The Brooklyn Nets have hired San Antonio Spurs executive Sean Marks as their new GM.
When it comes to struggling franchises in the NBA, the Brooklyn Nets are well and truly near the top of the list. They have the third-worst record in the league this season at 14-40 and they can’t even reap the benefits of their poor performance as the Boston Celtics have the rights to their 2016 first-round draft pick. The Nets are attempting to walk towards respectability, though, with the hiring of San Antonio Spurs executive Sean Marks to be their new general manager as the next step.
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports has reported that Marks has now agreed to a four-year deal:
"The Brooklyn Nets have hired San Antonio Spurs executive Sean Marks as the team’s general manager.The Nets and Marks agreed to a four-year contract, league sources told The Vertical.In discussions that extended to Wednesday night, the Nets significantly increased their contract offer to persuade Marks to accept the job, league sources said."
Coming from the Spurs, Marks will already have the pleasure and experience of working for the league’s top-class organization. The Spurs have been contenders for what feels like an eternity, they’ve maintained their championship-winning core for years and years, they have a legendary head coach in Gregg Popovich, and the iconic, quiet leader that is Tim Duncan.
Plus, they’ve pulled off some great roster changes, as they proved again this summer by signing LaMarcus Aldridge and David West — with the latter taking a minimum deal just so he could play in San Antonio.
Now that the Nets have acquired a Spurs executive like Marks to help turn around their franchise, maybe they can recover from some of the front office woes that have been around during Mikhail Prokhorov’s reign as team owner.
Quite a turnaround for the Nets. Excited to see how Sean does in the job. Good guy, super well-respected around the league.
— Zach Lowe (@ZachLowe_NBA) February 18, 2016
Nets obviously excited about new GM Sean Marks. They hope to model themselves after the Spurs. Smart move, but easier said than done
— Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) February 18, 2016
Essentially, Marks is coming from the ideal situation with the kind of respect, knowledge, and experience that Brooklyn needs. Obviously, he can’t turn the team around overnight, but this is still an exciting fresh start.
Now, the Nets need to be patient and gradually begin their rebuilding process. And on the day of the NBA trade deadline, we’ll see whether any trades occur to get them started.