Brooklyn Nets General Manager Sean Marks answered season ticket holders’ questions during a Facebook Live session on Tuesday afternoon.
The Nets GM gave his thoughts on the season thus far, how Jeremy Lin’s injury has affected the lineup and several other topics ranging from Trevor Booker to the Long Island Nets.
On Jeremy Lin’s recovery/progress from a hamstring injury:
Jeremy is one of the most competitive people I’ve ever seen. He said ‘I’m used to proving people wrong, I’ve been doing it my whole life. I’m going to prove people wrong and come back from this injury.’ I said ‘just take your time; you don’t need to prove them wrong by coming back too soon, so just take your time.’
You know you’ve got the right guy and the right fiber when one of your elite players says ‘I want to prove people wrong, I’m itching to get back.’ He’s so vocal; he’s still at practice, in the locker room and has been since Day 1 when he was out with his injury. He’s progressing well. I don’t want to put a time limit on it or a day, but I suspect it’s pretty soon.
On the biggest surprises/disappointments to start the year:
I don’t know that there are a whole lot of disappointments, but one would be the unfortunate injuries. We’ve had a couple of injures, mainly with losing Jeremy Lin to a hamstring for a while, I’d say there’s been some positives out of that. It’s given Isaiah Whitehead an unbelievable opportunity to step right in there and get some pretty meaningful NBA minutes that he probably wouldn’t have otherwise, not this early in his career.”
I don’t know that it’s been a surprise, but just the way the players have jumped onto Kenny’s culture and the practice plans and the environment that not only Kenny, but his staff have done an incredible job of showing the players how they care about them. When you’re around you see that emotion and you see what guys go through here in practice, it’s a great environment. I don’t know if it’s a surprise because it’s what I expected because I knew Kenny, but it’s great to see.
On Isaiah Whitehead adjusting to the NBA:
We know with any young guys coming into the league, you’re going to have to live with some of the good, some of the bad. Initially, Isaiah’s first stint in the league was ‘whoa’ with the pace of the game and the size of the athletes, but he’s getting used to it, he’s getting used to using his body and he’s a big kid and he’s using it well. For him, it’s never taking a moment off, a day off, staying in tune and in the moment. We’re seeing that, his growth and progression, he’s doing a nice job.
On team progress and Trevor Booker:
The progress of the team has been good. It’s unfortunate we haven’t won a couple more games along the way, but I look at it like a guy like Trevor for instance, he’s being asked to fill a much larger role this year. As Kenny said in his opening press conference player development isn’t just about developing Isaiah Whitehead and Caris LeVert, it’s about developing Brook Lopez and Trevor Booker and the rest of these guys that have been in the league five, six or 10 years. That’s what we’re seeing with Trevor; he’s given the opportunity to really play different minutes, larger minutes, different periods of the game and the ball is in his hands. We all love watching him go coast to coast, grab a defensive rebound and really push the pace. I know Kenny and his staff are asking him to do more of it. And look at Trevor’s tenacity that he plays with and his aggressive style and it really fits in with what we’re trying to do here.
On how far ahead he’s planning Nets roster construction:
It’s about remaining fluid and making sure we’re ready for any surprises along the way because things change pretty quickly. We can have everything planned for the next six months, year or two years and then the next thing you know is there’s a new CBA coming out, teams start making drastic trades, or some guy surprises you in the Draft that you weren’t expecting and so forth, or there’s a good group of free agents and guys develop at different times. To answer that question, we’re planned out for sure one, two, three years, but this could change minute-by-minute.
On the benefits of having the D-League playing so close to the Nets:
It’s great when we’re able to assign Chris McCullough or Anthony Bennett, Yogi has been back and forth as well to the LI Nets and they get those really good game minutes and then they come back up to Brooklyn and the dividends pay off. You look at a guy like Anthony Bennett, he plays a couple of games and then the next thing you know he’s called up to Milwaukee and ends up with 14 rebounds. I think we’re seeing the advantages of having the LI Nets right here.