The Nets had a busy NBA draft night in their home arena Barclays Center. There was a trade, some still-simmering rumors, five picks and a couple of perceived first-round steals in guard Cameron Thomas and center Day’Ron Sharpe.
Brooklyn grabbed the high-scoring Thomas from LSU with the No. 27 selection, and snagged UNC rebounder Sharpe two spots later with a pick they got from the Suns (along with Javon Carter) for Landry Shamet.
“Brooklyn made a really good choice picking me,” said Thomas, who worked out for the Nets and interviewed with them a week ago.
“All our personalities connected. And with me watching them so much this year, with James Harden being my favorite player, me watching Kyrie [Irving], how skilled he is, and [Kevin Durant], I feel like with me coming in and learning from those guys, scoring the ball-wise, it’s a match made in heaven.”
The Nets already have the Big Three, but when ‘best available’ turned out to be yet another isolation scorer, they doubled down on their strength and pounced on the Tiger freshman who had been mocked to go ten spots higher by The Ringer.
Cam Thomas has no hesitation when it comes to launching shots. Getty ImagesThomas averaged 23 points to become the first freshman since 1989 to top the SEC in scoring, and had the best plus-minus in the league. His efficiency (.325 from 3) belied his pure stroke, largely because he took so many contested shots for the Tigers. He won’t have to with the Nets.
“Hoopers figure it out, man. You can never have too much scoring,” Thomas said. “All four of us are hoopers, so we’re all going to figure it out eventually.
“I feel like I’m so complete offensively and an all-around player that I can make an immediate impact with those guys and we can do some great things.”
Thomas was raised by a single mom Army vet that instilled work ethic. He also has an unswerving faith in his abilities that struck some teams as hubris.
It struck the Nets as cojones.
“I look at a guy like Cam who never shied away from the moment, never shied away from the shot,” general manager Sean Marks said. “Supreme confidence, believes in his shot, believes in his shot-making ability and the tireless worker that he is. … When a guy’s not settling for anything, that’s really important.
“He has an elite skill. You watch him play, you watch him find his shot, create his shot, that’s at a very, very high level. For him to learn from maybe three of the greatest scorers the league has will be great for him. The other part of it is he’s fearless. He’s not afraid. … We’re looking for guys that are competitive, have that edge to them and a chip on their shoulder. That’s what we found with both those players.”
The other player is Sharpe, whom the Post and others had reported was a longtime Nets target. The 6-foot-11, 265-pounder — viewed as a lottery pick before the year — cleans the glass and even guarded some power forwards as a sign of his agility, which should improve with conditioning.
With Jeff Green and Blake Griffin free agents and DeAndre Jordan out of the rotation, getting Sharpe more fortuitous than shrewd.
“We weigh both, best available and positional needs,” Marks said. “We’ve always taken best available, so on our board that’s the way we look at it. Don’t want to miss out on an opportunity. We’re excited to have both those guys we’d had higher on our board and we’re excited to have them.”
The Shamet deal can’t be completed until Aug. 6. But the Nets got not only Sharpe but also Carter, who is both backup point guard and Bruce Brown insurance.
Carter isn’t quite the shooter Shamet is, but he’s hit a solid career .381 from 3. More important is that he’s a stout defender under team control at $3.65 million this upcoming season and $3.925 the next. That’s a cheaper alternative to Brown, whom league sources say could get as much as $9 million in free agency.
The Nets took Pepperdine forward Kessler Edwards, Creighton shooter Marcus Zegarowski and FSU’s burly switchable defender RaiQuan Gray in the second round.







