Brooklyn Nets: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason
By Alec Liebsch
Jaylen Hands trade
In control of two picks on draft night, the Brooklyn Nets made out well with their first one. With the No. 17 pick now in New Orleans via Atlanta (turned into Nickeil Alexander-Walker), Brooklyn controlled Nos. 27 and 31 overall.
No. 27 came from the Denver Nuggets, who traded this pick to Brooklyn in the summer of 2018 as compensation for absorbing Kenneth Faried and Darrell Arthur. And to think that just a year ago, Brooklyn was using their cap space on unproductive veterans.
With the 27th pick, the Nets selected Mfiondu Kabengele out of Florida State. Then, in an agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn flipped Kabengele for the 56th overall pick, which became Jaylen Hands, and a lottery-protected first in 2020 (via the Philadelphia 76ers).
That 2020 pick will almost certainly be in the 26-30 range, so the Nets were essentially given Hands as compensation to wait another year for similar pick value. Hands, in this scenario, acts as the Clippers’ interest payment to Brooklyn.
A highly touted recruit who played at UCLA, Hands had a lot of responsibility as a sophomore. He was the primary creator and initiator for the Bruins, which wasn’t great for his efficiency, but useful for his NBA projections.
He likely won’t be tasked with such a heavy workload at the next level, but being able to balance scoring (14.2 points per game) and playmaking (6.1 assists) is valuable. His best work is done in transition, where his physical attributes, mainly bounce and athleticism, shine.
He’s still learning how to use those tools in a half court setting, but Hands has developed into a solid pick-and-roll guard anyway. Per Synergy, Hands generated 9.6 points per game out of the PNR last season, 6.0 of those going to teammates.
That’s a good fit with Atkinson’s system, which utilizes PNR like there’s no tomorrow. If Hands can blend his selflessness and burst, he could compete for minutes and cause a guard logjam for a second consecutive season.
Knowing how the Nets go about this, though, it’s likely they let him grow in the G League first. For the Long Island team, he will get guaranteed minutes to play through his mistakes while also learning the Nets’ system.
After all, the big league team is fully in win-now mode; there’s no room for error anymore.
Considering how highly touted Hands was out of high school, it’s pretty surprising to see how far he fell in the draft. Sure he didn’t have great seasons at UCLA, but he’s got an NBA body (6’3″, 180 pounds), experience running a high-level offense, and good shot creation ability.
This pick could provide immense return on investment in a few years, especially with the franchise’s developmental acumen.