One guy admits he has a chip on his shoulder which is as big as the second guy’s overseas contractual obligation which is as big as the third guy’s rebounding numbers.
But the Nets still love their draft yield. When you go into a draft and your picks are a late first (27) and a second (36), but you come away with the country’s second-leading Division 1 scorer, MarShon Brooks, a Euroleague star who scored 17 against Team USA in the World Championships, Bojan Bogdanovic, and the nation’s third best Division 1 rebounder, Jordan Williams, you have to feel pretty good.
“For us to get Bojan, to get MarShon and to get Jordan is pretty special because I think they all can provide something we’re trying to build here,” said Nets general manager Billy King.
Brooks was grabbed at No. 25 by the Celtics for the Nets, who handed over their 27th pick and a 2014 second rounder. Brooks had been projected to go higher by a lot of folks, himself included.
“During the draft process I played really well. Let’s just say that,” said Brooks, a 24.6 point scorer as a senior at Providence (only Jimmer Fredette was higher) who described himself as “a scorer that can shoot” and though “shooting definitely is not my strength, I get to the rim a little better than most shooting guards.”
So lasting to 25 was “disappointing.”
“I feel like I still have a lot to prove,” Brooks said. “I have a chip on my shoulder definitely. I’ve always been an underdog so I’m used to it.”
The 31st pick, Bogdanovic, a 6-foot-8 Croatian selected by Minnesota and promptly obtained by the Nets, will have to wait to contribute.
“Bojan is under contract for three years. He does have an out after two. As an organization we’re going to try and push that out after one,” King said.
“My forte, as they say in English, is to score points,” Bogdanovic said while noting, “I do well shooting [and] I can drive the ball.”
Then there is Williams, who would be the 14th Williams on a Nets roster (Aaron, Buck, Deron, Earl, Eric, Jayson, Kevin, Marcus, Ray, Reggie, Sean, Shawne, and Terrence). He averaged 11.8 rebounds for Maryland.
“To me, rebounding is more so how much you want it, more so than having a set skill or how to do it,” Williams said. “It’s just going after every rebound. . . . You can teach techniques and how to move but in my definition, it’s that you’ve got to want to go after it every possession.”
*
Sergey Kushchenko, one of the most trusted advisers to Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, and now a member of the team’s Board of Governors, through an interpreter, discussed his role. He directed Prokhorov’s championship CSKA Moscow team.
“Obviously, the most important strategy for any club is to win a title, so I’ll use my expertise on the subject. I’ll also be sitting on the board and be part of any of the major decisions that will take place,” Kushchenko said.
*
Brooks and Williams will head to the Santa Barbara, Calif., facility where Deron Williams recently helped organize all Nets under contract through some training workouts