TOS prevent us from posting the entire article here (you're allowed to post up to 3 paragraphs). It gets into many of the issues that have been debated about on this forum from Lin's decision to join the Nets to "Does Kenny really know what he's doing?" to "Does Marks really know what he's doing?" to how we're perceived around the league and much more.
For an article that digs into the bad times, it's amazing how Jackie MacMullen writes a piece of this length, highlighting the Nets struggles over the last few years, without uttering the name Billy King. She deserves a writer's award for that. The fact that she's based in Boston and has no sense of gloating over the Nets situation makes her work even better.
Feel free to discuss...I'll include a few highlights below:
"I'll be quite honest with you," Atkinson says. "There are people I really respect who told me, 'You're insane if you take this job.'"
Atkinson accepted the challenge knowing that futility would be his companion for the foreseeable future. But what Atkinson can't accept -- what he won't accept -- is when the players depart from the ethics Atkinson is determined to impart, in the name of building a Spurs-like winning culture. What Atkinson can't stand is when the players lose their resiliency, when an 8-0 run balloons to a 12-0 run, then 18-0, because in their haste to make it better, his team strives to recapture momentum all at once with a grand basketball gesture that falls literally and figuratively short.
In those situations, Atkinson pleads, "Get back to your habits!" Sometimes they do. Sometimes they don't, so when Brook Lopez takes 12 dribbles from the 3-point line, or Randy Foye glides over the screen instead of going hard through it, or Trevor Booker fails to retreat quickly in defensive transition, the evidence awaits the coach at 4:30 the next morning, glowing on a laptop in a dimly lit office that should be dark -- and vacant -- at that hour.
SEAN MARKS HELD one of the most enviable positions in the NBA -- assistant general manager to Spurs Jedi master RC Buford. Immersed in the league's most lauded culture, Marks rebuffed Prokhorov's initial advances, but Prokhorov, who had long admired San Antonio, was persistent.
When they finally met, Marks outlined a vision that included a top-shelf analytics group, a performance staff that touches each player daily with designated individual sessions, regular interactions with mental health experts, revamping the family room to create a more welcoming environment for wives and children and parents, and expanding the already gleaming practice facility on 39th Street in Brooklyn with an additional $1 million in improvements. At the core of his vision, he explained, was a long-term plan of developing consistency and excellence that would require years, not months.
"I was clear in our meeting," Marks says. "I told them, 'If you are looking for a quick fix or similar to what you did before, I'm the wrong guy.'"
), and sees the Nets in the finals in 2021. Otherwise, what hope is there in this cruel world?
