Brooklyn Nets: Complete 2017 offseason grades

Though it may not show up in their record next season, the Brooklyn Nets had a quiet but great offseason thanks to the draft and a few trades.

The Brooklyn Nets are the NBA franchise most commonly associated with doom and gloom. Owing their first round draft picks to another team for the last few years, and lacking any sort of talent to attract other talent in free agency, the Nets have been wandering in the dark, with no hope, for years.

Despite posting a combined 41 wins over the last two seasons, there’s finally light at the end of the tunnel. Losing a potential top-five pick in next year’s top-heavy draft will hurt, but it will finally mark the end of that disastrous 2013 trade for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce that robbed the Nets’ cupboard of assets.

General manager Sean Marks still has work to do if the goal is putting a winning team on the floor, but he’s done an excellent job giving this team forward momentum by acquiring late first round draft picks and young talent. They’ve had to take on some pretty awful contracts to do so, but after years of limping in place, the Nets are finally breaking into a light jog.

After an eventful 2017 NBA Draft and free agency period, the Nets will still be one of the league’s worst teams next season. With that being said, they still managed to have a quietly productive summer. Here’s a look at their complete 2017 offseason grades for every move they made.

Hitting the Marks with the Russell trade

Here’s a testament to how crazy this summer was: There was so much player movement over the last few months, the Nets finally moving Brook Lopez was little more than a footnote.

In any case, with the Los Angeles Lakers foaming at the mouth thinking about 2018 free agency, Marks was able to capitalize on their need to unload Timofey Mozgov. Though it meant the departure of one of the greatest Nets of all time in Lopez, Brooklyn got its hands on a possible franchise point guard for the ongoing rebuild.

For the meager prize of Lopez’s expiring contract and the No. 27 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, the Nets welcomed D’Angelo Russell and Mozgov into the fold. Mozzy’s contract is an albatross, with a whopping three years and $48 million remaining, but Brooklyn can’t be picky. That’s the price of acquiring talent when you have very little of it and no draft picks to build for the future.

To that end, snagging a misunderstood and cast-out piece like Russell was well worth absorbing Mozgov’s massive salary.

Russell averaged 15.6 points, 4.8 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game on 35.2 percent shooting from 3-point range last year, and we should point out that was only his second season. As a 21-year-old combo guard, he has plenty of potential within Kenny Atkinson’s system.

Jeremy Lin supporters might not be thrilled about this acquisition, but the two could very well play alongside each other. Conversely, if Lin struggles with injury problems again, the Nets could let Russell flourish in the lead guard role.

The Lakers appear to have done well with their No. 27 pick, turning it into Kyle Kuzma, but this was a no-brainer move for Brooklyn. Lopez’s departure felt imminent for the last few years, and the Nets did him a solid by allowing him to play out the final year of his contract in sunny L.A.

Meanwhile, the Nets may have finally snagged a franchise player and cornerstone for their rebuild, at the mere price of a late first-rounder and taking on Mozgov’s ugly contract during a period in which they won’t need the cap space anyway.

Sean really hit the Marks on this one.

Grade: A

Adding Allen

The best part of the D’Angelo Russell trade is that even while giving up a rare first-rounder, the Nets had their other pick to fall back on at No. 22. They put it to good use on Jarrett Allen, a seven-footer out of Texas who might double as Lopez’s long-term replacement.

In his lone season in the Lone Star State, Allen averaged 13.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 56.6 percent from the field. Athleticism certainly doesn’t seem to be an issue for the 19-year-old either:

There have been some concerns about his love for the game, but a patient coaching staff in Brooklyn certainly has time to coax it out of him, especially with only Mozgov standing between him and heavy minutes as a rookie.

With his defensive instincts and raw leaping ability, the Nets may have gotten a solid rim protector and future defensive anchor. If they can round out his game on the offensive end, this will wind up being an excellent pick for No. 22 overall.

Grade: A-

Drafting-and-stashing Vezenkov

In the second round, the Nets used their final pick on Aleksandar Vezenkov, a draft-and-stash selection from Cyprus.

A Spanish Supercup winner who earned Greek League MVP honors in 2015 by averaging 16.8 points, 7.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game, Vezenkov is a 6’9″ power forward who can stroke the ball but may struggle defensively when he makes the leap to the NBA.

The Nets have enough underdeveloped talent to sift through next season, so taking a 22-year-old with potential who won’t come overseas just yet makes sense. At No. 57, it’s hard to complain too much about an accomplished draft-and-stash pick.

Grade: B

The DeMarre dump

They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. After years of filtering through complete garbage, the Nets finally found a dump worth investing in.

In a salary dump deal with the Toronto Raptors, the Nets agreed to take on the remaining two years and $30.2 million of DeMarre Carroll‘s contract thanks to a 2018 first round pick and second round pick being attached. Even better, all Brooklyn had to give up was stretch-5 Justin Hamilton, who was eventually waived and stretched by Toronto.

True enough, Carroll was pretty bad in his last two seasons with the Raptors, completely failing to be the 3-and-D difference-maker they anticipated when they first signed him. He only played in 26 games his first year there, and in his second season, his numbers plummeted to 8.9 points and 3.8 rebounds in 26.1 minutes per game with a less than savory .400/.341/.761 shooting line.

At 31, and given his injury history, there’s a chance his most profound impact is in the locker room and as a mentor for the team’s young wings. However, even if that worst-case scenario comes to fruition, he’s only on the books for two years, and the real prize is those draft picks.

More from Brooklyn Nets

• Why the new-look Brooklyn Nets are guaranteed to surprise
• NBA Trades: This Mavs-Nets deal may lead to Dallas adding a third star
• 5 NBA players everyone should be keeping a close eye on in 2023-24
• 5 NBA players facing do-or-die 2023–2024 seasons
• Is Mikal Bridges the Brooklyn Nets next star?

To be fair, even in a weak Eastern Conference, Toronto’s 2018 first round pick will probably end up somewhere in the early or mid-20s, making it less valuable in a top-heavy draft. However, beggars can’t be choosers, and the Nets basically snaked an extra first- and second-rounder for the meager price of another unwanted contract.

If Carroll can stay healthy, perhaps he can bounce back from a down shooting year and match his 39 percent accuracy from downtown that he posted over the prior two seasons. After all, he’s reuniting with former Hawks assistant Kenny Atkinson, so there’s familiarity there.

The Nets need 3-point shooting and wing defenders, so Carroll fills a need, even if it may come in limited minutes. Plus, you know, two free picks. Even in a draft where Brooklyn has to cough up its own first-rounder as the final bounty of that fatal Kevin Garnett-Paul Pierce trade, it’s hard to find the downside to this deal.

Grade: A

Acquiring Crabbe

One year and 15 days after the Portland Trail Blazers matched Brooklyn’s four-year, $75 million offer sheet for Allen Crabbe, the Nets finally got their guy.

Even better, all it cost them was Andrew Nicholson. They now welcome Crabbe’s bloated salary into the mix — only with the first year already off the books.

In terms of the talent being exchanged, the Nets did very well to get Crabbe for the remaining three years and $19.9 million on Nicholson’s contract, especially after Brooklyn’s big man put up a measly 3.0 points and 2.7 rebounds in 11.1 minutes per game while shooting 38.2 percent from the floor last year.

Crabbe’s salary is inflated to an alarming degree, but it’s less of a problem for the Nets, who lack the draft assets to rebuild or the established talent to attract free agents. In other words, there are only so many avenues for this team to get better at the present moment.

Head coach Kenny Atkinson has quickly become renowned for his emphasis on player development, and with Crabbe only being 25 years old, he fits the mold of what the Nets are trying to build.

More from Hoops Habit

• 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
• Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
• Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
• Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
• NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers

Allen Crabbe is hardly a blue-chip prospect. His defense leaves a lot to be desired, and it’s worth noting Portland was outscored by 118 points in his 2,254 minutes on the court last year.

However, he also shot a blistering 44.4 percent from 3-point range on 3.8 attempts per game, and it’s a small victory that the Nets eventually got one of their targeted restricted free agent targets. Even better, it happened after the first year of that massive four-year offer sheet.

The Nets probably should’ve pushed harder for a first round pick to take on Crabbe’s contract, but seeing as how Brooklyn made him that offer sheet in the first place, Marks probably didn’t have as much leverage. All in all this is another solid move, even if the Nets will likely be one of the worst teams in the East again next season.

Grade: B

Overall

With Jeremy Lin hopefully healthy, DeMarre Carroll entering the fold and D’Angelo Russell joining the backcourt, not to mention the drafting of Jarrett Allen and internal growth from Caris LeVert and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, the Nets are suddenly a much more interesting team.

The Nets owe the Boston Celtics their 2018 first round draft pick, so they have no incentive to tank next season.

Yes, they have some deadweight contracts on the books between Crabbe, Mozgov and Carroll, but this is the best — and only — way for a team like the Nets to start creating a winning environment for the future. Brooklyn won’t be competitive again for years, by which point these contracts will dissolve into cap space.

With so many more positionally versatile players, a potential franchise point guard, a promising young rookie in the middle, an actual 2018 first round pick and a couple of veteran floor-spacers in Carroll and Crabbe, the Nets aren’t adrift at sea anymore. It might just be a doggy-paddle, and they’ll still be a very bad team next year, but at least they’re starting to move.

Next: 10 young NBA players in need of a breakout season in 2017-18

Grade: A-