As the Nets await tonight’s NBA Draft with the No. 22 pick, they have a plan formulated. They’ll draft a shooter or a point guard or a big man. They want someone who can help right away or someone with upside who might be ready next year. They’re going to keep the pick or they’ll trade the selection.
Nothing like a precise, immutable plan, huh?
“We’re trying to figure out – which we’re not having a lot of success – as to how people are going to go in the draft,” Nets president Rod Thorn said. “After you get past [pick] four, it’s a really mixed up draft as to who is going to go where.
“Most people feel there’s not a whole bunch of difference in a lot of guys. So it depends on your needs, it depends on – everybody views players a little bit differently – how you view certain players, because talent-wise there’s a bunch of guys that there’s not much difference in,” Thorn added.
Expect trades, but any dealing the Nets do will be to go down or out, not up, Thorn said. The Nets, who last year picked a prize, Yugoslavian Nenad Krstic, who stayed overseas to develop, have been approached about dealing their pick. There are always “ifs,” Thorn said. Teams want the pick “if” so-and-so is available.
The Nets devised a list of “four or five guys” they hope slip to No. 22 (they also have pick No. 51; good luck figuring that one). Thorn said a shooter is their first and foremost need, followed by a young point guard, then they’ll look big. But if a good big guy drops, they’ll re-arrange the wish list. “You can never have enough good big guys,” Thorn said.
In a perfect world, Georgia forward Jarvis Hayes slips to 22nd. In case you haven’t noticed, the world isn’t perfect. So the Nets will look at Croatian guard Zoran Planinic; forwards Zarko Cabarkapa and Aleksandar Pavlovic of Serbia/Montenegro; Turkey’s 6-11 center Zaur Pachulia; and Brazilian guard Leandro Barbosa. Then there are stateside products: UNLV point guard Marcus Banks, Duke swingman Dahntay Jones, Illinois forward Brian Cook, Xavier forward David West and Wake Forest forward Josh Howard. Plus, there’s at least one player the Nets have kept under wraps, much as they did with Krstic.
And don’t rule out a trade.
“If our players are there, we’ll stay. If they aren’t, we’ll look to trade the pick,” Thorn said.
* Thorn hopes to meet with Jason Kidd’s agent, Jeff Schwartz, possibly today. Schwartz has been talking with Kidd, presumably formulating a free agency plan. “We will have conversations as early as [today] to find out where we fit in that game plan. . . . You can have a conversation but can’t talk anything about contract,” said Thorn, who expressed confidence the Nets will keep Kidd.
Mike O’Koren officially was named Eddie Jordan’s top assistant in Washington yesterday, receiving a multi-year deal. Tom Young, who coached Jordan at Rutgers, also was selected. Larry Drew stays from Doug Collins’ staff. Thorn described O’Koren as “terrific, part of the fabric here for 22-23 years, he has been with the Nets in some capacity or other. You will never find a more loyal individual than Mike.” . . . Names being mentioned for the Nets’ assistants jobs: Brian Hill, Sidney Lowe, Jimmy Boylan, Johnny Newman, Michael Cooper.
