Official ‘24-25 Off-season Thread

Keith Van Horn · Post #921 » by **Keith Van Horn** » Mon Jul 7, 2025 10:41 pm

I'm done putting any stock in the draft, especially for next year. To all those fans saying we'll stink, yeah, I agree we will. But we cannot get our hopes up for Dybantsa or Boozer or whoever, because we're going to be a terrible team that may overachieve once in a while but we'll somehow wind up with the 6th pick and still be throwing darts all over again.

Would have loved to see Marks swing around a bit more this offseason. It's felt very lacking to me. And I think a lot of the criticism we're getting now from the national outlets is justified.

I've always been on the Marks believer side, for like a long time now. But I feel my optimism for him is fading.

Keith Van Horn · Post #922 » by **Keith Van Horn** » Mon Jul 7, 2025 10:44 pm

seems like a dead market right now for these RFAs, huh... Nothing with Cam Thomas?

What about Giddy? Any chance Marks could throw something out there to him still at this point, or did we waste it all on Mann and Porter Jr.?

Paradise · Post #923 » by **Paradise** » Tue Jul 8, 2025 1:53 am

Keith Van Horn wrote:I'm done putting any stock in the draft, especially for next year. To all those fans saying we'll stink, yeah, I agree we will. But we cannot get our hopes up for Dybantsa or Boozer or whoever, because we're going to be a terrible team that may overachieve once in a while but we'll somehow wind up with the 6th pick and still be throwing darts all over again.

Would have loved to see Marks swing around a bit more this offseason. It's felt very lacking to me. And I think a lot of the criticism we're getting now from the national outlets is justified.

I've always been on the Marks believer side, for like a long time now. But I feel my optimism for him is fading.

National criticism? It’s a bunch of ESPN morons.

We have the most picks behind OKC. We literally drafted two of their top prospects they were looking for. They took one of our picks which was Thomas Sober.

Nets fans need to get a reality check. I see nothing but the same miserable attitude since 2012. That’s why this board is dead. Real nets fans are fading away from the miserable bull our “diehard” fan base continues to show. We’ve drafted well since 2016. Now, let’s complain with the most picks out of ANY team in the East?

Seriously?

ecuhus1981 · Post #924 » by **ecuhus1981** » Tue Jul 8, 2025 3:43 am

I hate to be so short sighted, I'm really concerned our rookies will perform poorly at summer league.

I would love to see them just wreck shop! But Egor is a project, I think he'll struggle with SL-caliber on ball pressure more than he did at Utah.

Nolan's only NBA-level traits right now are open court speed, and court vision. His passing opportunities will be fewer, since we have so many ball handlers to develop, so it's really speed or nothing for him right now.

I actually thought Powell would show out due to his physical tools, but he's been ruled out with a bum knee. Bummer.

Ben and Danny may shine, who knows. But I think y they'll get limited PT.

SORRY, PARADISE! I need to see some positive early returns, to get excited again about the direction of this franchise.

JKiddy · Post #925 » by **JKiddy** » Tue Jul 8, 2025 3:09 pm

I have been here since Day 1. Let's all chill. We cannot judge this rebuild now since it literally start AT THE DRAFT a few days ago.

Let us see what this season shows us before we even think about judging. We can then evaluate this time next year after next summer's draft and FA. But, that will only be 1 YEAR into it!

Netaman · Post #926 » by **Netaman** » Tue Jul 8, 2025 3:33 pm

i think there is a ton of misunderstanding of the fundamental odds of the draft clouding the "grading" of the nets apparent strategy.

they had 1 lotto pick. let's all assume the obvious performance goal with that pick is a starter+ level player in Demin.

the other 4 picks were 19+. Even in a good draft, what are the baseline odds of hitting on those picks? 50% at absolute best? so in an absolute best case scenario, hoping to walk out of this draft with 3 starter/good team rotation level players is a moonshot where anyone should be popping the crystal if that happens.

with those 4 picks they took 2 different types of guard ball handlers, a 3/D wing, and a big man.

everyone is clamoring about their selection of 3 on-ball PG types, but if somehow those are the 3 they hit on that would still be a miraculously awesome 'pop the crystal' outcome. they would be set at lead guard. Demin and Saraf are both potential off guard possibilities with their size/skill sets too, so again, if they have hit on all 3 because they developed well, it is very possible all 3 can play together, or at least 2/3.

if 2/3 on ball guys hit, even that is still a pretty miraculous outcome, and they are still set at lead guard. A position that has plagued them since Kidd because Deron Williams was damaged goods, Kyrie was unreliable, and Harden only briefly solved the issue because he was on the downslope and couldn't stand Kyrie. I would sign right now if you told me 2 years from now this draft found 1 quality lead guard for this org for the next decade. So I personally view 1/3 as a home run i'd sign for right now, and am thrilled that they gave themselves the highest odds of that.

Wolf and Powell are role/rotation player dart throws with interesting skills who can fit in a lot of different contexts. they are SAS/OKC type picks.

the objective of this draft was clearly finding 1 or more quality ball handlers. something completely absent the roster pre-draft and probably the #1 organizational need of the last 2 decades. It is insane to me that because they picked 3 different prospects people think that is somehow a bad use of resources, like all 5 of these picks were expected to be hits. That's like saying "why would anyone buy 5 powerball tickets when only 1 of them can be the winner?" You buy 5 tickets to have 5x better odds of being a winner because the goal is to be a winner and the odds of winning aren't high to begin with.

also i think the narrative here is going to change very quickly in summer league because i think odds are one of these ball handlers is going to show out. They have all played mature competition levels and international level, summer league is notoriously disorganized, and the Nets roster already has guys like Timme and Tosan on it who are experienced at NBA level competition. Had someone like Wilson been there too they'd have been really loaded but he has nothing to prove there so no point.

MaxZaslofskyJr · Post #927 » by **MaxZaslofskyJr** » Tue Jul 8, 2025 9:07 pm

Netaman wrote: It is insane to me that because they picked 3 different prospects people think that is somehow a bad use of resources, like all 5 of these picks were expected to be hits. That's like saying "why would anyone buy 5 powerball tickets when only 1 of them can be the winner?" You buy 5 tickets to have 5x better odds of being a winner because the goal is to be a winner and the odds of winning aren't high to begin with.

This is a man who gets it.

I'd add that the same principal applies to obtaining underused players from other teams. Some pan out with the new opportunity. Some don't. Collect enough. Some will.

Netaman · Post #928 » by **Netaman** » Wed Jul 9, 2025 4:03 am

MaxZaslofskyJr wrote:
Netaman wrote: It is insane to me that because they picked 3 different prospects people think that is somehow a bad use of resources, like all 5 of these picks were expected to be hits. That's like saying "why would anyone buy 5 powerball tickets when only 1 of them can be the winner?" You buy 5 tickets to have 5x better odds of being a winner because the goal is to be a winner and the odds of winning aren't high to begin with.

This is a man who gets it.

I'd add that the same principal applies to obtaining underused players from other teams. Some pan out with the new opportunity. Some don't. Collect enough. Some will.

it does indeed and to that point our FO has panned out more than most both from draft and from the g league scrap yards.

all it's going to take is 1 of these 3 ball handlers working out for the rash of negative criticism to look silly, with this regime's track record im comfortably playing those odds all day.

Karate Diop · Post #929 » by **Karate Diop** » Mon Jul 14, 2025 3:37 pm

I have some thoughts on the Nets draftees now that the picks have had time to marinate... More to come, but:

1. I think pundits criticizing the Nets for using all 5 draft picks are just low effort **** posting at this point...

2. While people like to label Demin,Traore and Saraf as point guards, and they were for their former teams - I think Demin and Saraf project as wing players in the NBA (Demin potentially having 1-4 versatility and Saraf as a combo guard).

3. I said it elsewhere, but Traore's speed is something else. In a lineup with adequate spacing he's going to be insanely fun to watch.

Netaman · Post #930 » by **Netaman** » Tue Jul 15, 2025 1:44 pm

Karate Diop wrote:I have some thoughts on the Nets draftees now that the picks have had time to marinate... More to come, but:

1. I think pundits criticizing the Nets for using all 5 draft picks are just low effort **** posting at this point...

2. While people like to label Demin,Traore and Saraf as point guards, and they were for their former teams - I think Demin and Saraf project as wing players in the NBA (Demin potentially having 1-4 versatility and Saraf as a combo guard).

3. I said it elsewhere, but Traore's speed is something else. In a lineup with adequate spacing he's going to be insanely fun to watch.

yes its just summer league, but the way things have played out post draft it does indeed appear the world of draftniks was right and flagg/harper were on a completely different level. id have given up a lot to move up for harper. a lot, a lot. it sounds like SAS wasnt interested in that and probably rightfully so despite their abundance.

VJ obviously had 1 huge game so maybe he was also his own tier, but after that i havent seen much distinguish kon/tre/fears/demin. and im not sure how real the love for bailey was, he clearly has some maturity issues and is the opposite of what they looked for with ball movement. you can add maluach, boyles, carter bryant, essengue into this too. nobody is lighting the world on fire (yet) and demin/traore look good.

im far more enthused about this years roster heading into camp than last year's.

traore
camt
demin
mpj
claxton

all under 27, all under contract for 2-3 years once camt extends, all interesting/dynamic talents. no super stars obviously but also no 3&D fillers like DFS. traore and demin are probably going to make a bunch of mistakes this year, but id rather tank that way than another way. camt and mpj should get their shots up and score 20+ppg, hopefully clax bounces back and increases his value with a bunch of passers running actions.

you can also start to see how plugging in someone like giannis could work out. camt + clax + picks for giannis at some point in season or next offseason as an example, now all of a sudden you've got a proven #1 and #3 from recent championship teams, plus Demin, Traore, Wilson, Sharpe, Clowney, Wolf, Saraf, Whitehead etc.

best case scenario lotto goes there way and in less than 12 months they add in a rookie on the flagg/harper level, but if they end up with bad lotto luck and another #8 pick then i could see them looking to add a star via trade depending on what's out there. who knows maybe dearon fox gets displaced in SAS by harper and becomes a not that expensive trade target since he will basically be a free agent choosing his destination.