Report: Nets are looking at 4 general manager candidates
The Nets are eyeing four potential general manager candidates whom they would like to bring in before the Feb. 18 trade deadling, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Those candidates include the previously reported former Suns and Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo, former Cavaliers and Hawks GM Danny Ferry, current Nuggets assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas and current Rockets executive VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas.
Here's more from Woj:
Karnisovas and Rosas fit the Nets' desire to have a more global scouting focus, something ownership believes was lacking under the previous regime. The Nets are severely limited in draft picks over the next several years, and will need to be creative in reshaping a floundering roster.
Karnisovas, a native of Lithuania, speaks several languages, including Russian, and has strong relationships with the members of owner Mikhail Prokhorov's extended sporting inner-circle. Karnisovas was a college star at Seton Hall University, and has polished a strong global basketball résumé that includes jobs in the NBA's league office, director of scouting with the Rockets' front office, and currently as assistant GM with the Nuggets. Karnisovas spent two years as USA Basketball's global basketball scout.
Ferry and Colangelo, of course, are the ones who bring more high-level experience. Each comes with questions, though.
Colangelo made more than one questionable trade when he was running the Raptors. Masai Ujiri had to save Toronto in a few ways when he took over as the GM who replaced Colangelo only a few years ago.
Ferry, meanwhile, comes with more questions about out-of-the-office issues than in-office ones. He was responsible for putting together that "starless" 60-win Hawks team from a season ago, finding hidden gems like DeMarre Carroll and Kent Bazemore while somehow reeling in Paul Millsap and other underrated performers for below-market contracts. But Ferry left Atlanta after comments he made about Luol Deng became public.
Ferry has been a quality general manager from a purely team-building standpoint, but Wojnarowski also mentions something a bit disconcerting: Part of the reason his name is in the picture is because former Nets GM Billy King—who hasn't technically been fired, only reassigned within the organization—"has support" for him. We already knew King would assist with the Nets' GM search, but it's still a bit uncertain exactly how much pull he has within the organization to date.
Rosas, meanwhile, would represent a change in organizational mentality to a degree. Bringing in an executive from the Rockets, possibly (probably?) the most statistically-minded organization in the NBA, would flip the mentality of one of the league's least numbers-oriented front offices. Who knows if Rosas would be Daryl Morey Jr. or Sam Hinkie 2.0—Hinkie was a Rockets executive before taking over in Philadelphia—but it's safe to assume he'd implement a more statistical culture than what's seeped through the Brooklyn front office during the last half decade.
