Every year, I–and Brooklyn Balling–take a break when I head off to rural northeastern Pennsylvania to go to summer camp, which is a time-honored tradition amongst metropolitan New York Jews. Every year, your Brooklyn Nets–in addition to the annual NBA Draft–see their roster get manipulated in seemingly endless ways. Every year, I return home from camp to a Nets team that looks significantly different than it did in mid-June.
That’s why, every year, I try to summarize just about every transaction the Nets made while I was gone, in the vain hope of understanding and analyzing just what general manager Billy King is trying to do with his luxury tax-eating roster of veterans and inexperienced young players. Here we go:
June 25th: Nets draft Syracuse F Chris McCullough 29th overall; draft Notre Dame G Pat Connaughton 41st overall and trade him with F Mason Plumlee to Portland Trail Blazers for Arizona F Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (23rd overall) and G Steve Blake; trade two future second-round picks and cash to Charlotte Hornets for Argentina F Juan Pablo Vaulet (39th overall)
Once again, on draft night, the Nets–even without their own first round pick (that was No. 15 and went to the Hawks)–were one of the busiest teams, making a big swap to snag a second first-rounder in Hollis-Jefferson. During his time at Arizona, Hollis-Jefferson proved to be a lockdown defender with undeveloped offensive skills that should round into form as he fills out his long frame. With their actual first round selection, Brooklyn went with McCullough, who the Nets had been projected to take for a few weeks.
The Bronx native was a consensus five-star recruit out of high school and impressed for the first 16 games of his college career before tearing his ACL against Florida State, effectively ending his Syracuse career. Like Hollis-Jefferson, he’s a long forward with a very projectable frame. The main difference between the two is that McCullough is more of an offensive threat, providing a nice contrast to Brooklyn’s other top rookie.
To get the former Wildcat, though, Brooklyn traded promising forward Mason Plumlee, who–even with his noted offensive and even defensive struggles in the 2014-15 season–was one of a few bright spots on the roster over the past few seasons. The Nets also traded away second rounder Connaughton, who was drafted by the MLB’s Baltimore Orioles in 2014 but returned to school to average 12.5 points and 7.4 rebounds in 38 games for the Fighting Irish during his senior year while knocking down over 42 percent of his three-point attempts. The book on Connaughton is that he’s very athletic for his 6-5 height but may have trouble creating his own shot in the uber-physical NBA.
In addition to the rights to Hollis-Jefferson, the Nets got veteran point guard Steve Blake in the deal from Portland who originally appeared to be someone who could stick around and serve as another backup option at the 1 for Lionel Hollins. However, he would be traded again a few weeks later (more on that below).
In their second trade of the evening, Brooklyn acquired Vaulet, a highly-touted Argentinian forward for some future draft and cash considerations. He promptly suffered a stress fracture in his leg a few weeks later, likely delaying his NBA arrival, which probably won’t be for a few years anyway as he’s only 19 years old.
July 2nd: Nets sign Connecticut G Ryan Boatright to a multi-year contract
Just a year and a half removed from winning a national championship with the Connecticut Huskies, Boatright–who averaged 14 points over his four years in Storrs–went undrafted in the 2015 NBA Draft and was quickly scooped up by the Nets for their summer league roster and eventually their actual roster. He’s a smallish point guard but has explosive ability, yet has an uphill climb for playing time with Jarrett Jack and Shane Larkin ahead of him on the depth chart.
Still, there’s a reason he scored over 17 points per game during his senior year and was 74th in the US out of high school and that’s his undeniable playmaking ability. The Nets are taking a chance that he can turn into a decent pro point guard which would necessitate improved shooting and on-ball defense from the Illinois native.
July 9th: Nets re-sign F Thaddeus Young and C Brook Lopez; sign G Wayne Ellington, G Shane Larkin, C Willie Reed and F Thomas Robinson; withdraw qualifying offer from F Mirza Teletovic, making him a free agent
While there was some thought that both Young and Lopez could potentially leave Brooklyn as free agents this summer, neither came particularly close to signing elsewhere. Regardless, both signing long-term deals with the Nets on the same day certainly was a big relief to the entire organization. Having those two guys in the frontcourt for the near future provides Brooklyn with a duo that is equally hard to defend as it hard to score against.
But Billy King didn’t stop there, as he finalized deals with four other free agents on July 9th as well, picking up veteran swingman Wayne Ellington and younger bench pieces in Larkin, Reed and Robinson. The Nets are Ellington’s sixth NBA team since he was drafted 28th overall by the Timberwolves in 2009, the same year he won a national championship with North Carolina. He hasn’t experienced the same success in the pros as he did in college, though, as he is a career sub-.420 shooter from the field and is known as a defensive liability.
Larkin, who’s in his third NBA season, spent the 2014-15 campaign with the crosstown Knicks, the team he was sent to by the Mavericks in the Tyson Chandler trade last summer. He averaged 6.2 points and 3.0 assists with New York in 76 games (22 as a starter) this past year but wasn’t re-signed due to his inability to fit well with team president Phil Jackson’s Triangle offense.
Reed, who went undrafted in 2011 out of St. Louis, was signed off the Miami Heat’s summer league team but was a member of the Nets’ former D-League affiliate, the Springfield Armor, from 2012-14, so the franchise is very familiar with him. The 6-10 center impressed many around the NBA during summer league and is someone who could contribute off the bench right away as a backup for Brook Lopez.
The Nets tried to sign Robinson after he was waived by the Nuggets in February but were beat out by the lowly 76ers at the last minute. Now, they’ve finally brought the former lottery pick and rebounding stud in to see just how much he can contribute to the rebounding-challenged Nets. On another low-risk, high-reward cheap contracts, T-Rob’s signing is another coup for the Nets.
Finally, by essentially non-tendering Mirza, Brooklyn let the three-year member of the Nets walk and eventually sign with the Phoenix Suns. Teletovic missed the second half of the season due to a troubling blood clot situation and wasn’t the same when he returned for the end of the postseason but should be helpful for the Suns, who need to revamp after a failed attempt to sign LaMarcus Aldridge this summer.
July 11th: Nets waive G Deron Williams
In one of the more surprising moves of the entire offseason, the Nets bought out their once franchise point guard and the rest of his ungodly contract to allow him to sign with his hometown Dallas Mavericks. Williams, acquired by the Nets from the Utah Jazz at the 2011 Trade Deadline, saw his production fall off a cliff as he degraded from one of the league’s best point guards to a glorified reserve who–thanks to injuries and a horrible attitude–lost almost all of his superstar ability.
By buying his contract out, the Nets still owe Williams around $30 million but gain a valuable roster spot and reduce their luxury tax bill. Still, the fact that the once-promising trade for a top-10 talent ends just four years later with a buyout is a major black mark on the record of Brooklyn’s embattled front office. You can’t predict injuries, which hastened Deron’s downfall, but that’s not the only development that made his Nets tenure a disaster.
July 13th: Nets trade G Steve Blake to Detroit Pistons for F Quincy Miller; waive F Cory Jefferson; sign F/C Andrea Bargnani
Just over two weeks after acquiring him, the Nets sent Blake back out, this time to Detroit, in exchange for Quincy Miller, a journeyman who has spent time with the Nuggets, Kings and Pistons in bit roles. The thinking at the time was that Miller, on a nonguaranteed contract, would be waived for salary purposes but he ended up sticking around until now, so that money is guaranteed.
Later, the Nets ended up making a move to cut some cap but it was a surprise as they cut Cory Jefferson, a second round pick of the Nets in 2014 out of Baylor, the same school Miller went to. Jefferson had his share of good moments–mostly on defense–in his rookie season but was an offensive liability (see this) and was ultimately inconsistent.
To cap off the eventful day, Brooklyn signed another 2014-15 Knick in veteran forward Andrea Bargnani. Although the reasoning for signing the defensively- and somewhat offensively-challenged is a little unclear, he can stretch the floor with his jumper and is one of the only players with legitimate NBA experience coming off the bench for Lionel Hollins.
August 8th: Nets sign G Donald Sloan
To round out their muddled point guard position, Brooklyn picked up former Pacer and Cavalier Donald Sloan, who has struggled to find playing time in the NBA but–when he has filled in for injured starters at his multiple stops–he has looked like a capable leader on the floor. With Brooklyn, he’s not going to start often, if at all, but he’s another option for the Nets to turn to if Jack and Larkin–even Boatright–aren’t able to get the job done.
August 10th: Nets waive F Earl Clark
Clark, another NBA journeyman, was signed to a 10-day contract by the Nets in March and then re-signed to a multi-year deal when that expired. He ended up appearing in 10 regular season games (and two playoff games) for Brooklyn but had trouble making shots so it wasn’t a shock he was waived back on August 10th to get his non-guaranteed money off the books before the season.
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