After two arduous years of tanking, Nets fans want to know whether their team is going to flip the switch and accelerate their rebuild — and if so, when.
GM Sean Marks’ answer was as evasive as expected.
“It depends a little on what becomes available. You just never know,” said Marks. “We’ve put this Nets team and franchise in a place to be able to be opportunistic. Does that fit our timeline? Does this particular trade work for us right now?
“You can always add talent, but does that talent fit our approach and for the development of these young guys, fit in with the group we have? So, those are discussions I look forward to having with Jordi [Fernández] and the rest of the coaching staff, front office, mostly Joe [Tsai] — when we want to add and how we want to add.”
That was in line with The Post’s reporting that Brooklyn’s timeline would partly hinge on whether a star shook loose after the playoffs.
Michael Porter Jr. had a career year, but tailed off to shoot just 40.9 percent — and 25.6 from deep — in his final 14 games.
“Once All-Star break happened and I realized I wasn’t an All-Star, I had a little slippage in my focus, a little slippage in my preparation,” said Porter. “And that can’t happen regardless of what’s going on with the team and the team record.”
Fernández spoke on the emotional strain of a losing season.
“You don’t know how you’re going to deal with your emotions until you have to go through it,” said Fernández. “I remember getting the job and some people were like ‘Oh, it’s going to be hard. It’s not going to be easy’. I always have a positive mindset; I’m like ‘Oh, no, we’ll be OK’. [But] it’s really hard because you want to go out there and win.”
Noah Clowney averaged career highs of 12.3 points and 4.1 rebounds, and showed a knack for getting to the line. But he didn’t make the strides he’d hoped for defensively.
“I progressed this year, maybe not as much as I wanted to, which I thought I would have,” said Clowney. “But I got better at some different things, and I got more experience. So I’m gonna take that for what it is.
“I got a lot better at getting to the rim. [My handle] can get a lot better, and that would prevent my turnovers…Defensively, it’s just always been consistency. I can do it at times, and other times I just don’t..”
As impressive as Josh Minott was after arriving at the trade deadline, he was playing hurt from his earlier season ankle sprain.
“I look forward to seeing him healthy,” said Marks. “He was playing on one leg with us for most of the time here, so it is nice to get that ankle taken care of and then again have another big summer for a young man like that..”
