kasparus or Jaor uh I love Jay Fierce but we must take Noah Asen at eight um I get what you’re saying there with a sen i mean I’ve talked about him at length he’s been a guy who’s been you know increasingly linked to the Nets and he’s a guy who is very intriguing for what he’s been able to do at an extremely young age producing at the professional lever level for uh Ratio Farm there in the BBL in Germany he’s a guy who started the year at 17 years old and he has a lot of intriguing traits i mean you look at just the measurables first of all uh 6’10 barefoot over 7 foot wingspan um just some of the things he’s able to do on the court in terms of being a secondary ball handler transition ball handler drawing fouls at an extremely high rate showing some playmaking fa flashes obviously has defensive capabilities he’s a guy that would be an upside swing for the Nets at eight and you’d really be betting on him growing into that frame a little bit more and potentially being able to be a guy who can maybe make some more three-point shots be a secondary ball handler be a guy who can kind of offer some self-creation some floor spacing some defense kind of a jack of all trades and do it all so that wouldn’t be a bad bet and then if you’re talking about pairing him with a lead ball handler I think you know get if you get a second lottery pick probably going to be a late lottery pick i think Jeremiah Fears I think probably be unlikely the Nets get him there you look at how the board could shake out there’s going to be teams like um you know Washington at five um New Orleans at seven um excuse me Utah at five Washington at six New Orleans at seven i think those are teams that’ll have interest and fear so I don’t know if he gets to a late lottery pick but the other guys Kasparus and Yayor I think would be interesting to pair with a Seni as kind of true lead ball handlers i’d be more interested in uh Kasparus Yakonis in that regard but you get a Seni he’s an upside swing a guy who can pop and potentially do some more things offensively and then you pair him with a true lead ball handler definitely an interesting take um an interesting possibility there next one can the Nets trade up and trade into the late lottery And what would that look like There’s you know several ways that the Nets could look to trade into the lottery you look at what they have beyond number eight they have 19 they have 26 they have 27 they have 36 you could look to package those you could look to move up you also have you know veterans and Cam Johnson and Nick Clax who could potentially be available for trade and you also have all this cap space so you look at that there’s a number way of ways they could look to do it you know we’ve talked about them potentially being trade partners with the Raptors at nine the Suns now have the 10th pick the Suns you know a team I talked about yesterday they need a center with Nets have Nick Claxton they need to get off some some contracts the Nets have cap space is there a way that they could look to work maybe a swap of 19 and 10 Maybe Claxton’s involved maybe some salary dumpster involved there’s something that could work there i know the Nets have been talking to the Raptors the Raptors have been looking to get win now help could Johnson be a guy who fits there I know we heard some smoke about that from Nets Daily a few weeks back so just with the picks that the Nets have with you know 19 um 26 27 36 also having the cap space and those veterans they just have a lot to work with and I think there’s a lot of teams where there’s deals that could make sense there so using some assortment of those things could help them move up uh keeping it going has Mark learned the tanking lesson taught him last season by Dennis Shruder If you don’t want to win too many games cut off the head of the snake and don’t have a competent floor general on the roster we don’t currently have a real point guard will they try to get one Um you know did he learn his tanking lesson Maybe i mean the Nets definitely punched above their weight i think Dennis Shruder probably played better than Shawn Marks expected and that led them to win some more games so maybe he learned a lesson in that regard but also this year the Nets are just going to have a lot of rookies coming in they’re probably going to have three maybe even four rookies coming in and that’s naturally if you give those guys minutes and you have less veteran guys on the team and more young guys that’s going to organically just lead to more losing it’s going to lead to you know those usually those rookie guys have trouble especially if you’re talking about rookie point guards rookie lead ball handlers they rarely play well there’s a lot of growing pain so that could be a way that they could just more organically lose some games and it could still be fun because you’re looking at the development of these young guys and how that works so you know will they try to get one um try to get a point guard D’Angelo Russell obviously is a guy that they have who’s a unrestricted free agent i don’t think his market’s going to be too expansive could they try to bring him back maybe on a short-term deal um with the purpose of using him as a tradable salary later on I think that could make some sense because the Nets still do have to reach like they have to spend their cap space on something so if they have some cap space left and they want to you know sign Russell to a midsize short-term deal they could then use him as a tradable guy so I think that that’s something that could work but I don’t think that Russell’s really going to be a priority so I’d expect this team this roster construction to look a lot different i think there’s a more organic way that they could look to tank last question rounding this out let’s say the best player at eight is Kaman Malawatch so the Nets pick him who is gone Claxton or Sharp if the Nets got Malawatch and they’re moving off of one of those other guys I think Claxton’s the more likely guy to be gone i think that he would just have more trade value at this point and he also if you get Malawatch you have two guys and him and Sharp who are younger could fit the Nets timeline more and if you’re going to trade Claxton you could potentially get some real assets back for him we know that the Los Angeles Lakers have been linked to him we know that the Phoenix Suns now are trying to retool around Deon Booker they have a need for a center those are two teams that you could potentially look to work something out with so if Malawatch is to pick at eight which I don’t think would be a bad outcome for the Nets at all I think you know it’s not a foregone conclusion that they would move off Claxton or Sharp but I think that you could you know that would be a likely or there would be logical that that could be a move and I think Claxton would be the guy in that scenario who would be the more realistic of the two for the Nets to move off of but that does it that’s all the questions all the takes we got thank you to everybody who submitted i’m going to try to keep this going um throughout the season this Friday we’re going to be coming fresh off the draft we’re going to have a lot of stuff so we’ll see if I can get to it but appreciate all of you for participating if you do not already make sure to subscribe to Lockdown Nets on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast whether Apple Podcast or Spotify um anything you can do to engage like comment is much appreciated as I try to build this channel but I’ll be back tomorrow talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball

Erik Slater answers questions from Brooklyn Nets fans about the NBA Draft and the team’s rebuild strategy. He analyzes what prospects the Nets may prioritize, whether they can move up in the draft, how Sean Marks will approach next season, and more.

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