Brooklyn Nets: Grading their 2019 NBA Draft

Overall Grade: Pending

I get what the Nets are trying to do here. Trade first round picks to clear cap space for Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant to come in during Free Agency. But what if those players go elsewhere or stay put where they are now? At that point, this draft instantly becomes an “F” for Brooklyn.

This is a large gamble for the team and with a restless D’Angelo Russell that doesn’t know where his place is on the team. Russell could realize that the Nets were trying to virtually replace him with Irving after he gave so much to the city and he might choose to take his talents somewhere else that will appreciate him. It’s a huge gamble, if it fails, the Nets could end up with nobody that they wanted.

Even with the addition of Durant and Irving, I can’t in good conscience give the Nets an A for this draft until we see how these two, second rounders play in the NBA. Irving definitely has commitment issues when the team isn’t going the way he wants it to and Durant is one of the most uncertain players in the league right now.

A torn achilles injury is something that only Dominique Wilkins has been able to fully recover from and come back playing the same All-NBA form. I’m not saying that Durant is finished, but I need to see him play again to believe it.

That leaves lots of questions about Irving and the Brooklyn Nets.

• Who’s to say that Irving will want to play with all of these young players for a year without Durant if he signs?
• Didn’t Irving just go through that experiment of playing with younger, more inexperienced players in Boston, and imploded?
• Why would he want to go through that experience again because he literally couldn’t stand the same situation in 2018-19?

In theory, was a good night overall for Brooklyn. If they can pull all of their lofty plans off and land marquee free agents, on top of the young core they already have, then the 2019 Draft was a massive success. I’m not convinced yet, but we’ll just have to wait and see how it plays out.