The Nets’ BOLD draft strategy STUNS NBA Insiders | A new direction in Brooklyn?

The Nets’ BOLD draft strategy STUNS NBA Insiders | A new direction in Brooklyn?

coming up how will the Net’s bold draft strategy impact the team’s future i’ll answer that after this 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 Lockdown Nets podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network it’s your team the Brooklyn Nets every single day i’m Eric Slater Brooklyn Nets beat reporter for clutchoints.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 Game Time download the Game Time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase and on today’s show I’m going to be analyzing the Nets’s bold draft strategy that saw them select five players in the first round i’m going to talk about how the type of players that they targeted could indicate a change in philosophy moving forward and how it could also impact the team’s timeline i’m joined now by Brian Lewis of the New York Post and Brian we are still dealing with the fallout from what was a crazy draft night uh in Brooklyn last night the Nets obviously setting a record um taking five players in the first round no other team had ever done that before so let’s start there we you know knew about the volume of picks that the Nets had and it had been floated leading up to the draft like in the hours right before that they might be comfortable making all these picks how surprised are you that they actually made five first round picks because when they had four it was a lot of people thought they were going to have to consolidate trade up then they got another one and still made all the picks so how surprising was that to you oh it was Well I was stunned i mean I’ll just full disclosure i just thought they were lying there’s no No there’s no other way for me to put it i thought it was I thought it was smokeokesc screen and I even said listen if I was a smart GM and I had picks and I was looking to move whether that was move up or you know punt one in the next year or consolidate or whatever I probably would say “Oh I’m very comfortable making all of these picks.” And I would casually mention how great my development staff is and how we’re so play my coach can’t wait to get his hands on all five young that’s what I would be saying uh so that’s what I thought they were doing i thought they were just simply protecting the value of those picks before they moved one or more of them but I was wrong and clearly wrong and you know I think the fact that they did stick in all the make all the picks there’s two things i do know that they were trying to they were at least inquiring about trading up into further into the top 10 they had spoken with Philadelphia i know they spoke with Charlotte as numerous other teams did those teams obviously obviously the price was too high for them and then when you look at potentially moving into the late lottery was something people had been talking about and you look at a team like that made the biggest move i want to give you credit too because I didn’t know about Charlotte i knew they I knew San Antonio i knew Philadelphia uh and then I think you reported Charlotte yeah they I mean numerous teams were talking to Charlotte like I heard that yeah i they they were a team that was seriously considering moving back and I thought maybe you know they were waiting to see whether you know Philly stood there and took VJ Edgecomb because they were said to have interest in Edgecomb Charlotte was and the Philly took him but they seemed very comfortable you know taking Canipple um Nets fan’s favorite guys who they would have been so upset with at eight ends up going four so you know what does that say but talking about them potentially moving up into the late lottery you know the team that made the biggest move New Orleans went from 23 to 10 and they paid a steep price they gave up their 2026 first round pick unprotected which a move that’s getting somewhat killed like I think a lot of people rightfully think that that was kind of a crazy move but that just shows what the price might have been to move up and clearly the Nets might have thought that was too exorbitant you know based on where they had guys ranked on their boards and how the draft was playing out so that was one part of it another the next part of it that I want to get into with more detail is making all five of these picks seems to be part of a strategy that the Nets were you know going with of potential just high volume multiple dart throws you know giving themselves the best the highest chance to come away with maybe multiple you know rotation guys out of this class and I think that that was also exemplified in the fact that they took three point guards all who have pretty similar traits uh you know they do some things differently but in Jay Gordon and Nolan Troy and Ben Saraf all you know pass first guys very talented very unselfish all struggle shooting from three but have some upside if certain things can hit so it seems like they’re playing the volume game overall and then also with really wanting to get a highle lead ball handler and targeting guys with similar traits who they thought could hit so how do you feel overall about that strategy because I think a lot of people a lot of draft people were scratching their head seeing them take three international point guards but there is you know obviously some logic to it in the sense that they’re trying to maximize their chances at you know that archetype of player them coming away with one who hits yes well what I would say is this uh general managers like you know people in the dating pool have types right i mean Messiah Jiri likes these longarmed athletic you know borderline anthropomorphic like octtopi like that’s what he goes for right uh Sean Marx has generally gone for you know high character boy scout guys uh I personally I have said I think they need more dogs in the locker room and I’ve said this for years but whatever i think now he is added to that type maybe after watching the NBA finals but I mean clearly going for high field high BBIQ passers guys that can move the ball and are not ball stoppers um it’s interesting and I don’t generally do hypotheticals i’m curious if they had managed to be able to move up to get you know not that I ever thought they had a chance for it but if they had gotten a Dylan Harper I wonder whether you would be taking dark throws at three or four point guards i don’t know but clearly they are leaning into trying to find as many chances to have uh a high-end homegrown lead passer right that’s clearly what they’re after uh we’ll see how many of these come good we may not we may have to wait years to figure that out but I mean I think the plan you can say what you want about it for better or worse but the plan is pretty clear crystal clear and Shawn you know as you noted throughout his tenure high character guys always seem to be something that he places a heavy premium on and then also you know likes a lot of finesse players you know guys who do certain things and I think obviously Jagor Deman checks a lot of those boxes especially from you know a personality standpoint i spoke with them at the combine we spoke with him yesterday and everything I heard from people throughout the pre-draft process was that he crushed his interviews and that he’s a great kid and is very team team first and all that stuff and then from the Encore perspective he is a little bit more of a finesse guy like he’s an incredible passer he isn’t exactly somebody who goes into people’s chests you know when he’s driving to the basket there might be some stereotypes about him as like the European classic stereotypes which I think are you know kind of getting dispelled now that more Euro players are you know becoming so prevalent in the NBA but when they made when he made that pick and from what you had heard about Deon throughout the pre-draft process you know everything that I just touched on was there a part of you who was like here we go again you know we’re doing this again when when he made the pick or leading into it when he made the pick well I think when he made the pick my My brain probably went blank for a second because I probably was in shock i mean I expected them to take him or I but I thought they would either be taking him at 19 or be trading up from 19 to take him i did not expect them to be taking him eighth but yes absolutely there was smoke about them really liking him uh being enamored with what they saw you know during the pre-draft process uh and I guess buying into that the shooting improvement was real now maybe some people don’t believe it was real uh because they have a whole lot of evidence prior to this that he can’t shoot but the Nets clearly bought into the small sample size whether that’s recency bias or whether they know better we’ll again we’ll find out and I’ve heard you know I’ve heard just from some other people talking about the fallout from this pick and you know reaching out to me and saying you know the Nets are getting killed and talking to people there were other teams who really liked Diego you know not so far after the Nets so people were talking about you know could they get him at 19 like that was a projection in a lot of different places doesn’t seem like he was getting to 19 it doesn’t seem like he maybe I think it was probably unlikely that he was getting off the lottery out of the lottery based on things that I had heard and then I’ve heard since and then going you know based on the the theme of what we’re talking about with these ball handlers the three guys they got de Demen Trayor Saraf we said all high field you know all pass first guys all guys who play a certain way and Shawn Mark said some things about that in his pro his post-draft press conference that I think will be interesting when you’re trying to evaluate how the Nets want to move play moving forward with Jordy Fernandez so we’ll talk about that after a quick break but before that want to tell you about our friends over at Game Time have you ever decided at the last minute to head to a ball game with friends or family maybe it’s game day and you decide you want to be in the stands that’s where game time comes in it’s the easiest way to grab lastminute tickets without the stress with the money you save on tickets you can splurge on food drinks merch or even invite a bigger group to come with you game time makes it possible game time makes buying tickets fast and simple prices on the app actually drop the closer you get to the first pitch they’ve got incredible lastminute deals clear seat views and a lowest price guarantee that takes the worry out of buying game time has lastminute tickets and zone deals for big savings like 10% off exclusive zone deals for FIFA World Cup matchups say you like some soccer you want to go watch those games game time’s got you hooked up with the zone deals take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time download the Game Time app create an account and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code locked on NBA for $20 off download the Game Time app today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed coming back from the break talking with Brian Lewis about the Nets 2025 draft hall specifically three international point guards that they brought in we all know the characteristics by this point i’ve talked about it multiple times already even though the draft just ended um high feel playmakers somewhat finesse guys but pass first guys and that was something that Sean talked about in his quotes he had one really interesting quote I thought that I um brought out used in an article and I posted on Twitter right before this he said zero 0.5 second like was this the the phrase that he used like in that meaning you don’t hold the ball your pass first you get rid of the ball the ball keeps moving and that seems to be something that is going to be there’s going to be a heavy premium fa uh placed on that under Jordi Fernandez which is obviously much different than what we saw with you know Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant and some of the ways the Nets have played in the past just by having some of those star guys even with Cam Thomas more recently where there was a lot more ISO ball and stuff like at it seems like ball movement you know unselfish play is going to be a core principle of the Nets moving forward and I thought that some of the comments that Sean made were interesting in regard to where they’ve be going what did you make of them agree wholeheartedly uh listen they haven’t I mean they really haven’t drafted guys like that i mean I’m trying to think of the best playmaker that they drafted since he’s been here now I’m not saying they haven’t had playmakers i mean you know they traded for DLO not the second time i mean the first time uh and I consider him to be a high IQ player uh they haven’t drafted any playmakers since Markx has been here i mean and and Kyrie obviously is a wizard but again they didn’t draft Kyrie i I’m trying to think of the best and it might be Caris Levert i mean that’s the only one i mean if you’re talking about playmakers and he’s not This is what I’m saying right this is what I’m saying this is this is a departure from what they’ve done um and so clearly I mean and you’ve you’ve seen the stat out there talking about that there were only three guys in this whole class that averaged six assists per 36 minutes and all three of them ended up getting drafted by the Nets uh I mean that’s you know if it was two of them I guess but the three is not a coincidence three is clearly you leaning into this being your character and your identity right and people can look at the Nets last year and say “Well what was their character or what was their identity or what do you associate them with or what did what are they known for?” You would be you would struggle to point to an identity and figure out what it is well now they have one again for better or worse they do have one and that might not be so surprising you know looking at Jordi Fernandez the you know he’s a European coach the school like the philosophies that he’s came up with that this would be the area and the direction that he’s trending and I think you saw glimpses of it in his offense last season which was there was not much ISO ball whatsoever even like high pick and rolls which are becoming just are obviously the core play of all NBA offenses there wasn’t even as much of that relative to some other teams I think transition is a big thing he wants to do obviously and then in the half court you know a lot of ball movement he wants to keep the ball popping and that seems that’s evident in the way that you know they drafted with these three guys all having those kinds of skills now they all also struggle shooting from three so that’s going to be a swing skill for each of them and I think the Nets are hoping with the with you know those core traits that they have in terms of pretty good measurables great in Demond’s case um you know passing ability natural feel all of those things some versatility that if they can shoot it you know it’s going to unlock a lot of other aspects of their game so that seems to be the way that they’re going and Mark’s also talked about these guys’ size and you know Deon isn’t regarded as a you know good defender i think people probably thought he was average but it seems like the Nets are pretty high in that regard and it wasn’t just the passing and keeping the ball moving mark’s also talked about you know scheme versatility defensive versatility being able to guard multiple positions and that seems to be I think that this is all interesting the way they’re talking about this coming off the NBA Finals that we just saw the Indiana Pacers and obviously the Oklahoma City Thunder but go really far with a philosophy that was a lot of ball movement having a lot of defenders everywhere and it seems like there could be like a little bit of a modeling going with how the Nets want to build this out moving forward i would agree with that uh the only I guess caveat or the only nit that I would pick would be I I do agree that it’s a swing skill for all of them but I think there’s levels to this and I think it’s more of a swing skill for Demen than it is for Trayori right because Trayori can still draw i I think he’s first off I mean he’s I I think he was over 30% not that that’s good but he might have been 31% 32 30 between 32 and 33 I think yeah right and he can still get to the 10 right so I think if he even if he just makes even a moderate improvement that’s fine uh I think Jaor needs to improve dramatically because I I don’t want to be disrespectful and say non-athlete um let’s say middling athlete i think that’s fair he couldn’t get by anybody in the Big 12 at all uh and I think a guy shooting 27% he’s going to need to shoot to open that up he’s going to have to shoot otherwise I don’t see how he scores i don’t see an avenue for him being an NBA scorer if he doesn’t shoot now again uh he hurt his knee he was shooting about 38% before he hurt his knee he misses a month he comes back and he shoots about 23% the rest of the way now I don’t know i don’t know how much of that is the knee how much of that is playing poor competition and you’re beating up on Little Sisters of the Poor and you’re shooting 38% against them and then when you’re playing in the Big 12 which may not quite have been the SEC this year but is damn good i I don’t know how much of it was the competition also he had a great proday the Nets seem the Nets seem to believe in the early flashes the form you know they have some shot doctors on their staff obviously they seem to believe in what they saw at the proday and what they saw in workouts and I agree with you that you know the three-point shooting is going to be huge for him in a lot of regards offensively because you know I’ll say you said you know he couldn’t get by anybody i don’t think he could he could create separation straight line i don’t think that he’s slow by any means like he has No he’s a strider yeah like he’s got great stride length and size so when he got openings he was able to take advantage and get to the hoop and finish with his length the the problem was creating those openings yes he’s not very quick side to side he’s not a great ball handler that limits how he creates the opening so another way there’s really a couple ways you’re going to create openings the pick and roll is going to be a huge thing because that’s where he’s most gifted passing and if you want to you know force defenders to work over the top of those pick and rolls and create those advantages and create those two-on-ones going downhill you got to be able to shoot you got to be able to force be able to force them to go over the top also you to be able to get guys to you know maybe respect a little bit of a step back respect you off the catch be able to make them close out hard to you that opens some driving lanes that way without you necessarily having to beat them off the dribble or anything like that so it’s going to be big in that regard it also be huge because you know everybody says that Deon’s a point guard there is like some conversation about what like a lot of people say bigger playmaking wing is another thing that secondary playmaker a wing guy but again now you beat a wing shooting 24 25% yeah it just doesn’t it doesn’t play right i mean unless you are some kind of whatever otherworldly defender uh with a you know a 43 inch vertical you know like I don’t know Powell who by the way shot 38% so yeah no I mean I don’t know what Deon’s best position is honestly but I would say this much if he can shoot 35% it does change the outlook i would say that I would say when you draft a guy who a lot of people consider a reach and his really like one true redeeming quality and you know elite skill is passing the ball i think you’d want to have the ball in that guy’s hands a good amount so I’m going to like go out on a limb and say that he’s going to be a ball handler a primary ball handler which shooting is going to be immensely important for that but he also has his potential where he could be this really interesting offball you know playmaking wing this guy can kind of be a connector for them but that is going to hinge on him being able to shoot off the couch and do some of these things as well so the shooting is really a huge skill for him but I think it’s clear the vision of what the Nets were going for here with bigger high field guys you know playmaking guys guys who will keep the ball moving not just with those guys but also with the abilities that Danny Wolf has and also Shawn Marks confirmed it with his comments with what he said with us i think that that’s really interesting you know that’s really interesting in terms of how they want to play and I think it’s really interesting what these volumes of picks could say for their timeline and for the guys who are already currently on the roster so we’ll get into that after a quick break before closing out the show but before that want to tell you about our friends over at Skiims when I found out Ski was making underwear for men I was intrigued i’ve heard so much about their quality from friends and family so I had to give it a try and let me tell you it lives up to the hype i’ve always had issues with underwear fit comfort or just finding the right style for me skiims changed all of that their men’s line offers something for everyone from boxer briefs to classic briefs all designed with perfect balance of comfort and style guys I tried the Skiims 5-in boxer brief and I’m hooked these are perfect for my active lifestyle they move with me they never lose their shape they stay in place all day whether I’m working out or just running errands they’re the most comfortable and reliable underwear I’ve ever owned plus the lightweight material feels amazing almost like you’re wearing nothing at all shopkins at skins.com let them know we sent you after you place your order select podcast in the survey and select locked on nets in the drop-own menu that follows closing out today’s Locked on Nets episode talking with Brian Lewis about the Brooklyn Nets 2025 NBA draft that brought in five first round picks and Brian we let’s start on this five first round picks all of which we said that these guys are I think we all agree that they’re developmental prospects like it’s going to take a while for these guys to you know grow into what they want to be we’ve heard obviously in the past about the Net’s desire to maybe go star hunting to maybe you know go after a Giannis or whoever along those lines now this is pretty interesting because these aren’t guys who are going to be like ready-made role players they want they targeted three ball handlers who have a lot of room to grow not exactly the guys that you’re going to have around the star that you’re trying to bring in and compete now so how much do you think these this volume of picks and who they targeted specifically what it says about the timeline moving forward well no i I mean I would agree that these are all developmental guys i mean hell this the guy who’s probably the least of a development project is probably Powell right i mean Oh definitely without what he does plays i could put him out there now and clearly his defense will play i’ll say W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W W Wolf is a Wolf is a second but Pal is clear but a 43 inch vertical plays now that he is what he is right so he’s probably I I don’t want to say the highest floor but I mean I think he is the closest to realizing what he is going to be already um I mean as far as Giannis listen I mean as far as I know he hasn’t asked for a trade he hasn’t demanded a trade they’re not looking to trade him so I fully expect him to be there for some time and I think the Nets uh when you give up the assets and equity that they gave up to get their 26 natural first round pick back i mean you’re you’re doing that with the whole idea of getting you know Boozer or you know any of whatever any of those four or five guys that’s the intent um now granted I’m not you know we’re not going to go down that whole rabbit hole again i mean they could go 0 and 82 and still draft fifth but I mean you gave up all that equity so that you can tank so that you can get a lottery pick and take your best shot at getting an elite player next year but as far as trading any of these guys you’re right these guys i don’t know how many of these guys are going to be readymade compliments right for Giannis yeah they’re not here like that’s not what we’re looking at here we’re looking at long-term plays that’s what you’re looking at and that’s what I find interesting because we have heard even though the Nets have this volume of picks even though you know they have the ability to tank next year we have there have been the questions about would they want to go after obviously Giannis we already said or another secondary star or whoever becomes available and expedite the timeline now does this make it so that they definitely can’t do that no like maybe they could trade multiple of these guys or they could be in that route but I’m just I find it interesting because they also maybe they could have packaged some of these picks they had five and traded into later drafts and had those assets to try to package for a star instead they stuck they picked multiple developmental prospects and like there’s levels of developmental prospects and these guys are guys that you know at least the three ball handlers they took it’s going to be like quite some time before they’re ready to you know like we’re talking three four five years these guys are going to need so unless they’re looking to move off these guys and package you know after picking them and package them for something this seems to me that would indicate that this is like them committing to an extended rebuild and really doing it and building through the draft you know truly for the first time in you know how how long would you agree with that assessment i mean I would agree that it looks like you know two Yeah it looks like a couple of years uh now they still do have draft equity it’s not like they have no draft equity going forward they still have an excess of draft picks going forward i also can’t sit here now and tell you on the 26th of June what’s going to be done with Nick Claxton i can’t tell you here on the 26th of June what’s going to be done with Cam Johnson i don’t know um so I’m not going to sit here and tell you that if Giannis sits there and suffers through a poor season and we’re here a year from now and he determines all right I want to be in Brooklyn that they would not be able to make a move for him m but this is clearly looking at who they picked and the amount of picks that they committed as long-term upside plays this looks like you are going all in two feet forward in a rebuild long-term rebuild like to close it out i’m glad you brought up Nick Claxton Cam Johnson and I like to close it out talking about what this could mean for the guys who are already on the roster right now um let’s let’s start on those two because I I think or let’s start on CJ specifically because we have talked about the the importance of veteran leadership sean spoke I asked him about you know the prospect of trading Johnson at his exit interview and he raved about CJ everything he brings to the table what he brings from a leadership standpoint all that you now brought in five rookies five really young guys multiple of which are very developmental prospects so I would think at least it’s not six rookies because traded the second round they traded out of the second round we didn’t mention that we should mention that they uh traded um Shams reported they traded 36 for two future second round picks to the Phoenix Suns which I’m not surprised because six would just be insanity at this point but yeah like they have five rookies coming in they’re gonna need somebody to show them the ropes i mean like I know fans like to discount that of like last year fans were like we’ll play 15 rookies and we’ll go 0 and 82 and like we don’t give a crap and all that but in reality there is a value of having guys like that so I wonder the effect that this has on a guy like Cam Johnson and maybe a guy like Nick Claxton but more so CJ because he really was like that veteran voice um in the locker room last year and I think they’re going to need at least one of those guys right if they’re going to have this volume of rookies coming in and they already have young guys who are you know second year going to be second third year guys so right what do you think it could say about his future one I would agree with you clearly you need grown-ups in the room and I don’t care how good the player is right i don’t care how much talent he has i don’t care if a guy’s a fivetime allstar and he’s 33 you talk to him long enough he’ll say “Oh yeah that guy was my vet a dozen years ago or 13 years ago he taught me the importance of getting in the cold tub or he taught me the importance of you know diet or or the importance of this or the importance of staying away from that or building good habits.” So it’s invaluable i’m not telling you that it has to be Cam Johnson right but the vet needs to play a little bit it’s got to be somebody that’s Yeah so it has to be somebody and there’s no other option doesn’t mean that they can’t acquire that vet right in some other manner so you could still trade Cam Johnson as long as there are some grown-ups in the room and they do still have cap space all right so could you sign one could you trade for a vet and who has less value than Cam and trade Cam certainly you could uh and Cam I think has significant value um so I don’t want to sit here and tell the fans that I know to a certainty that Cam will be here all season or that he will be here through the trade deadline i don’t know that but I do think with five rookies and I think well you got what three 19 year olds yeah you’ve like the the overwhelming majority of the roster is like under 21 years old so right and that’s like I said after that interview with Shawn and I asked him you gave those responses you came on my podcast and I said you know based on that I’d kind of be surprised if he got traded based on the comments Sean made and then we got closer to the draft there was a lot of smoke and speculation about Cam potentially being involved to them to for them to move up and now coming out of it with that him not being on the move and then picking this amount of rookies and then not really having like another veteran type of that guy in the room like you said could they acquire another guy and then still trade Cam sure but you know just based on the way that Shawn has talked about Cam and what he has said he literally said when I asked him about it I think it’s time for Cam to transition into more of a leadership role sure i just I would be surprised if he got traded i could be wrong been wrong about things plenty of times before with the Nets and other things throughout my life i would just be surprised if CJ got traded at this point claxton I think that’s a little bit of a different story but last guy I want to touch on is Cam Thomas because you know Cam Thomas was the Net’s leading scorer the last two seasons he’s a fan favorite amongst some fans other fans don’t like him probably but I think it’s interesting because they drafted three ball handlers three guys who are going to have the ball in their hands i know that I contend for I would contend yeah with not to cut you off but I mean no I I got I agree Wolf I mean he was essentially a playmaker for Michigan this whole like you know these big big PNR I mean yeah at least I’ll say three guards who are going to have three lead guards yes so and I think a lot of people when I say that in regards to how it could affect Cam Thomas’ role are going to come back and say these guys are all pass first all we’re talking about is pass first their scoring deficiencies Cam Cam can score that seems like a great fit i’ll say this I don’t think Cam can’t play off the ball he’s a very good catch and shoot three-point shooter he’s a really poor defender and I don’t based on the way that the Nets are talking about these things like the comment I just said about what Shawn Mark said he was prioritizing he said 0.5 second basketball yes you you don’t hold the ball you move the ball that was the one thing he said the second thing he said was guys who play defense have defensive versatility can guard multiple position uh positions i would ask you do either of those things sound like a Cam Thomas type player no not at all i’m that that’s that’s all I’m going to say about it i’m not saying I I’ve said I expect Cam to be back in free agency i think the Nets won’t want to lose him the asset i think they are the only team obviously that can pay him a significant amount and I think they’re going to do it to retain him and see what they have in him more but I’m just saying based on the way that we’ve seen Cam play historically based on the things that the clear the philosophical direction the Nets are heading that doesn’t necessarily it doesn’t seem like obviously a match made in heaven which I don’t think should be all that surprising given you know we know how Cam you know what it was like with Cam’s playing time early in the early in his career but I just think that that’s definitely like worth noting uh well I mean if you will recall those were those were some of Jord’s first mandates to Cam in camp pre-season first couple of weeks he was saying “I need you to be more efficient with your scoring i need you to be a better defender and I want you to be passing quicker.” These are all things and this was in a season where let I mean let’s be fair they’re brazingly tanking i I get it i’m not going to get in an argument about the success rate of the tank but point is they’re tanking there’s no pressure on them but Jordy is still saying this is what I need to see from you uh I think that will be even more so this coming season because now you actually have a number of players that are wired to play the way that you clearly are intent on going forward so I think yes I do expect Cam to be back uh I do not expect to see them let an asset walk out the door for nothing that’s just not the way they’re going to operate but I I don’t see them bidding against themselves in this process right and I see Cam having to make a number of changes in the way he plays that’s really what it is that’s really the key to it and we’re going to close it out on this like I’m not saying that Cam can’t do those things i’m saying up to this point we have not seen Cam overall there’s not a ton of willingness to you know be a passer like he’ll do it in spurts but if you just look at the advanced numbers like I post him a lot throughout this last season he just he passes far less to other guard counterparts and guys his size he’s just he’s a bad defender like there’s no other way to put it he can score the ball with the best of them he’s an elite you know guy who can create his own shot and do those things in isolation he can obviously handle on the pick and roll and do some of those things but a lot of what we’re seeing is trending away from that direction and if Cam is he’s going to get a contract and going to be back but if he’s going to be a long-term piece with the team and a part of the plans moving forward he’s going to have to round out those things that Shawn Marx named that I referred to and also what you just said about what were the mandates to him by Jordy earlier that season so it’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out and Brian appreciate you taking the time i know you’re extremely busy i’m extremely busy right now but it’s great to hear from you i’m sure the fans appreciate it and uh we’ll have some excited stuff we got free agency we got summer league the Nets are going to have you know three summer league rosters with all the guys that they drafted so it’ll uh it’ll be interesting to see but thanks for taking the time that does it for this episode of Locked on Nets hope you guys enjoyed the talk with Brian with continuous draft coverage i’m going to have so much more deep dives on the individual prospects and what it could say for the Nets moving forward but if you don’t already make sure to subscribe to Locked on Nets wherever you get your podcast whether Apple Podcast or Spotify also hit up the YouTube channel be sure to like comment anything you can do to engage is much appreciated but I’ll be back tomorrow talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball

Erik Slater and Brian Lewis discuss the Brooklyn Nets’ bold NBA draft strategy. They analyze Sean Marks’ decision to make an NBA-record five first-round selections, including three international point guards, and detail how it indicates a philosophical shift and a revamped timeline.

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