The road that led the Brooklyn Nets to the implosion of the Big Three of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden traces all the way back to the last “superstar era” nearly 10 years prior. Back in 2013, the Nets who had recently arrived in Brooklyn, pushed all their chips to the center of the table acquiring Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry from the Boston Celtics.
The move joined the future Hall of Famers with stars like Deron Williams and Joe Johnson, while other moves were made to get supporting players like Gerald Wallace. As a result, the Nets had mortgaged their future trading away nearly all of their draft assets for a very long time en route to becoming one of the oldest teams in the league.
Unlike the most recent incarnation of a star-studded Nets team, age and injuries caught up with the team quickly, and it all came crashing down. The Big Three also came crashing down before it could really take off, though instead of injuries it was headstrong personalities that proved to be their undoing.
Whatever the case, in the Nets’ quest to build a title contender they once again mortgaged their future with first-round picks flying out to land another star like James Harden, but also role players like Royce O’Neale. Once again, the Nets had one of the oldest rosters in the league and no assets to bring in youth.
When the stars started defecting from Brooklyn, what was brought back were not young players just getting started. Instead, players like Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson were brought back who, while younger, were already in their mid-20s. That led to the directionless season we just watched in 2023-2024, as Brooklyn tried to thread the needle between rebuilding and contending.
Now Brooklyn has picked a direction deciding on a full-on rebuild. To do that, a youth movement was needed and general manager Sean Marks has looked to acquiring young draft busts as a way of reloading young talent. Bringing in Ziaire Williams, Keon Johnson, and Killian Hayes may look on the surface to simply be bringing in roster filler for a tank, but there’s much more going on here beneath the surface.
The Nets have basically punted on the draft for the last 10 years
From 2014 to 2024, the Nets have only made six first-round picks that were not part of draft night trades. In more short term, they’ve only made three first-round picks in the last five seasons, including completely sitting out the 2022 and 2024 drafts.
Basically, as soon as the Nets had regained control of their own draft assets after the failed run they made acquiring Pierce and Garnett, they went all-in again around Durant, Irving, and Harden yet again mortgaging their future.
The additions of Williams, Johnson, and Hayes give them three more players on the roster who are 23 or under, which is crucial for a rebuilding team. Not only that, while these players have not lived up to expectations so far in their young NBA careers they have the draft pedigree and underlying talent to still hold potential. As a rebuilding team, the Nets can afford to give them the time to see if they can turn around their careers and live up to that potential.
Player development is not always linear
Fans are not always patient, and often expect rookies to make an immediate impact. More than that, they also usually expect to see steady growth from one year to the next when evaluating a young player. Player development though is a lot more complex than that, and sometimes patience and a change of scenery are required.
For a recent example, look to Lauri Markkanen of the Utah Jazz, who just signed a whopping five-year $238 million extension. Markkanen was always a solid player since being drafted seventh overall in 2017. Through his first five seasons with the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers averaged 15.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, solid numbers for a complementary player but not the kind of performance that earns a contract north of $200 million. With the Jazz he blossomed, averaging 24.5 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. His game didn’t take off until his age-25 season.
Sometimes players completely re-invent themselves. Such is the case of former Net Brook Lopez. During his time with the Nets, Lopez on the offensive end was an old school, plodding, back to the basket center. As his career progressed, players like him were a dying breed. The game evolved, was played at a faster pace, and prioritized spacing and three-point shooting above and beyond what Lopez provided.
In his last season with the Nets, at the age of 28 and after 8 seasons in the NBA, Lopez started shooting threes. He went from a career-high average in a single season of 0.2 attempts per game from beyond the arc, to a whopping 5.2 threes per game of which he connected 34.6% of the time. Now a 16-year veteran, Lopez has become one of the best three-point-shooting centers in the league, while also becoming a prolific defensive player. On the verge of NBA extinction, he is the poster child for evolving with the times.
As for the trio of young draft busts that the Nets recently added, just because they haven’t had success elsewhere doesn’t mean that they have lost the potential that once made them highly touted draft picks. This leads to the next point…
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New scenery, new expectations
Williams, Johnson, and Hayes were drafted with the expectation that they would be key cogs of their team’s moving forward. While they might not all of have been viewed as future faces of the franchise, the hope was that they would be key contributors on teams that were either rebuilding or ascending.
However, Brooklyn doesn’t have the same level of investment. They didn’t draft these players with first-round picks. In the case of Hayes, they haven’t even guaranteed them a roster spot. Instead, they’re simply looking to them to provide NBA-caliber rotation minutes, or at minimum, keep a roster spot warm until they can find a better option.
Without the pressure of developing into key starters, these young players can lean into their strengths and carve out roles that are still important in the NBA. Make no mistake, while stars make the league turn no one wins anything without guys who are willing and able to do the dirty work, and roles like defensive stopper on the perimeter, distributor, shooter, etc are crucial to support stars in a quest for a championship.
With the Nets’ minimal level of investment; a two-year low-money deal with an option for Keon Johnson, Ziaire Williams playing out his last year before hitting restricted free agency, and Killian Hayes on an Exhibit 10 deal, the Nets have next to no commitment to these young players to the point where there is almost only upside.
All three players have valuable skills, and the same weakness, in the modern NBA
We’ve done a deep dive into what each of these players brings to the table, but in broad strokes, there are a lot of baseline skills that have value in the modern NBA. Ziaire Williams, as a 6’9″ forward, has the length to be an impact defender and the ballhandling to be a versatile offensive player.
Keon Johnson has the explosiveness and tenacity to get to the rim and make plays. While Killian Hayes has great size and length for a point guard capable of being an exceptional point-of-attack defender while displaying great court vision to set the table for the offensive end.
Williams’ secondary ballhandling and defensive potential, Johnson’s ability to get to the paint and create opportunities for himself and others, and Hayes’ ability to defend on the perimeter and set the table on the offensive end all are key skills in the modern NBA. All three players have the same question mark though; can they shoot?
So far in their young careers the answer has been no. All three have consistently struggled with outside shooting, but that doesn’t mean they’re lost causes. Instead, new coaching voices, new offensive systems, and better fits with the teammates around them could help them improve. If they can hit open outside shots at just average rates they’ll end up being net positives on the court.
It’s not hard to squint and see Williams as a 3-and-D wing who can attack closeouts, Johnson as an offensive spark plug off the bench, and Hayes as a defensive-minded floor general who can hit an open three should the ball come back around to him. These may not be the roles they were drafted to fill, but they are all roles that have value in the NBA.
Brooklyn just needs one of the three to hit and become a solid role player for this strategy to pay off. Anything more than that is icing on the cake. Anything less, and there’s no real loss. In a season where the sole goal is player development, having as many young players to develop within a professional NBA structure on both ends of the floor is ideal, and that’s what the Nets have accomplished with this “draft bust” strategy.