NetsDaily Off-Season Report: No. 5

Every weekend, we’ll be updating the Nets’ off-season with bits and pieces of information, gossip, etc. to help fans get ready for … whatever.

Quite the week. The Brooklyn Nets dropped two slots in the Draft Lottery, from sixth to eighth, no doubt shifting the team’s off-season thinking while reinvigorating the fan debate over how much tanking should the Nets have done.

Of course, the lottery isn’t the draft nor the rebuild. It’s ALL the picks and their development plus ALL that cap space that matters now, the end of Season One of a multi-year rebuild. it’s possible they could make a short-term move up, which is rare because it is difficult, so that seems unlikely.

You have to hope that the skills of the scouting staff which has had a good record with low picks, plus the sheer quantify of picks — at Nos. 8, 19, 26, 27 and 36 — lessen the significance of the drop. As we said this week, the lottery is the last piece of the off-season determined mostly by luck. Now, it’s about skill.

In the Draft, things appear stable with the top two picks foreordained with Duke’s Cooper Flagg headed to Dallas and Rutgers Dylan Harper likely to land in San Antonio. There’s a little bit of debate at No. 3 … whether the 76ers keep it or not. Will it be Ace Bailey, Harper’s Scarlet Knight teammate, or V.J. Edgecombe, the athletic freak from Baylor. Some mocks think Nets fan favorites — Khaman Maluach and Jeremiah Fears — could slip into the next group along with Tre Johnson of Texas, Kon Knueppel of Texas and Derik Queen of Maryland. That gets you to No. 9.

Assuming the draft goes according to draftniks’ projections, the Nets could be left with a choice among Kasparas Jakucionis, the Illinois point guard, Noa Essengeue, the young French big, Asa Newell, the equally sized Georgia PF, Michigan State shooter Jase Richardson or if you dig really deep, BYU’s Russian point guard Egor Demin.

Ultimately, it is a mid-lottery selection in a generational draft which is generally a good thing.

#GreekSeek

On the free agency front, we are left with another suggestive hint from Giannis Antetokounmpo…

The comment by Giannis should not be surprising. I mean, it is NEW YORK CITY! Also, as Brian Lewis has written, The Greek Freak has investment in the city and works with Greek businessmen located here as well.

Also, we will probably see more rumors this week with various reports that Antetokounmpo is meeting with Bucks officials this week to discuss his future. The general consensus is that if the 30-year-old wants out of Milwaukee and has a list of preferred destination(s), the Bucks will, out of loyalty and good will, try their best to move him no matter how unlikely if would seem now.

But a tweeted hint like Sunday morning’s shouldn’t been anything definitive and of course there are two teams in New York, one of which is having its best season in 25 years.

Indeed, we are reminded of a 2008 pre-Olympics event at Rockefeller Center where Team USA was introduced and shot around a makeshift court inside the skating rink. LeBron James was asked to name his favorite city. When he said, “New York,” the follow-up question was, which borough? “Brooklyn,” he responded with a smile. The Nets at that point were still four years away from stepping foot in Barclays Center. It was very encouraging at the time.

How’d it work out?

Draft Sleeper of the Week

Of far in this segment, we’ve profiled Noa Essengue, Jeremiah Fears, Tre Johnson and Cooper Flagg (in a moment of unrequited love.)

This week, we’ll take a look at someone who’s been mocked between the Nets two top picks at Nos. 8 and 19: BYU’s Russian point guard Egor Demin. Demin had a good week at the NBA Combine, his measurements better than expected. The 19-year-old from Moscow grew a bit in the last year, coming in at close to 6’10” and 200 pounds. More importantly, he answered questions about his shooting prowess.

Givony has also said that he thinks Demin with a bit more weight could fill the role of a point forward down the line.

Matt Babcock of Yahoo! Sports had this to say about what he proved this past week at the Combine and an agent’s day workout where the player’s agent invites interested scouts and executive to watch him.

Scouts always loved his passing. What they questioned was his shot. That question is being answered — loudly — in front of executives from every NBA team. He’s knocking down shots consistently. You pair that with his vision and frame? That’s a starting NBA point guard.

There remain questions about his defense and foot speed but his passing and vision are, as has seen in these highlights, top level.

One other note. Demin has been mentored by Andrei Kirilenko, the former Net who is said to be a big fan. AK-47 like Demin is a product of the Russian basketball system. And like Demin, Kirilenko has a lot of love for Utah.

Coaching news

The Nets like any team sees change every year in the assistant coaching ranks. It’s near certain. Brooklyn didn’t win a lot of games this season, but Jordi Fernandez did get his kudos for taking a marginal roster and getting the most out of it. So it’s not surprising that his staff will get looks when head coaching jobs open up.

That’s what happening with Steve Hetzel, Fernandez’s No. 2 and a veteran NBA assistant Steve Hetzel. Per Marc Stein of The Steinline, Hetzel is on the short list for the Phoenix Suns who has gone through three head coaches since Mat Ishbia took over in 2023.

Among the candidates believed to have progressed in consideration for the post include one assistant coach still working in these playoffs (Minnesota’s Micah Nori), several assistants from eliminated teams (Brooklyn’s Steve Hetzel, Cleveland’s Johnnie Bryant and Jordan Ott, Dallas’ Sean Sweeney and New Orleans’ James Borrego) and one holdover from Budenholzer’s staff (two-time former NBA head coach David Fizdale) who could well be asked to stay on as part of a new coach’s bench.

Okay, not that short, but as Stein notes, Hetzel among those who “have progressed in consideration.” Hetzel has had stints in the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, Charlotte Hornets and Portland Trail Blazers organizations, where he was an assistant coach on the staff for the three seasons (2021-24). before joining Brooklyn.

Both Hetzel and Ishbia are graduates of Michigan State and acolytes of it’s legendary basketball coach Tim Izzo, Hetzel as a student manager. Ishbia as a bench player for the 2000 national champs.

Meanwhile, Eurohoops interviewed Kyle Hines, the New Jersey-born European superstar who joined Brooklyn this season as a development coach. He won two EuroLeague championships (2012 and 2013) with Olympiacos of Greece, then another two with CSKA Moscow (2016 and 2019). Hines also won the EuroLeague Best Defender award three times, in 2016, 2018 and 2022 and he was named to the EuroLeague 2010–20 All-Decade Team.

“It was an amazing experience,” Hines of Sicklerville, N.J. told Antonis Stroggylakis, recalling his first year in a coaching capacity after 17 years as a player. “First of all going to a great organization filled with a lot of amazing people. I couldn’t think of a better place.”

Hines said the experience was heightened because of Jordi Fernandez’s European background. It was Fernandez who hired Hines after he retired at the end of the 2023-24 season.

“I’m just thankful for the opportunity to work with (Fernandez) every single day,” said Hines. “I learned so much from him. I think me and him have had the commonality of European basketball. both being part of European basketball, the love of European basketball, the love of basketball in general. So being able to watch games with him, Euroleague basketball, Eurocup basketball, talk about his experiences, he journey as a coach, definitely a great experience for me. He’s a very special and unique coach.”

Final Note

These are trying times for Brooklyn Nets fans and the loss of two slots in the Lottery when most fans expected (!) them to come away with a top four pick. It’s also unlikely to get better soon. Next season looks like it could be an even deeper tank, no matter how you describe it. Of course, there is also no guarantee, whatsoever, that things will work in the year after that or the year after that. The Nets seem to have gathered all the tools necessary to unlock the puzzle, sure, but as we learned once before, things can go wrong for reasons no one predicted.

So, all that said, to help you through the summer, we offer the full New York Liberty ceremony celebrating their WNBA championship.

Enjoy and think how cool it would be if the rings and banners would be in black-and-white instead of seafoam-and-black.