The Brooklyn Nets put a cap on their 2016-17 season with a press conference, breaking down the season and looking toward a crucial draft and free agent period.
Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks, alongside head coach Kenny Atkinson, addressed the media Monday at their end-of-season press conference.
Despite notching 60 losses for a second straight season and finishing a NBA-worst 20-62, there is optimism around Brooklyn, as the aura around the team has drastically changed compared to the previous regime.
In the nearly 30-minute question-and-answer session with the media, the key takeaway was one centered around patience and positivity.
There's no doubt the Nets are behind many NBA teams with respect to assets (most notably, an unprotected 2018 first-round pick headed to the Boston Celtics as the final piece in the 2013 trade), but the vibe around the team is much different, one that has the club leaps and bounds ahead of many others in the NBA.
"The things that people don't see every day in practice, behind closed doors when you walk out onto the practice court and guys are encouraged to be here and love being here. You would've never thought they'd only won 9 games, or 14 games… He had guys playing hard and enjoying what they were doing," Marks said when speaking of Atkinson's job as head coach this year.
When dissecting not only Atkinson's job, but that of the entire coaching staff, Marks continued to praise the little things when it came to their evolving relationship with the players.
"The staff did a terrific job of keeping the camaraderie up and so forth. And that's not easy to do especially when you're coaching them hard, too. One of the things that really stood out to me about Kenny and his staff was their love for the players. They're allowed to put their arm around them and support them, but at the same time hold them accountable."
Marks continued to praise Atkinson's tough task in his rookie campaign as head coach, but noticed how closely Atkinson can go from being a supportive coach that all the players love to one that's ready to challenge them in a hard practice.
Despite some obvious holes on the roster, Marks and Atkinson established a newly found sense of optimism around the team, one that has a clear vision of where the franchise is headed, and the steps it'll take to get them there.
When speaking about his approach now that the season has concluded, Marks emphasized the notion of not expecting them to dish out big money to free agents they don't think will move the needle win-wise.
"You don't want to go and sign free agents and next thing you know your payroll is capped out and you're a 25-win team. So, we're going to have to build this strategically, have patience with it. We'll look at everything that suits the current roster and the rosters for 2018 and 2019 and so forth. So, we're going to have a big-picture view on this looking down the road."
But, the head coach and general manager are on the same page when it comes to filling the roster with high-upside players, creating a balance that will allow vets to, once again, instill the mindset of hard-work and dedication to the growing Nets culture.
"I know we have big strides to make, and 20 wins isn't good enough. But, I do think we are going to reap the benefits of going through this struggle," Atkinson said when looking toward building on this season's rough January and February stretch, where at one point, the team had lost 16 in a row.
Marks said building is still the top priority.
"Where we stand, it'd be silly for us to say we're only going to go after one particular player or one particular position. None of us are happy – and that includes our players – winning 20 games,'' Marks said. "We've got to continue to build, get the right caliber players to fit into this group and be strategic along the way."
Both Atkinson, Marks and their respective staffs will make the trip to Moscow to meet with Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov to go through the plan in place and give him an update on some potential draft and free agent targets.
With everything coming together, the Nets will have some key decisions to make. But, none of them will divert from the plan: to go about building this team systematically and patiently.
"The objective for us is to be in the playoffs. When that comes, we'll see," Marks concluded.
Despite the Nets being linked to some high-priced restricted free agents Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Otto Porter Jr., Marks must be confident their play, in isolation, will be enough to move the team into the playoff conversation.
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