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When the Brooklyn Nets hired Sean Marks to be their new general manager in February 2016, the direction they had in mind was clear: to try and become like the San Antonio Spurs.
Remember, Marks spent two seasons with the Spurs as a player and worked in their front office from 2012 up until accepting the Nets general manager job, so Marks knows a thing or two about Spurs culture.
Of course, Brooklyn didn't even bear a minor resemblance to San Antonio when Marks arrived.
In February 2016, the Nets were still in the midst of recovering from essentially getting mugged by Boston Celtics general manager Danny Ainge during the summer of 2013, when the Celtics traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to the Nets and received three unprotected first-round draft picks in return.
We all know how that worked out.
Pierce and Garnett quickly fizzled out in Brooklyn and Boston went on to draft Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum with the first two Nets picks while trading the third for Kyrie Irving.
Since then, the Nets have been floundering, unable to restock their roster with draft picks and not providing free agents with any reason to sign in Brooklyn.
But, this year, the Nets have shown some signs of life and are actually developing into a respectable team. Now, obviously, they are still light years away from being a contender and have a lot of work to do, but it seems that Marks' ideals are rubbing off on the franchise.
Let's be honest: building a Spurs-like culture is difficult, if not impossible. How San Antonio was able to keep Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili throughout that entire run that spanned a decade-and-a-half was just incredible and is something we will probably never see again. That being said, that does not mean teams should not attempt to emulate what the Spurs did.
It seems that the Nets are trying to do just that. While Duncan is certainly what made the Spurs great, San Antonio was also able to maintain contender status by constantly finding cheap, young talent and inserting those players into Gregg Popovich's system.
That is kind of what Brooklyn is doing right now.
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The Nets have been able to identify some affordable young pieces such as Jarrett Allen, Joe Harris, and Caris LeVert, guys who are not superstars, but who are talented in certain areas and can absolutely help a team win.
While Brooklyn is lacking a true star (sorry, D'Angelo Russell fans), they do have some nice complementary pieces, which is what all championship teams need.
This summer will be absolutely pivotal for the Nets, as they will have some cap space and some major decisions to make.
First and foremost, Russell is set to be a restricted free agent, meaning Brooklyn can match any offer. This will represent Marks' first truly big test as general manager, as it will show just how much he values his young point guard.
Here is the thing, though: while Russell's counting numbers look nice, his advanced statistics don't paint a pretty picture. While he is averaging over 20 points per game, he is not doing it efficiently, as he owns a true shooting percentage of just 53.4 percent and an effective field-goal percentage of 51.1 percent. We all know he is also a bad defender, and there isn't really any evidence that he is a positive force on the floor, as he owns a minus-0.8 net rating this season.
Fun fact: Russell has been a net negative in each of his first four seasons in the league, so it's not even like we can use the “small sample size” excuse.
If the Nets are truly trying to build a Spurs-like culture, they won't overpay Russell this summer. If another team offers him a max contract (and that may very well happen), Brooklyn will let him walk.
Trying to construct a certain culture is one thing; actually doing it is another.
Execution is key here. Of course, Marks deserves the benefit of the doubt at the moment because we don't really know just what type of front-office executive he is. Maybe he will be able to identify true value and will have a number in his mind when it comes to Russell. But, there is also the possibility that he simply does not want to lose his young guard and will match whatever offer any rival team makes.
Marks and the rest of the Nets' brass needs to exercise patience more than anything else here. There is no need to rush and try and catapult themselves into contention right away. Brooklyn would be much better off playing the long game, saving money, and accumulating assets that they can use later on down the road.
If the Nets are able to do that, then we can say they have achieved the type of culture they were aiming to build. If not, then Brooklyn might remain in irrelevancy.
