Credit Sean Marks. Leading up to last season, the Brooklyn Nets' GM had built up a substantial reputation for making savvy deals and landing absolute underrated bargains. He was essentially the NBA's version of a real estate flipper: sure, the house looks ugly, but you know that Sean Marks would be able to give it a TV-worthy makeover if he deemed the guts worthy.
D'Angelo Russell. Spencer Dinwiddie. Joe Harris. Jarrett Allen. Caris LeVert. All incredible testament to the Brooklyn Nets' superpowered scouting. And all but Harris and Dinwiddie are gone.
Because, starting in 2019-2020, Sean Marks went full Hyper Beam. Capitalizing on the Nets' rejuvenated reputation and newfound respect around the league, Sean Marks leveraged the team's new position in a controversial move, managing to nab not just Kyrie Irving, but Kevin Durant.
A year and some change later, the Nets are now closing in on the number one seed in the East with a lineup featuring Durant, Irving, James Harden, and the semi-resurrected cadavers of Deandre Jordan and Blake Griffin. Lob City walks once more.
Since Marks' move to snag Durant and Irving, most of his acquisitions and trades have been met by skepticism by both fans and the league at large, who probably still suffer from Ainge-related PTSD from the last time Brooklyn tried to build a super team.
However, Marks' savvy has yet to fail, and Brooklyn is now poised to bring home the team's first-ever NBA championship. And with Joe Harris enjoying yet another career year with all the space provided by the greatest scoring trio of all time, Spencer Dinwiddie is most likely the next to go in Marks' aggressive acquisition plan to ensure that this year's title comes to Brooklyn.
Here are the trades to make that happen:
Trade 1:
Brooklyn Nets receive: Brandon Clarke, Justise Winslow
Memphis Grizzlies receive: Spencer Dinwiddie, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, ATL 2021 2nd Rd Pick
If you've never watched Grizzlies basketball, you're about to learn one key thing about them: they have arguably the best young core in the NBA.
Ja Morant, talented as he is, is just the tip of the iceberg in Memphis. Every single youngster on the Grizzlies is smart, rock talented, and hungry. They all come with chips on their shoulder after being underrated.
After all, who'd ever heard of Brandon Clarke or Jaren Jackson Jr. after they got drafted? What ever happened to Justise Winslow, Tyus Jones, and Grayson Allen, three of the toughest Blue Devils of the past decade?
And look at Ja! He probably plays with a chip feeling snubbed in Zion Williamson's thicc shadow.
Smart and hungry. Exactly what the Brooklyn Nets need.
Brandon Clarke and Justise Winslow are essentially longer versions of Bruce Brown. Basically, think about how much bigger Bruce Brown plays than his actual size, and then stretch him out to actually be said size. That's what Clarke and Winslow bring to the size-hungry Nets.
Neither are great shooters by any stretch of the imagination (19% and 33% from three for Winslow and Clarke, respectively), let's not pretend that these Nets will care about missing points. They are already on pace to be the best offense in NBA history, and that's with TLC performing and Dinwiddie simply absent.
And aside from shooting, both Winslow and Clarke do another key thing on offense that Marks has been hunting for: giving the Nets more rim runners. Deandre is still fine at rolling hard to the hoop, but Winslow and Clarke are athletic, bouncy, and huge for their heights (Clarke is long, Winslow thick).
And even better, they offer amazing value and switchability on defense, with both players able to essentially cover four positions at any given time, with possible meaningful usage for Clarke at the five in small ball situations.
The Grizzlies get a tutor and legitimate floor general to polish Morant's game while still being able to play off ball and run the offense in the second unit while Morant rests. And while he is wildly streaky, TLC adds shooting and length that the Grizzlies desperately need.
Trade 2:
Brooklyn Nets receive: Brook Lopez
Milwaukee Bucks receive: Spencer Dinwiddie
Bring BROOKlyn back.
Oh, how Nets fans miss Brook Lopez. As the Nets' all-time points leader, Lopez was the only true guiding light of hope for Brooklyn during its first, darkest years in the Barclays Center.
Sure, he's much older and less athletic than he was back in Brooklyn, but Lopez's game has aged accordingly, like the finest of wines. Rather than relying on his physicality and impeccable footwork in the post, Lopez has found somewhat of a career renaissance in Milwaukee as the ultimate, and most unique, three-and-D player: a towering, shot-blocking three-point sniper.
Like it or not, Milwaukee is in desperate need of some shot making outside of Khris Middleton. Jrue Holiday has not been living up to his hype or contract on the offensive end of the court, and Giannis provides more than enough defense and rim protection for Milwaukee to not need Lopez on that end as much.
And for any naysayers to this trade on Milwaukee's end for this year? Shut your traps. You know damn well that Milwaukee is not getting past Brooklyn, or Philly, or possibly even Boston and Miami to even meet the Lakers/Clippers/Jazz/Suns in the NBA Finals. At least, not as presently constructed. Giannis is locked in for a few more years, and teams are now wise to his tricks on offense, spacing be damned. Milwaukee will gladly take a primary playmaker who averaged 20 and 6 before his injury, and who looks close to, if not already at, 100%.
And on Brooklyn's side of this deal, sure it forces them to let go of an integral part of their collective soul and ages their roster up quite a bit. But it gives them back another piece of their soul, and one of the most heartwarming stories coming into this year's NBA Finals. Everyone loves a comeback story. Especially one that's a sweet shooting, seven-foot tall shot blocker.
Trade 3:
Brooklyn Nets receive: Chris Boucher, Aron Baynes
Toronto Raptors receive: Spencer Dinwiddie
You'll notice a theme in these trades: Brooklyn has one weakness, and that is the team's defense.
Granted, Brooklyn has only lost once over the past 11 games, and the current hot streak has been defined by Brooklyn finally deciding to play a little defense.
However, ‘improved' is a strong word for a team that is only managing to struggle to mediocrity. James Harden, of all people, has managed to spearhead a team defense that currently puts Brooklyn squarely in the middle of the pack defensively over the past 11 games, and the Nets are nigh unbeatable if their defense is only passable.
However, the team gets into way too many dogfights in the fourth quarter for comfort. And improvement on that front still lies in Brooklyn's rebounding and defense, primarily at the rim.
That theme continues here: in Chris Boucher and Aron Baynes, Brooklyn gets two big bodies to bang with giants like Giannis and Embiid in the paint come playoff time, with Boucher profiling as a younger and more athletic version of the current iteration of Brook Lopez. In return, Brooklyn gives Toronto an heir to Kyle Lowry once he leaves and another preeminent perimeter playmaker.
Now, to finish, it should be said that the Nets would be sorry to see Dinwiddie leave. But they are in win now mode. And they'd better capitalize if they are to indeed, win now.
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