Brooklyn Nets: A look back at NBA Draft history before 2017

The Brooklyn Nets will be selecting 22nd and 57th in the 2017 NBA Draft. How have teams fared selecting in those spots in history?

The Brooklyn Nets have already made moves for the 2017 NBA Draft before the Philadelphia 76ers clock officially started. On Tuesday, the Nets agreed to a trade with the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Nets will be acquiring former No. 2 overall pick D’Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov in exchange for Brook Lopez and the 27th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft. For the Nets, this is an excellent trade.

Brooklyn is desperate for young players with high ceilings, and Russell fits that bill. How could a team with as poor a record as the Nets be so desperate for young players you ask? Well, they are still feeling the effects of a bad trade by an old regime.

Former general manager Billy King traded away so many assets to acquire Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Jason Terry and D.J. White that even King Tut would be envious. Included in the monster package were three unprotected first-round picks and another pick swap. The pick swap will be occurring this season.

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The Celtics won the first pick in the NBA Draft Lottery but traded it to the Philadelphia 76ers. Had the Nets held onto the pick, they would have been selecting first overall for the third time in franchise history. They selected Derrick Coleman in 1990 and Kenyon Martin in 2000.

Instead, the Nets will be selecting 22nd and 57th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft. The 27th pick is now owned by the Lakers but could be on the move again. The Lakers are lucky that they acquired Russell prior to the draft, because they will be hard-pressed to find much talent with the 22nd pick.

This will be the sixth time that the Nets will be selecting 22nd; they did it four times as the New Jersey Nets and once already as the Brooklyn Nets. The results have not been that great.

In 1990, the Nets selected Tate George out of Connecticut; he played in only 177 games in the NBA. The Nets would then select 22nd in three out of four years from 2003-06; none of them amounted to much of anything.

In 2003, the Nets selected Zoran Planinic. He played in 148 games for the Nets over three seasons before fading out of the NBA. The Nets would dip back into the international pool in 2004, and again strike out. This time, they selected Viktor Khryapa. He never appeared in a game for the Nets, instead, playing for the Portland Trail Blazers and Chicago Bulls.

In 2006, the Nets looked like they may have found a good player with Marcus Williams out of Connecticut. But, like the players the Nets selected at No. 22 before him, he flamed out. Williams wound up playing in 132 games with the Nets before playing for the Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies to finish his career.

The Nets had the most success with the 22nd pick in their most recent crack at it. The Nets selected Mason Plumlee out of Duke in 2013.

Overall, the 22nd pick hasn’t provided many great players. Jared Dudley, Jarrett Jack, Courtney Lee, and Kenneth Faried have had solid careers. The most successful 22nd pick, according to Win Shares on Basketball-Reference, was Truck Robinson.

The 27th pick hasn’t produced many gems either, but has provided two standouts; Dennis Rodman in 1986 and Elden Campbell in 1990. The Lakers will be trying to make the most of that selection now.

Second round picks, especially that late in the draft, rarely produce productive players. Usually, international prospects are selected that teams hope to develop as draft-and-stash players. But, the Nets have some hope with the 57th overall pick.

This pick produced one of the best international players of all time, as Manu Ginobili was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in 1999. Marcin Gortat was also selected 57th in 2005 by the Phoenix Suns.

Even Frank Brickowski, who was selected by the New York Knicks in 1981, had a career win shares number of 29.8 in 12 seasons; he was in the NBA for 13 seasons but missed the 1994-95 season with a shoulder injury.

Next: NBA Draft: Best Player Selected In All 60 Spots

The odds are not in the Nets’ favor for landing a difference maker given their spots in the draft order. More than likely, the Nets biggest takeaway from the 2017 NBA Draft will be acquiring Russell from the Lakers.

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