If you are a Nets fan — and face it, there are several dozen of you lurking out there — you generally cringe at the thought of the NBA Draft.
Zoran Planinic with a guarantee taken over Carlos Delfino, Kendrick Perkins and Leandro Barbosa in 2003. Antoine Wright in 2005 over Danny Granger. Sean Williams drafted in 2007 without any psychological evaluation. The disaster of 2006, when Marcus Williams was taken without having been interviewed, followed by Josh Boone, followed by Jordan Farmar and Paul Millsap, just to rub it in. Terrence Williams. Tamar Slay. Christian Drejer. Mile Ilic. Soumaila Samake. Yes, there was Brook Lopez in 2008, Kenyon Martin in 2000. Hey, blind squirrels find nuts.
So it’s understandable if you would prefer to rotate your tires or watch highlights of the Home Shopping Network’s salute to polyester tomorrow over the Newark-based NBA Draft.
But you can be encouraged. Samuel Dalembert drafted at 26 in 2001. Willie Green picked 41st, obtained via trade for cash and a guy even more non-descript than Ilic (Paccelis Morlende). Kyle Korver at 51 in that same draft, obtained from the Nets who were still basking in the glory of Planinic. Nazr Mohammed picked 30th in 1998. Thaddeus Young selected 12th in 2007. Speedy Claxton 20th in 2000 and Todd MacCulloch chosen 47th on the second round in 1999 — 13 picks after the Nets changed the balance of NBA power by choosing Evan Eschmeyer.
Those moves were presided over in Philadelphia by Billy King, now the Nets GM and the guy calling the shots tomorrow when the Nets draft at 27 and 36. Actually, King could draft a cardboard cutout and still be ahead after his acquisition of Deron Williams in what has to be regarded as the NBA’s best deal of the year.
What can they expect to find deep in the first round, assuming there is no trade — hard to do with King, a notorious dealer who devised draft-related deals in seven of his 11 drafts? Well, the guy they really like and would trade up for is USC center Nikola Vucevic, whose skill level has NBA types drooling. But King thinks he’ll find someone serviceable.
“It’ll be a pretty good player,” King said. “In my mind, there’s probably four guys I really like. I think one of the four will probably be there.”
King won’t give up names, but other players the Nets are said to like are Duke guard Nolan Smith, a winner if undersized; athletic Georgia Tech wing Iman Shumpert, whose stock has steadily risen; and Richmond perimeter power forward Justin Harper, who seems drawn to the Nets but has some questions about toughness. Purdue’s JuJuan Johnson, a first team All-America, and Andrew Goudelock, a scorer from the College of Charleston, are possible to consider at 36. Other names linked to the Nets are Kyle Singler of Duke and Chandler Parsons of Florida. And figure the Nets have to like someone named Williams.
Bet on it that whoever they grab will be someone they have interviewed and done a psychological test with so they don’t emerge with someone suited to portray Norman Bates.
“The mental makeup, for me, has always been important,” King said. “That, to me, is key. There’s psyche testing. The mental makeup is why we do the testing.”
So Nets backers might be a little relieved with King — although there are just as many Sixers fans who will point out that Andre Iguodala was taken at No. 9 in 2004 with two chaps named Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce going on the next two picks. And King’s foreign picks have suffered. He took Thabo Sefolosha 13th in 2006 — but promptly traded him for Rodney Carney. Oops.