Despite missing out on a top-four selection, Brooklyn lands its highest pick since 2010. General Manager Sean Marks now eyes a deep guard class to revitalize the roster.
Entering Sunday's NBA Draft Lottery, the Brooklyn Nets, who finished with the third-worst record in the league last season (20-62), possessed the top chances at securing the No. 1 overall pick with 52.5-percent odds to fall within the top four.
Unfortunately, neither of these outcomes happened for Brooklyn, with the Nets falling to the No. 6 overall pick.
Although the Nets dropped, it still marks their highest draft selection in 16 years, dating back to the Derrick Favors, who Brooklyn picked with the third overall pick in 2010.
General Manager Sean Marks was asked about landing at No. 6, expressing confidence due to the depth of this year's class.
"There's going to be some really good options for us, whether we were picking one or ten," Marks said. "With multiple assets that we have in this draft and multiple future assets, we're going to continue to build this team up into hopefully something we can be really proud of."
While the Nets likely won't be able to cash in on a blue-chip prospect like AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson or Caleb Wilson, the lottery is stocked full of talented young guards.
Recently, we at NetsRoundtable have highlighted some of these prospects, including Keaton Wagler, Darius Acuff Jr., Kingston Flemings, and Mikel Brown Jr.
Ironically, in The Athletic's most recent pre-lottery mock draft, Sam Vecenie projected the Nets landing at No. 6 and selecting the dynamic Acuff.
"Acuff earned first-team All-America status by dominating games down the stretch. Over his final 13 games, he averaged an absurd 28 points per game and 6.7 assists while getting to the line 7.5 times per game," Vecenie wrote. "He was efficient and sharp, shooting 48 percent from the field and over 40 percent from 3."
While Acuff is certainly an enticing prospect, Brooklyn will likely have their pick of any of these similarly-ranked guards, looking for the best fit and upside.
Moving up is also a possibility should the Nets feel strongly about one of the players in the presumed top four.
"Hard to tell," Marks said when asked about potentially getting aggressive with their assets. "I think it’s all about how these guys develop, right? I don’t think you want to make rash decisions before you’ve seen how they look. I think we all know there’s a group in this draft that could be game-changers, but I said could be because you never know... Every draft there’s a guy who people didn’t quite expect to be [that high] if you do the re-draft. So for us, it’ll still be about having patience. But at the end of the day, we’ve got optionality, we’ve maintained flexibility, we’ve got the cap space and assets. So I think the word would be opportunistic."
While the No. 6 pick wasn't the ideal conclusion to Brooklyn's lottery mystique, this year's draft certainly has the talent to provide the Nets with a franchise player who can lead them out of this rebuilding era.
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