One by one, stretch power forwards moved around the league like a game of musical chairs.
As of this writing, the Nets have been the team left without a chair.
No Woj bombs have hit Brooklyn. No Shams wows.
Kristaps Porzingis (Knicks to Mavericks), Tobias Harris (Clippers to Sixers), Wilson Chandler (Sixers to Clippers), Thon Maker (Bucks to Pistons), Ryan Anderson (Suns to Heat), Harrison Barnes (Mavericks to Kings). Zach Randolph (Kings to Mavericks), Otto Porter Jr. (Wizards to Bulls), Markieff Morris (Wizards to Clippers), and Bobby Portis and Jabari Parker (both Bulls to Wizards) have all moved. All but Porzingis have been dealt in the last 24 hours.
The list above ran the gamut from stars to fringe players, injured to healthy, and bargains to “are you kidding me with that contract?”
Somehow, the one team that should have been the most desperate to acquire a player with those skill sets was absent from the deal-making.
The Nets have been going to war with a power forward rotation of Treveon Graham and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, two players with significant flaws. Jared Dudley, who has been out with a hamstring injury since January 9, is also not an acceptable solution at the position.
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Maybe Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks is waiting teams out, hoping that as the clock nears 3pm on Thursday, those potential trading partners will become desperate enough to clear cap space that the cost for Marks’ target drops. Or, maybe he’s waiting on the buyout market post trade deadline.
So far, the Nets have managed to hold on to their sixth-place seed in the Eastern Conference playoff race despite this glaring inadequacy. However, I remain convinced that their lead will not hold through the coming grueling stretch in their schedule unless Marks springs into action.
It’s not about “skipping steps,” the latest spin emanating into social media about Brooklyn’s desire to avoid the catastrophic quick-fix mistakes made by Marks’ predecessor. The players Marks should be targeting (i.e. New Orleans’ Nikola Mirotic, Memphis’ JaMychal Green, maybe Portis) would not impede Brooklyn’s summer free agency plans as they are all on expiring contracts. The trade cost would likely include a draft pick, of which the Nets will have three this June. That’s hardly going all in.
Don’t be fooled by Brooklyn’s performance in Wednesday’s shocking 135-130 victory over Western Conference power Denver at Barclays Center. Maybe Graham and Hollis-Jefferson could read the NBA calendar, knowing that another lackluster evening could have put additional pressure on their boss to find suitable replacements in the trade market.
The duo had combined to shoot 51-for-137 (37.2 percent) from the floor, including 11-for-47 (23.4 percent) from three-point range, in the 12 games since Dudley went down.
Against the Nuggets, Graham and Hollis-Jefferson combined to score 31 points (though Hollis-Jefferson was playing center when he threw down the game-clinching dunk with 25 seconds remaining) on 12-for-19 (63.2 percent) from the floor. Graham even knocked down four-of-six three-pointers, which was crucial in forcing Nuggets big man Mason Plumlee out of the paint.
“We’ve seen (Graham) do it all summer,” Nets All-Star point guard D’Angelo Russell said of Graham’s three-point shooting. “For him to come back from injury (Graham has missed 38 games this season, mostly due to a torn hamstring) and have that confidence as soon as he’s having it, it’s special. I think he can build off of it.”
Nets coach Kenny Atkinson absolutely adores Graham for his defensive tenacity. Though listed at just six-foot five, 225 pounds, Graham used every ounce of his effort to limit Nuggets star Nikola Jokic’s touches. Yes, Jokic finished with a triple-double, but 14 of his 25 points came in the fourth quarter when the Nets got a little loose defensively with a 21-point lead.
However, it’s tough to keep someone shooting 33/26/78 in your starting lineup, no matter how hard Graham defends. When you watched the Bucks hold the Nets to 32 percent shooting (including 12 percent on 42 three-point attempts) on Monday, you could see how they were able to keep an extra defender in the paint to ward off the Nets’ drives. It was like the Nets were playing four-on-five on offense.
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It’s even worse with the lankier Hollis-Jefferson on the court, because he not only shoots poorly (21.4 percent) from long distance, he was the second-worst finisher at the rim in the league (49.7 percent) behind Indiana’s Tyreke Evans going into Wednesday’s game, per NBA.com.
Before facing the Nuggets, Atkinson was asked if he spoke with Marks about needing more front-court shooting. “We talk all the time about the roster in general,” Atkinson said. “I don’t send him like a Christmas wish list. Like, ‘Here, Sean. Here’s all the things I want.’ It doesn’t happen like that.”
Only a Grinch would prevent it from happening at all.