The Brooklyn Nets made history Wednesday night at the NBA Draft, and they also made a statement that they would execute their plan no matter what.
The Nets used all five of their first-round picks, becoming the first team in league history to make five selections in the opening round. Speculation was that the Nets would package a few picks together in a trade, but Sean Marks knew what he wanted, and he made a point to get it.
Not only did Marks and Brooklyn keep all their picks but four of the five players selected are guards, including three-point guards.
Brooklyn had picks 8, 19, 22, 26 and 27 and used all of them, in the process Marks told his fanbase that the Nets were in an unquestioned rebuilding phase, but few could question him after seeing the youngest team in the league, in OKC, lift the Finals trophy just days ago.
The Nets started it all by taking Egor Demin, a 6-foot-9 floor passer from Russia. The BYU product has the type of distribution game that can translate immediately to the NBA. Brooklyn then took another point guard in 6-5 Nolan Traore from France. Both foreign born players were thought to go later in the first by most experts, showing that Marks was going to get his guys and execute his plan no matter what.
Next up was North Carolina's Drake Powell before Brooklyn took Israeli point guard Ben Saraf and finished it off with Michigan's Danny Wolf, who some think fell much too far in the first.
D'Angelo Russell is set to hit free agency, and the team has essentially told these rookies it's an open tryout to be the floor general next season.