Nets general manager Billy King has earned his reputation over the years for being willing and able to make draft night trades. Now, as the Nets go into Thursday night’s draft at Barclays Center, the question is: Will King be able to pull it off again?
“You look and see the player you can potentially get,” King said earlier this week. “Normally, if you’re moving up, you’re looking for a certain guy. So you’ll tell a team, ‘We’ll trade that pick if our guy is there.’ Really, that’s the scouts. They’ll say, ‘That’s a value pick. That will help us.’
“For example, when San Antonio traded George Hill to go get Kawhi Leonard, they felt they needed to get him. If we do it, it’s going to be that we know it’s a better fit for us than what we’re giving up.”
There’s little doubt the Nets are interested in moving up from their No. 29 selection – the result of a pick swap with the Hawks from the trade that brought Joe Johnson to the Nets in 2012 – to get one of the mid-first-round point guard prospects: Cameron Payne, Jerian Grant and Delon Wright.
That would fall in line with coach Lionel Hollins saying after the Nets’ first-round playoff elimination that the team needed to get quicker and more athletic at point guard. Deron Williams, the incumbent who has two years remaining on a rich five-year contract, struggled badly at times during that series loss to the Hawks.
The Nets have dangled Mason Plumlee in trade talks.
“I think we’ve been very aggressive in the past,” King said. “The way I like to have my scouts prepare is we know who we’ll pick so come draft time it’s pretty systematic. We know who we’re going to take, so we’re constantly trying to move up or buy picks to try to attack talent we’ve targeted.”
If the Nets are unable to move up, they still could try to find a guard, with Louisville’s Terry Rozier being one option. Or they could opt for more of a long-term upside play with someone such as Syracuse’s Chris McCullough, who tore his ACL back in January, or Spain’s Guillermo Hernangomez, a likely draft-and-stash option.
In all likelihood the Nets will buy another pick in the second round, in addition to the No. 41 selection they already own, at some point Thursday night.
The only thing that seems certain is King and the Nets will be busy. Just make their two picks and go home? Don’t count on it.
“Do I think we can move up? I don’t think so, but we still have to get in the process and find out,” King said. “There’s been a lot of conversations … the price to move up is high, but it tends to come down as you get closer to the draft.
“We’ve had a lot of discussions with people. … We’ll have [the prospects] ranked one through 60 and we’ll go from there.”
First-round prediction: Terry Rozier, PG/SG, Louisville
If the Nets can find a way to move up, they would love to get their hands on one of the mid-first-round point guards, to get some more quickness and athleticism at the position. But with it seeming unlikely they have the ammo, Rozier best fits that profile among the options left at No. 29.