Has the Brooklyn Nets offseason been a stroke of GENIUS or a MISSED opportunity? with Adam Armbrecht

Has the Brooklyn Nets offseason been a stroke of GENIUS or a MISSED opportunity? with Adam Armbrecht

Coming up, how have the Nets graded out this off seasonason with their draft trades and other moves? I’ll dive into that after this. You are Locked on Nets, your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome in to the Lockdown Nets podcast right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. It’s your team, the Brooklyn Nets, every single day. I’m Eric Slater, Brooklyn Nets be reporter for clutchpoints.com. Thank you for making me your first listen to the day. The show is 100% free on all those great platforms. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NBA for $20 off your first purchase. And on today’s show, I’m going to be joined by a familiar face for all you Lockdown Nets listeners to get his reaction to the Nets draft, trades, summer league, and more before offering some predictions for next season. And we have a very special guest on today’s episode of Lockdown Nets rejoining the show, longtime host Adam Armre. Adam, how are you, man? I’m sure all the listeners are happy to see that face behind the camera again. Well, as you can tell, Eric, um I’ve been working on my tan. The complexion is coming through beautifully. Uh yeah, man. It’s been a great vibe. Stepping away, obviously, um was difficult. Everybody that follows the show and has continued, obviously, we hope to have supported you as you took it over um was really difficult. And then there’s like a a bit of relief to it. I got to be honest with you, cuz cuz Net’s Twitter and the Nets fan base, the the battles continue on regardless of of where the team is headed. And it was nice to kind of be able to just look at it from a distance and say, “Hey, enjoy enjoy the chaos, Eric. You’re at the helm now.” Yeah. We stay You step away for a little bit and then you come back and you got the tan, you got the beach shirt on. It’s like it’s like an extended vacation retirement for Armre over here. So, uh, yeah, like what what has it been like? I mean, I think everybody knows the volume of show of shows that you guys put out and that I’m continuing to do now. It’s a lot more than other podcasts. It’s a lot of work. it is a big part of your life while you’re doing it. So, you’ve stepped away and you know what has it been like having you know a little bit more free time there? It’s funny man because obviously there’s the the other side of you know other work life and that stuff goes on. Um but but when you start to see especially summer league and and you know we’re going to talk about you know big draft obviously for the Brooklyn Nets and that’s we didn’t get that opportunity over the course of our time covering the team for that to be something that was going on with them. So, it’s it’s funny to not have to plug in right after that thing happens, right? Right after the breaking news, right after the draft picks. And then at the same time, as people knew from from watching us on the show, like I grew up following this team when they were in New Jersey. So, there’s still now it’s like reconnecting with the pure fandom where I get to just be, oh man, that that that looks like a great pick or I hope he does well and maybe not having to always turn on the analytical brain, right? and start critiquing these 19 year old kids as they as they start their process. So, I’ve enjoyed the relief of it. Like, I’ve enjoyed not having to five days a week. And it and it was a blessing. And as I’m sure you know, right, it’s a great gig to have. You connect with amazing people. You get to talk to all these athletes. And also, you got to be on it. You got to be on it five days a week and sometimes a Saturday, maybe a Sunday afternoon, right? So, being able to get off of that schedule is the exact reason why Doug and I, I think, stepped away ultimately. and and then there’s all the other aspects of life that nobody cares about like you know the personal side of life has evolved in a great way for me. So that that’s been fun too and that’s why you make space for these things and and make space for someone like you to take it over. When you’ve seen all this stuff happening you know the draft them making five first round picks covering you know there’s some stuff happening that you as you noted you guys didn’t get to do. Did you find yourself having any urge to insert takes or you know be getting behind the microphone again and fire off your thoughts? So if any Yeah. Um, so if anybody followed the show, they always knew when it came to draft, I was a big fan we should we should mock this thing out a thousand times. And Doug had a hard time wrapping his head around theoreticals and, you know, what could be or doing mock trades and like that. So when this draft came around, I mean, I did and I was on Twitter and I was into it and I was having those conversations about who they were taking and again pushing back against some of of the instant reaction that the fan base was having. 100% man like they the draft is approaching and I am just itching about what what is it going to look like who are they going to take and then going yeah like turn turn on the mic talk to somebody I mean you know it can end up being just me and Doug sending text messages back and forth over the course of it he by the way who was in Europe at the time and was still awake and still tracking it a little bit right because it’s hard to fully detach from it so 100% that itch came back around um no no shameless ps here but you know I re reignited a little we got net substack and said hey don’t look for me five days a week don’t look for me three days a week but but sometimes when the urge strikes here’s a place that I can still kind of you know get that out to people and and get that response I think which has been really cool as I’m sure you’ve seen joining locked on the Nets community is awesome the fan base is incredible I know people knock it for oh it’s not as big you know little brother of New York City the the fans that are dedicated to the Brooklyn Nets are as dedicated or more than any fan base in the NBA. So, they were excited to hear from me a little bit. I was excited to stay connected. And again, also excited to go h I’ll let Eric take the flight out to Vegas for summer league. I’ll let Eric go ahead and do those lists around those things when I’m sure you had a lot of late nights, especially around the draft. Definitely. Definitely some late nights in Vegas. And not the kind of late nights in Vegas that you’re expecting when you go to Vegas. It’s more writing outlines, you know, sitting in my hotel room figuring out lighting and camera positioning and stuff kind of late night. So, but it was fun. everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. It’s I can tell you exactly what happened. That was article writing and tracking draft picks. It was No, there wasn’t, you know, and and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But, um, yeah, we’re going to get into the draft and all that stuff and your thoughts on that. But, you know, with you having all this free time, like any any hobbies, anything you’re picking up now that you got a little bit more time to yourself? I’ve gotten big into the Hawaiian shirt game, as you can tell. I mean, I think that’s a part of it. Summertime vibes purely. Um, no, I I I hate to say it, too. I mean, like I’m I’m 39. like I’ll be, you know, I’ll be 40 coming up in November. So, it’s not like, uh, you know, covering the NBA was not curtailing my, you know, extravagant night life or something. Um, but mostly, man, summer season especially, I’ve been going just getting outdoors more like late into the evenings. Again, man, this is going to I don’t know how this comes across. I was playing botchi last night, baby. I was playing some botchi in my local town with a few buddies, you know, sun setting, good vibes, music in the background. So, yeah, it’s really just that, dude. the relief of in the evenings just uh sitting out back in the yard like you know let letting the sun set, not worrying about having to hop into something and then uh total hippie vibes. I love disc golf and and now I’m back into that too, man. I I listen I’m a guy in flipflops buming around the beach. That’s essentially what I’ve turned into here. And it happened very quickly. I gotta be honest. You put down the mic and instantly I go right back into some old vibes that I’ve been loving. Quick transition. Armre’s got the Hawaiian shirt on. He’s playing botchi. He’s letting Nets fans, you know, kill each other in the uh Twitter verse while he’s just kicking back and chilling during the summer here. But he still had some thoughts obviously on the Nets off season. He covered the draft stuff all the way right up until before it. So, I’m sure you have a lot to say, a lot of things that you got to get out of you. So, we’ll get all those takes from Adam and more on the Nets off season after a quick break. But before that, got to tell you about our friends over at Game Time. Guys, have you ever decided at the last minute to head to a ball game with family or friends? Maybe it’s game day and you suddenly realize you want to be in the stands. That’s exactly where game time comes in. It’s the easiest way to grab last minute tickets without the stress. With the money you save on tickets, you can splurge on food, drinks, merch, or even invite a bigger group to come with you. Game time makes it possible. Game time makes buying tickets fast and simple. Prices on the app actually drop the closer you get to first pitch. And they’ve got incredible lastminute deals, clear seat views, and a lowest price guarantee that takes the worry out of buying. Guys, Game Time is the official ticketing partner of Lockdown MLB, making it easy to browse the app for an exciting upcoming MLB game. 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You were doing all of these things. They did the lockdown Nets mock draft. Adam did that because it was before I took over. Little backstory for all you guys. I’m sure some of you saw the MAC mock draft. Adam made five first round picks. They had the four. He traded for an extra one. And mind you, this was before any like Drake Pal Nets Hawks trades. And I had to answer for that because I came in after. So it was kind of a transition where I was still there. And I looked at it and I had to send Adam a message and say, “Adam, they have four first round picks. Did you you had to trade for another one and I have to answer for a fifth first round pick?” I was like, “I don’t see that really happening.” Oh, no. You actually made six first round picks. Yeah, there there there is a world where you can expose the fact a little bit that there was some chaos, right? I had a strategy going into the draft. It didn’t involve having all six of those. I did want to condense, but inevitably as people start to think that you’re losing your mind, they stay away from making deals with you. So, it was it was hard on the back end to condense some of those down as I had hoped to. And I will say that the trades that you made in the mock draft were were highle trades. I agreed with all the moves. I said, “Hey, six first round picks. I don’t know. I like the rest of the NBA community. I thought they were going to consolidate. So, they called you a madman, myself included. But little did we know that Adam was just pulling the strings of the Nets front office behind the scenes and he was controlling everything. So, when you see the Nets make five first round picks, just let’s start with the volume of it. What were your immediate thoughts with the strategy of them making all those picks, not consolidating, moving up as people thought they were going to? Yeah, I mean going into the draft, we said it was hard to think that you’re going to see a lot of that condensing movement. And there were some scenarios we saw play out on draft night that that let you know what the price point maybe was going to be to do some of those things. And when it’s a deep draft class, it becomes harder to convince another team that the value isn’t right there. Now, some would say, yeah, you move back and you still get value in the teens or going towards the 20s. So, you can make that case, but when you also look specifically at the teams and where they were drafting, you know, this the Spurs had picks in certain spots where you say, “Yeah, but they still want to add to their core around Wemby, right?” Um, I’m trying to remember, who was it? One team made the big trade up that ended up being kind of a head scratcher because of what it cost you giving up a future first round pick to come up the board to get a guy that you like and you have a conviction about. That’s great. But yeah, New Orleans gave up their unprotected. That showed you what the price was to move up from 23 to 13, I think it was. They gave up an unprotected uh first round pick in 2026. And that a lot of people called that crazy, right? So, and in that instance, you go again, you’re going to judge the the franchise. It’s not like New Orleans has been this incredibly well-run organization over the last handful of years, right? A lot of swings and misses. You go all the way back to the Anthony Davis era of them and you know, so you look at that and you say, “Yeah, okay. Maybe you’re a team that feels like you’re desperate and you need to go accomplish something here to convince the fan base this is going the right direction or to make sure you get the value out of what your current roster has. So in the Nets case, I know everyone said and this was happening inside of our mock draft. There’s no way there’s not enough roster space. Yes, there is. Like the Brooklyn Nets have nothing but roster space. So we we were convinced Doug and myself that they were going to take that that big swing. They were going to go for the high upside. Yes, riskreward and try to do that as often as possible. So, when you look at their draft picks and the age of everybody, 19 years old, right? And I know we can talk about summer league, like that’s what it was going to be. Um, the Igor Deming case, listen, you’re talking about a guy that one point was considered to be around that top 10. Yes, he did fall. Nets had a conviction about him. Okay. Nolan Trayori right in that same kind of wheelhouse, right? Um, the Drake Powell one, there was a little bit of buzz building up more around his name certainly for the Brooklyn Nets. And then when you get to the back end of it, listen, we’ll talk in totality what I think about the collection of players from a strategy standpoint. Um, but then you end up getting a couple of guys that you think have value. Danny Wolf, I was higher at one point, waned a little bit, and maybe Summer League has informed that in a unique way. But I just think that the Nets to be long-winded, I haven’t been on a microphone in a long time. The Nets like the fans the fan base for the most part initial reaction was how could you take all these guys and you know what are we doing? supposed to be. There was this instant I think difficult of acceptance that yes, they are rebuilding. And I think you you’ve put out content around this of this is like the real year one of the rebuild whether or not you think it’s been rebuilding. This is the true year one. So you have to think about this collection of players and saying we have this full season and maybe even next season to develop and evaluate them and see where these next draft classes go. So I I like the strategy. I can get why it’s frustrating, but I understood it from that standpoint from the Brooklyn Nets front office. Yeah. And I think part of the frustration was stemming from the Nets just not being in the draft position that people hoped them to be with, you know, falling to the eighth pick in the lottery, obviously. So once you get the buzz, oh, maybe the Nets are going to trade up, right? And you start hearing about top three, they’re going to get in there. That that was a big problem, too, right? Once that narrative starts to build, well, now as a fan base, you’re like, well, come on. I thought we were I thought we were condensing a top five pick still, right? that that that really shifted things I think too as the draft kind of unfolded that just sat in their spots and made their picks. Yeah. And it’s it’s it wasn’t for a lack of trying. Like I reported in the days leading up to the draft that they had conversations with Philly. They had conversations with San Antonio which was never going to happen. They also talked with Charlotte at four and those teams were talking with a lot of other teams and nobody moved up. And the reason for that being the price was obviously high. And really the only, you know, significant trade up that we saw was a trade that a lot of people called, you know, bat crazy. So it’s like, it’s like, you know, what were you expecting them to do? And it wasn’t really for me the concept of making four first round picks, they end up making five. Wasn’t really a matter of roster space because in terms of young, you know, high upside guys, the Nets really, they’re kind of devout. They barely have any. Like I’m not really putting Cam Thomas and Nick Claxton in that bucket anymore. Like they’re kind of in the middle of their NBA career. So, it wasn’t a matter of roster space. It was just it is a challenging thing to try to develop, you know, four guys in the same class, let alone five. But Jordi Fernandez has projected confidence that he’s going to be able to do it and he’s going to be able to get them minutes. And he said that uh he’s probably going to go 10 deep in the rotation. The Nets have also used Long Island, you know, as a development plays for a lot of guys who have turned into, you know, looks like rotation level NBA players. So, we’ll see. But getting into the draft class a little deeper, starting at the top at eight, I’m pretty sure you had Noah Asen in the mock draft there. I think he was a guy people were talking about the way the board shook out. Kaman Malawatch was a consensus top pick and the Nets as they love to do, they zag and they go with Gordman. When that pick and that name was read, just what was your initial reaction in your chest? I mean, surprise for sure, right? because so in the mock draft I danced around the board to get back to I think 15 to get Demond. So it it was still about making that move and still trying to get that that player. So I like him as a prospect. It was was it surprising that it’s that it’s eight and that’s the selection? Sure. You know, you mentioned um Kaman being there. I we again going into it I didn’t think that that was someone that was going to necessarily be on the Net’s radar. It’s not for you know not understand the skill set or liking the prospect. Um, but really at that point, Jeremiah Fears goes, right? Trey Johnson goes, these are the kind of conversations as you’re building up to the draft, if one of those players gets there, I think either one of them, if they’re there at eight, the Brooklyn Nets are I I think, you know, ecstatic to take one of them. And we we discussed fears kind of at length and the skill set, the size, all those things. After that though, I mean, listen, we talked about it with Cedric Coward going 11 to Portland. you like I was a big fan of his and then ironically like Drake Powell maybe kind of checks some of those trait boxes that you that you like so much about him. There’s an uncertainty there as well. I mean after the fact when you walk through it outside of saying they should have taken Noah Sen because that was the guy we talked about so much there’s not a lot of other names after after uh taking Deon there do there that I would have said oh that’s the guy I would have taken instead. I know it feels like a Zag, as you said, the Nets liked him. They took him there. I can’t make a case for maybe more than two other players that I would have put at that point at eight that I would have taken instead of him. So, I I I end up liking the pick even if in the, you know, moment you go, “Oh, okay. Let let’s recalibrate. What do we think about the prospect? Where do we think the value is? What do we think he can be at the NBA level?” Yeah. And I think there was a lot of shock just based on where the consensus was of where he was going to land in the draft. But something that I’ve heard from a lot of people around the NBA and it’s been reported by other people is that there were people who were picking close to after the Nets who liked Gman and had him in that range. So he, you know, people are like, “Oh, could they have gotten him in 19?” Because some people mocked them to him at 19. It’s like he wasn’t getting to 19 from things that I’ve heard. So, and that’s another part of it, right? Like understanding if you can’t make the moves around the board like people wanted you to. If you’re going to pick at eight and the next pick’s at 19 and you want this kid, like there there you are, right? and if there isn’t a chance to trade back and all that other stuff, the riskreward of missing out on a player that you really think you can develop into something, you know, concrete cornerstone for the franchise. Yeah. And I think it was a recalibration. I think that’s a good word to use because after Trey Johnson, Jeremiah Fears go off the board at 67 and then you’re at eight, the thing that Nets fans have been clamoring about the whole time with this pick is upside, upside, upside. We have to go for upside. And you might not agree that Dyman has the kind of upside that you wanted, but if you look at the options there, who were the guys, like we said, it was Asen was a guy who you could say was an upside swing. Malawatch, some people don’t think so. I think he has some upside, but he could have been an upside swing, but it seems like they probably wanted to go ball handler more. After that, we’re talking about, you know, Kasparos Yakonis who fell to 20. So, that doesn’t seem like that would have been a good pick based on how far and how many teams uh passed on him. like who Derek Queen are you talking about a guy a lot of people have you know concerns about so maybe they like were they going to go Carter Bryant or Cedric Coward to date I think people would have flipped out if they did that so yeah you know the the upside case with Gmen I understand it I’m a little worried about whether there is a true upside there because some of the ball handling limitations and some things along those lines but I get it because you know him being a guy who is 6’8 can dribble pass shoot should hold up defensively if he can improve on some of these things There is an upside case there and there’s also a floor case there if he shoots the way that he did at summer league which was obviously a big concern and the Nets have looked vindicated you know with some of their um assessment and confidence about him as a shooter. Going beyondman they took two more point guards obviously which a lot of people were scratching their heads about and then they go with Pal and Wolf. Of those picks was there one that surprised you the most and which of those guys are you the most excited about coming out of summer league? Yeah, I mean, so Trayore to me, not not surprising. Um, you know, likewise, as you get down into the 20s, um, Saraf is a guy that was connected to the Brooklyn Nets. Now, by the time you get there to make that pick, does it feel like, oh, you’re now tripling down on that ball handling position. Um, honestly, so the Danny Wolf one to me is interesting, right? Because now when you look at the draft in totality, so even on Igor, Jagor, the one the one thing to note there is he he even switched it from ball handler to playmaker, right? He made that little transition when he was interviewing uh at Summer League. And I believe you were you were asking those questions of him. I don’t know if the Brooklyn Nets drafted him based on pure ball handling and development of his skill set so much as the sample we got, which is the shooting and saying, “And he also has good court vision. Yes, he can set up others. Yes, he can do some things on ball, but I actually think we’re going to be talking more about how does he help open up the floor spacing for the guys running at the point, for the guys playing at that two guard spot. So, when you get to Nolan Trayor, he’s the guy I think that got me the most buzz coming out of summer league. Um, I would have loved to have seen Drake Powell as well. But Trayore, I got to tell you, man, yes, he’s slight ankle, like, you know, some ankle issues. You’re like, okay, can he hold up? But the fact that he has that first step burst, that he can get out in the open court, that he has the vision, and frankly, even at summer league level, you saw him going into the paint, taking contact, still finishing up over bigger bodies. Like, it’s hard to project that from Europe or from the college level that you’re going to be able to still do it. At least the first early sample size was yes, he can go do that. Everybody that the Nets took needs to continue to develop their shot. But I really I like Trayor and I think we’re going to see he to me has the the best early chance because he’ll be on ball a lot to get the fan base excited to give you some of those, you know, flashy moments, especially when he’s creating for himself, especially in open court transition basketball. This is not going to be a high defensive team. So, seeing him get out with that ball in his hands, I think is going to be a lot of fun to watch. Um, and then, yeah, listen, going back down it, I I like Danny Wolf. I gotta tell you, summer league gets me a lot closer to how Doug looked at him as I don’t know is anything really impressive about his game, right? A little slow, little, you know, sluggish. Some of the passing decisions were just ups like kind of upsetting for what you think the skill set is. I would have liked the Nets to go with a bigger body there. I talk about Maxim Renard, that would have been one and he had a nice summer league for himself. I maybe would have liked some of the the larger body floor spacing defensive value at that spot. Um because I think that’s the one thing they lack here, right? Uh Danny Wolf’s gonna struggle in switching defense. He’s not going to get on the perimeter successfully. It doesn’t look like he’s going to struggle from a size standpoint in and around the basket. So, the Nets are still small. Um but I yeah, I like Treyori a lot. I think he’s probably the first guy that I watch coming out and Drake Powell is the low-key, hey, what do we like to see in terms of his skill set? Because he has that length, ball handling, nice 3 and D kind of model. I I am excited to see him play as well coming out of well going into training camp and into the season. All right, we got some more draft thoughts. We also have a lot of trades we got to talk about. Then we have some predictions for the Nets this coming season. We’ll touch on all that when we close out Locked on Nets after a quick break. Closing out today’s Locked on Nets episode with former host Adam Armre rejoining the show. Yeah, you know, you just I just want to close out the draft talk. You talked about Troy being the guy who might give, you know, Nets fans the most exciting moments this coming season. And I I think that that could be true because, you know, you look at Gmen and the things that he can do, you know, if he can improve the ball handling and stuff, there could be some flashy moments, but with him, at least in summer league, it was a lot more offball stuff. It was a lot more floor spacing. And I think that utility ultimately is something that attracted the Nets to him. And I think he can definitely get there in the other areas, but this coming season, people have him pencled in as the point guard on the depth chart. And right now, I’m just not sure that he’s going to be able to handle the ball pressure as a starting point guard against NBA level point of attack defenders. We saw him struggle with it at BYU. We saw him struggle with it at summer league. Maybe he can make quick improvements in that area and acclimate himself, but it’s tough. Like that’s rookie ball handlers struggle a lot. And if you’re a guy who’s 68, has a little bit of a high dribble, don’t h don’t have much shake, like that might be difficult. So that could give Troy an opportunity to potentially slide in as more of the primary ball handler. And I think that that would uh gives Nets some exciting moments just because of the speed, the skill set, the passing field. Some of those things he’s going to have to improve as a shooter. The finishing is going to have to come along. But I think there will be a lot of exciting moments with him just because of the skill set that he has. Outside of the draft, we also had a clear strategy, trade strategy with the Nets utilizing their cap space. a return from Shawn Marx to, you know, an old play in the playbook with the salary dumps and he obviously gets the number 22 pick in the draft, which is Drake Pal for taking on Terrence Mann’s contract. And then he sends out Cam Johnson and takes on MPJ’s contract and the unprotected 2032 first round pick. Let’s start with the CJ trade and focus on that because it was obviously the more significant move. I’m sure you guys talked a lot on the podcast about Cam Johnson trades for well over a year and the possibilities of what could happen there when it ended up being that and they take MPJ and they get that 2032 pick. What were your impressions of the deal that they got in the return? Yeah, I think you had to get it done at some point, right? I mean, it had been a season and a half, two seasons of us saying, you know, you need to make this deal. And I think when we’re leading up to the draft, we were having those conversations about the roster. You know, what has to happen? What makes the most sense? And it’s not like this is going out on a limb. you needed to move, you know, Cam Johnson because the value, because the roster. Now, oddly enough, I I didn’t paint this picture where it was taking on that size of a contract uh in Michael Porter Jr. getting the 2032. I I love that pick. Right now, again, you’re betting on the what if, but it’s not like the Denver Nuggets are an automatic to figure out what the next chapter looks like beyond the Joker, right? So, taking a flyer on a pick like that is great. And then I don’t know if you would agree or not, but Michael Porter Jr., it’s tricky in the new the new NBA landscape, the contracts, the money, but I’m not wholly convinced that Michael Porter Jr. won’t still be a player that potentially another team will call about. It may be that Shawn Marx took on that money just to be able to have a team that has another big contract that they don’t want, doesn’t fit, right? Need to get a little bit younger, maybe, whatever the push is. And you flip that once again and you grab some more additional draft capital. The other side of it is I I think there’s value in having a veteran player. You need this ball to move. I know a lot of fans and I I want them to develop the young guys, but there’s a need for having experienced NBA players so that the offense can run effective sets, right? So that the team can develop these guys without it being some of what we saw at summer league, right? Ball getting stopped a lot, a lot of passes flying around the court, out of bounds, turnovers, etc. So continuity matters. Um I thought that was a great from a first standpoint. I thought it was great. I think it’s great for Cam Johnson as well because he’s going to get to go and compete at a championship level and I think his fit there in Denver is going to really benefit what they want to do overall and they recon reshape themselves a little bit. Important for the Nets to get some size back in this as well because they are still a small roster. Yeah, I’ve I haven’t really wavered that I thought it was a good deal for the Nets. I think that 2032 unprotected first round pick is better. That’s a better asset than I thought they were going to get back in the CJ trade. And the reason they did obviously was because they also took on MPJ’s contract. And I think some people like we did an episode about Bill Simmons. He called this the worst trade of the last decade or something like that, which I thought I think’s a little a little harsh to say the least. I outlined it on that pod, but he thought I want to say Bill enjoys himself some hyperbole, but you know, it does feel from time to time. From time to time, but he he thought that the Nets should have gotten two assets, one for taking on MPJ and one for Cam Johnson. And I would say, you know, what I said in response to that was, you know, you could get two assets, but that unprotected 20 32 first round pick, that’s worth two, that’s two first round picks, you know, in equivalence to ones that are not of as such great value. So, yeah, I thought the people who were asking and expecting to get two first round picks for Cam Johnson. Like, yeah, maybe they could have, but maybe they would have been they could have gotten these late like swaps on swaps on swaps or highly protected picks that are going to be late picks. that pick is a pick that you don’t know, but there’s a realistic possibility that could be a top five pick. Like, we have no idea. So, you have some upside there. And then also, I’ve said that, you know, I think the pendulum swung kind of far on who Cam Johnson is versus who Michael Porter Jr. is. I think Cam Johnson is better and fits the Nuggets better um moving forward, but they’re definitely a similar tier of player in my opinion. And people are like, “Okay, well, Michael Porter Jr. has this obscene contract and it’s like it’s for the next two seasons and what where are the Nets the next two seasons? It’s like whatever. Like honestly like maybe they could maybe they could flip it. Maybe there’s a team he he rehabilitates its value and there’s a team who wants him or maybe he’s a filler, you know, in a star trade because we saw like it doesn’t always need to be the best player like Jaylen Green just got sent out as the main filler. a lot of people aren’t too high on Jaylen Green and if not he’s also a guy that he’s young enough he’s two years younger than CJ where they could extend him at the end of this contract at a more reasonable number. So the way I was kind of looking at it is they got the unprotected 20 32 first round pick which is a great asset and then they got a player who’s in CJ’s tier who is two years younger so could fit the timeline and they’re really no worse off for wear because of the contract. That last thing you mentioned there is important because we always talked about um when everyone was bringing about Giannis this you know this offseason the Nets oh they should go all in start trading the picks and we always talked about how yeah but they they’d say you for money even you have to put in Cam Johnson to fill it but that’s the guy you would want to have there. So having a player like MPJ like you said over the next two years if the Nets end up getting back into those kind of conversations you can look at your roster and say we still do have this piece and that gives you one more building block along with someone else you’re going to bring in at that superstar caliber. So you can kind, you know, feather a little bit of two avenues here, even if the fan base kind of hates when Shawn Marks does that. Yeah. We’ll close, we’ll close out this episode with this. We’ll get some predictions at the very end. But has it been weird because, you know, the whole time that you guys did the podcast, it was really like the win now. Like they made these win now moves and they were going in for it and now they’ve finally committed, it seems like, to this full rebuild and building through the draft. Has it been weird to see them kind of start this journey? a journey that some people may have wanted them to take earlier, but they never really did it while you were hosting the show and they haven’t done it since they’ve been in Brooklyn. Really? Yeah. Yes. Because as things started to unravel around the Kevin Durant, the Kyrie Irving, even the James Harden, right? You make that trade the Ben Simmons. Okay, that’s like the first thing like, okay, so it’s not going to be that anymore. It’s not going to be one of the most potent offenses over a very small 15 game sample size. Okay, what’s it going to be? And Ben Simmons doesn’t work out. And so already at that point, right, we all know like the rumblings, the conjecture. Well, what’s the answer here? What do you try to do? So there was this real slow bleed to it. And then you get to the and then you get to the phase of, okay, Kyrie Irving and now we’re going to move on from him. And then you get to the Kevin, right? So it keeps petering down. And you could make the case the Nets could have done this in the Kevin Durant trade when you get Male Bridges and you get Cam Johnson. Flip immediately, right? Send him out the door immediately. Start that rebuild right then in that moment. However, this is the the case for why it feels funny, but patience kind of matters in the way you evaluate things. The hole the Nets got for Male Bridges is pretty critical in launching this rebuild. So, um, while it was s, yes, it was surprising to see they finally did it, but it does line up with Joe Sai, Shawn Marx, his job security, and this sense of like we don’t need to rush. And I know fans hate that and like and I I get it, but it’s like we don’t need to rush into our decisions. And by the way, in that time frame, you also found Jordy Fernandez and you identified who you think is your franchise head coach now. So you allowed things to gradually line up, continue to find value for the assets you had. And now we’ll see, right? like now this next season and a half, two seasons is going to determine whether or not the fans should be excited or if we really are a franchise that is far more in those buckets of that lower tier, you know, perpetually terrible organizations around the NBA. Detroit lived there for a long time. Now they’ve climbed out of it. Can the Nets do the same thing? That’s what’s exciting. And closing out the show, last thing. This coming season, I mean, I’m sure we’ll have more talk with you, but just predictions. I think we all know the direction it’s heading, but just what are your overall predictions on where this roster lands and also just what are the top things that you’re going to be watching out for that you want to see? I would assume stemming from this draft class that they brought in. Yeah, I’m very curious where everybody is, right? Who’s starting in the G-League potentially? We’ve heard about Saraf. Is that going to be a Euro stash situation? Doesn’t seem like like early flash there in the f in his first sample at summer league and it kind of leveled back out to where you thought. So, I’m watching for how Trayor looks, how, uh, how Jager looks. Certainly getting Drake Powell out there. I want to see the development. I mean, listen, it’s going to be painful, but you got to think about what do they look like in week one versus what they look like in week 20 of the season, right? Progressive development matters. I can Thomas, what’s going on? Does this franchise like him? We think they do. We I saw a video of them applauding when they drafted him, but I I I’m not entirely sure watching that. Terrence man, that’s another opportunity. That contract is nice. I think he could have potential, you know, trade value at the deadline. So, it’s going to be a lot of those familiar things um that we talk about in terms of shifting from the roster perspective, but I think I just want to have conviction that Jordy Fernandez is continuing that developmental track we believe in and then getting some of these boxes checked. And oh, by the way, yes, from the draft class, but don’t forget about Noah Clowny. It’s like it’s really easy to jump past him. He’s a part of this young core. Um, you talk about Tariq Whitehead, like that last little sample at the end of last year. If you can build that out, the last thing I’ll say is those five picks, they’re not all going to be starters. That’s not how backend first round picks develop. But can they be rotation pieces? So, identifying what the roles long-term for some of these guys are going to be is going to matter more than whether or not they’re getting a ton of starts this year. And sometimes it looks painful because guess what? It’s going to look painful for stretches for sure. Adam, I’m sure all the Nets listener, locked on Nets listeners are very happy to have you back on the show. I said when you guys welcomed me on that it wasn’t a goodbye. It was a see you later and I think that that still applies here. Definitely try to circle back, have you on some for more have you on for some more thoughts down the line, but I really appreciate it, man. And uh yeah, keep enjoying that botchi, you know, those disc golf moments. Go just go have yourself a ball, man. I appreciate you taking the time. It legitimately sounds like I I’ve retired to Boca Raton and I’ll take a flight when I can. Um, no man, I appreciate it. It’s always awesome. Obviously, um, I’m glad that everyone’s been supporting the show. I’ve seen the way it continues to grow. So, we knew it was in good hands when we gave it to you and and the proof is in is in the podcast. So, um, awesome beyond, man, and we’ll certainly circle up again. That does it for today’s episode of Locked on Nets. Hope you guys enjoyed getting to hear from Adam again on everything having to do with the Nets off seasonason. I know he had some takes that he really wanted to get out and I’m sure we’ll circle back and have him on the show more moving forward. But if you do not already, make sure to subscribe to Locknets on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast, whether Apple Podcast or Spotify. If you enjoy the content, smash that like button, leave a comment, let me know what you thought about my takes, Adam takes, and anything relating to the Nets off season. We got plenty more to discuss this off seasonason, and I will break it all down here on Locked on Nets when I’m back on Monday talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball.

Erik Slater is joined by former Locked On Nets host Adam Armbrecht to discuss the Brooklyn Nets’ offseason. They analyze the team’s draft, trade, and free agent moves, offering their takes on whether the summer has been a success or a missed opportunity.

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