MrDollarBills wrote:Sean Marks has been GM for 7 years.
The Nets have 8 playoff wins to show for it.
The results speak for itself.
Not saying you or anyone else here is wrong in the slightest to feel used, disgusted and fatigued.
I believe we've been good fans and loyal fans through all this, plus many of us here have gone to the games and supported the team in whatever ways we could. Indeed, this sub right here is head-and-shoulders the best Nets talk site on the internet IMO. Prove me wrong.
But in terms of the cold, hard facts:
No, I strongly disagree with the last sentence.
No, dude was given a flaming garbage heap in the bad part of town, and somehow, someway turned it in to an actual playoff team in the space of three seasons. It's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen in sports mgmt.
He also turned BRK in to an attractive destination that brought us solid 1-2yr rotation players through the years, right through the Kyrie-Durant period.
From out of nothing, he fielded a title contender for three straight seasons. Granted, every year something went wrong by the end, but 90% of that was well out of Marks' control. I.e. the covid epidemic, Kyrie, systemic cop abuse against African-Americans, Kyrie, Harden injury, Kyrie, Giannis making a non-bball play on Kyrie, Harden being borderline worthless at trade time, Kyrie playing ego games with the mandate, KD&KI underwhelming against the Celts, Kyrie feeling "betrayed," and finally, Durant giving up.
That said, Marks never should have touched Kyrie in the first place, and of course, never should have hired Nash. But even the Nash hiring has an asterisk, as it was appeasement towards the loonies in charge, as was not having a proper PG this season.
Let's also not forget that ~99% of Nets fans and people here were absolutely *thrilled* about signing KD & KI in the first place. The same duo who could only tolerate a player-friendly coach and seemingly wanted to share PG duties themselves unless a star PG was involved. To me that's a set of constraints that's... pretty self-limiting. Regardless, Marks did everything he could to empower these guys, and they're ultimately the ones who pouted themselves right out of town, led by Kyrie of course.
Yeah, I get that the teams Marks built weren't necessarily perfectly-balanced in terms of the rotation & subs, but the fact is that we were consistently hampered in signing others by the enormous contracts given to the stars.
Looking ahead, I see this summer as Marks' big opportunity to build the kind of team he thinks will actually work. Yes, the Ben Simmons situation is incredibly perplexing & complicating, but let's hope his recovery really is going well, as the reports state.
I don't actually mind firing Vaughn for Nurse or whoever, but I don't think that flies for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that it's just too soon. Because let's also not forget that it would have been pretty damn awkward not to have extended him after he helped turn the team around, whilst KD & KI were still here.
Another reminder-- at the end of the day, this team has significantly more upside than even the year three playoff team did, and just about the same draft futures. Marks has well-earned the next season, and after that, if the team disappoints again or seems dysfunctional, I'm okay with axing him.
Another way of looking at it, and one that I feel is perfectly true and valid, is that Mikhail Prokhorov's absurd recklessness in giving away #1 picks put the next regime in an almost impossible situation. IMO it would almost have been better if the team didn't actually try to get better the next few years, such that when our picks were replenished, we would have had some prime lottery talent to choose from. Still, raise your hand if you would have been happy watching complete trash in Nets uniforms for 3-4 years, am I right?
Btw, the Tsai criticism seems totally misplaced IMO. Dude has zero control over what the genocidal CCP do back home, and his business partner found out the hard way what happens when a Chinese person critiques the CCP. If anything, it's the NBA and people like LeBron who should be ashamed for willingly being involved in that whole mess.
