We don't realize the futility of the former Nets' management/ownership

[jpotter33]

I just ran across this article from NetsDaily detailing Nets trades that they were pursuing prior to the big C's trade for Pierce, KG, and Terry. Wow. They were desperate for a star. At one point they essentially offered five draft picks (three of them would have been used to get Wallace) AND Lopez for Howard when he was feuding with the Magic.

It's a good read to see how Danny ultimately took advantage of that situation masterfully. You also wonder how much Orlando and Denver ultimately regret turning these offers down.

http://www.netsdaily.com/2016/5/16/11682284/for-nets-the-plan-was-always-to-trade-draft-picks-for-stars

Lost in the lamenting over Tuesday's Draft Lottery --and the general head-shaking over the Boston trade-- is that the Nets strategy under Mikhail Prokhorov, Dmitry Razumov and Billy King was always about trading multiple, unprotected first rounders for stars, creating a championship team for Brooklyn.

It just didn't happen until Draft Night 2013.

According to various reports and conversations with principals, the Nets were willing to offer three --or four-- picks at various times during both the MeloDrama and DwightMare, their pursuit of Carmelo Anthony in 2011 and Dwight Howard in 2012.  Other than proposing to send Brook Lopez to Denver and Orlando and Devin Harris to Denver, the Nets plan was always to use first round picks, rather than frontline players, to get a star or stars for Brooklyn.  It was the overriding strategy.

Even the superstar deal that did go through, for Deron Williams in 2011, involved two picks and Derrick Favors, then 19 years old and barely out of the draft.

While it's difficult to pin down the precise deals ... and precise timing ... of various offers, here is what's been reported and what we've been told:

By 2011, in addition to all their own first round picks, the Nets also had first rounders from the Lakers, Rockets and Warriors ... a real cache. So with Barclays Center starting to rise rapidly at the corner of Flatbush and Atlantic, they started making calls. Brooklyn needed a superteam.

In January 2011, the Nets and Nuggets, along with the Pistons, nearly reached an agreement  centered on Anthony, who was unhappy in Denver.  In a trade that would have been "one of the largest in league history," as ESPN called it.. Favors, Harris, Anthony Morrow and two first-round draft picks. presumably in 2011 and 2013, would have gone to Denver, while the Nets would have received Anthony, Chauncey Billups and Detroit's Rick Hamilton. The Pistons would have taken on Troy Murphy and his expiring contract along with Johan Petro.

That didn't work. Melo seemed reluctant to commit to the Nets and in January, Prokhorov made a big deal out of telling King to halt discussions Then in February, at King's urging, he permitted talks to resume.

With the Knicks in  the lead, New Jersey upped the ante.  The Nets would send Harris, Favors,  Murphy, Ben Uzoh, and four first round draft picks to Denver, again their own in 2011, 2013 and 2015, as well as the Rockets' lottery-protected first rounder in 2013 (which later wound up in the Johnson deal and became Shane Larkin.)   In return, the Nets would receive Anthony, Billups, Shelden Williams (now a Nets scout), Melvin Ely and Renaldo Balkman.

The Nets failed at the MeloDrama, then moved on the next day to trade for Deron Williams, in a much praised deal that came out of the blue. The Nets gave up Favors, the No. 3 pick in the 2010 draft, their own first-round pick in 2011 (Enes Kanter), which was not protected, and Golden State's first-round pick, which was partially protected, in 2012 and 2013. It had been obtained in a trade for Marcus Williams and became Gorgui Dieng in 2013.

That was step one in the quest for a superteam for Brooklyn.  The Nets wanted to pair Howard, who wanted to come to the Nets, with his old friend, D-Will. Again, the lure was draft picks. They had plenty left.

The first deal offered to Orlando in 2011 was a three-team affair that would had the Nets send three unprotected first round picks -- in  2011, 2013 and 2015 -- to Portland for Gerald Wallace who would have been packaged along with  Lopez and two other Nets picks, their own in 2017 and the Rockets 2011 pick, for Howard, Hedo Turkoglu and Chris Duhon. The Magic rejected it, angering Howard.

There were various iterations as that season turned into the off season. Howard was still pushing the Nets to trade for him in July --after the Johnson trade -- and the Nets made a final offer of Lopez, Kris Humphries, MarShon Brooks, unprotected first round picks in 2013, 2015 and 2017 for Howard, Jason Richardson, Duhon and Earl Clark. The Magic again rejected the Nets.

Fast forward to June 2013. The Nets had lost ignominiously to an injury-scarred Bulls team at home in the first round. Ownership and management wanted more guts to go for the glory and a trade that started out two days before the draft as Humphries and the 2016 first rounder for Paul Pierce quickly evolved on Draft Day into the monstrosity that ultimately put the Nets where they will be tomorrow ... at home.  No need for details other than the Nets traded three of their (unprotected) picks in 2014, 2016 and 2018 plus next year's (unprotected) swap.

There were significant differences across the board of course. Anthony was 26 at the time of the MeloDrama. Howard was 27 at the time of the Dwightmare.  Paul Pierce was 35, Kevin Garnett was 37 and throw-in Jason Terry was 36. Anthony and Howard wanted out of Denver and Orlando.  The Nets of 2013 had just come off a 49-win series, their first in Brooklyn. When they pursued Anthony and Howard, they were stuck in New Jersey, having gone five years without a playoff run.

But the bottom line is that for the Nets, the idea of trading picks for stars was old hat by 2013.  No need for a lot of thought.  Those days are gone, along with the picks.

[TheSundanceKid]

Dear lord that's commitment to having nothing to do with the draft!

In fairness the Melo and Howard deals would have made more sense because those teams would not have ended up in the lottery like this iteration of the Nets did.

[gift]

Dear lord that's commitment to having nothing to do with the draft!

In fairness the Melo and Howard deals would have made more sense because those teams would not have ended up in the lottery like this iteration of the Nets did.

Yeah, it's not a terrible strategy to pay high costs for star players. When you're in a win-now mode it makes sense to sacrifice draft picks instead of established players. However, when this strategy is poorly executed, by paying star prices for guys who are no longer stars, the problems compound as those draft picks become worth more than when they were traded.

As bad as the decisions were for the Nets, things still turned out closer to worst case scenario for them. Things could very well have gone a bit better. They just didn't.

[saltlover]

Dear lord that's commitment to having nothing to do with the draft!

In fairness the Melo and Howard deals would have made more sense because those teams would not have ended up in the lottery like this iteration of the Nets did.

Yeah, it's not a terrible strategy to pay high costs for star players. When you're in a win-now mode it makes sense to sacrifice draft picks instead of established players. However, when this strategy is poorly executed, by paying star prices for guys who are no longer stars, the problems compound as those draft picks become worth more than when they were traded.

As bad as the decisions were for the Nets, things still turned out closer to worst case scenario for them. Things could very well have gone a bit better. They just didn't.

They could have turned out a bit better, yes, but I'm not certain what their best-case scenario was, especially with the Pierce-Garnett trade.  Losing to Miami in the ECF, then re-upping Pierce for three years, while Williams still hits his decline and KG retires, leading to a bottom 5-10 team?  I just can't understand what their next move was, and they needed a next move.

[jpotter33]

Dear lord that's commitment to having nothing to do with the draft!

In fairness the Melo and Howard deals would have made more sense because those teams would not have ended up in the lottery like this iteration of the Nets did.

Yeah, it's not a terrible strategy to pay high costs for star players. When you're in a win-now mode it makes sense to sacrifice draft picks instead of established players. However, when this strategy is poorly executed, by paying star prices for guys who are no longer stars, the problems compound as those draft picks become worth more than when they were traded.

As bad as the decisions were for the Nets, things still turned out closer to worst case scenario for them. Things could very well have gone a bit better. They just didn't.

I agree that the other deals made a bit more sense due to the players being younger and better, but giving up 5 first round picks AND Lopez for Howard seems a bit excessive, especially since most of them were unprotected.

[guava_wrench]

Interesting piece, though the writing itself is painful to read at times. Rick Hamilton? How do people post things like that without re-reading it for errors?

It is also a reminder that we should be careful throwing picks around. It is one thing to try to get Jimmy Butler. Forget about over the hill players like Melo.

[CelticGuardian]

I think it all comes down to the owner at the end of the day. It's a big problem in big markets like NY, teams are just afraid of tanking and building through an unknown commodity like draft picks, they always aim for the 'sure thing' players every season instead of rebuilding properly.

It looks like now Prokhorov understands this thing in Brooklyn needed some more home cooking. Hopefully they can turn things around post 2019 because that fanbase must be on its last legs right now.

[Quetzalcoatl]

Ha and seriously, check this out too: https://www.google.com/amp/uproxx.com/dimemag/brooklyn-nets-trade-players-starbucks/amp/?client=ms-android-hms-tmobile-us

[RockinRyA]

I think it all comes down to the owner at the end of the day. It's a big problem in big markets like NY, teams are just afraid of tanking and building through an unknown commodity like draft picks, they always aim for the 'sure thing' players every season instead of rebuilding properly.

It looks like now Prokhorov understands this thing in Brooklyn needed some more home cooking. Hopefully they can turn things around post 2019 because that fanbase must be on its last legs right now.

Its understandable though, fanbases can be pretty impatient. Heck look at the Celtics, our rebuild is going smooth and fast yet people are getting impatient. Imagine Knicks fans if they do same thing Sixers did.

[Ogaju]

I think it all comes down to the owner at the end of the day. It's a big problem in big markets like NY, teams are just afraid of tanking and building through an unknown commodity like draft picks, they always aim for the 'sure thing' players every season instead of rebuilding properly.

It looks like now Prokhorov understands this thing in Brooklyn needed some more home cooking. Hopefully they can turn things around post 2019 because that fanbase must be on its last legs right now.

this happens when owners who have no idea how to run a team throw their weight around and order roster moves that do not make sense. Case in point is the current owner of the Redskins. He has been a disaster for that team. he thought just throwing money around = championships. No it does not.  You have to leave the running of the team to the pros.

[CelticGuardian]

I think it all comes down to the owner at the end of the day. It's a big problem in big markets like NY, teams are just afraid of tanking and building through an unknown commodity like draft picks, they always aim for the 'sure thing' players every season instead of rebuilding properly.

It looks like now Prokhorov understands this thing in Brooklyn needed some more home cooking. Hopefully they can turn things around post 2019 because that fanbase must be on its last legs right now.

Its understandable though, fanbases can be pretty impatient. Heck look at the Celtics, our rebuild is going smooth and fast yet people are getting impatient. Imagine Knicks fans if they do same thing Sixers did.

Well in the Nets case, they saw an opportunity in New York to take that market from the Knicks, as attendance on MSG has been strong despite the Knicks being utter trash and New Yorkers not even expecting them to be able to at least win the tip-off on a given night.

 I guess the big move with all big name players was aimed at establishing a big business, but it just ended being a BIG flop. Thankfully, lol

[CelticGuardian]

I think it all comes down to the owner at the end of the day. It's a big problem in big markets like NY, teams are just afraid of tanking and building through an unknown commodity like draft picks, they always aim for the 'sure thing' players every season instead of rebuilding properly.

It looks like now Prokhorov understands this thing in Brooklyn needed some more home cooking. Hopefully they can turn things around post 2019 because that fanbase must be on its last legs right now.

this happens when owners who have no idea how to run a team throw their weight around and order roster moves that do not make sense. Case in point is the current owner of the Redskins. He has been a disaster for that team. he thought just throwing money around = championships. No it does not.  You have to leave the running of the team to the pros.

yeah, definitely no respect for the game by Prokhorov. He didn't see basketball the right way, thought it was some easy meal ticket due to the opening his ownership team saw in NYC. Too bad this was a sports franchise and not some fancy smancy hotel, there's too many factors at play that are essentially out of your hands as an owner.