Nets Seek Size in Draft

by Matt McQueeny, NJNets.com

When looking at the Nets, there is no secret as to their need: a defensive-oriented, rebounding big man. If said big man can finish around the rim, all the better.

Middle management is something they will look to address tomorrow in the 2007 NBA Draft. With the 17th pick, the Nets are not assured the chance to obtain a franchise-changing player but a solid player that can contribute – and fill a need – is well within grasp.

“We have some things that we would like to address; that (big man) being one,” said Rod Thorn, speaking to the media today.

“We are looking mostly at all the big players who might filter down to us.”

The prime target player names that have floated around, through mock drafts and/or because they actually worked out for the Nets, are big men Josh McRoberts of Duke, Jason Smith of Colorado State, Glen “Big Baby” Davis of LSU, Nick Fazekas of Nevada, Aaron Gray of Pittsburgh, and Stephane Lasme of UMass.

However, the Nets will not let a smaller player – one they deem a good athlete with major upside – slip by on account of having big man tunnel vision.

Thorn emphasized this point today when he said “we also like some wing players – a lot. It just depends on who gets there. We are certainly not averse to taking a wing-type player, if one gets to us that we feel strongly about.”

Nick Young, the 6’6” swing man out of USC, is an intriguing player on that front.

Thorn said that the Nets have a short list of six players that they are rating and feel could be right in their range. He did not convey names, but said that half of them are big men and half are wing players.

He also said that there are three or four guys that the Nets might rate higher than other teams that could fall back to the Nets position.

Needs aside, the overarching theme was that the Nets will pick the guy they think is the best player available.

“If we feel strongly enough about a guy, I don’t care what position he plays,” Thorn reinforced.

“If you get good players, you can always trade somebody. That’s the key: to try to get good players.”

“If the right ones fall, we will just jump out there and take them. If there’s a guy that we really think could be an extraordinary player, then we have to take a look at that.”

Sean Williams – 6’10” forward/center out of Boston College – is a player that Rod Thorn and Ed Stefanski traveled to Texas to see work out earlier this week.

About Williams, Thorn said, “Athletically I don’t know that there’s two or three or four players in the draft that are better than him.”

The issues with the player who had a 19 point, 10 rebound, and 13 block triple-double against Duquesne this season all reside off the court. Williams was dismissed by Boston College after just 15 games in his junior season for repeat violations of team rules.

“Physically, running, and jumping, there are not many better in the draft,” said the Nets President.

“But there are other issues that I’m sure any team that is considering him will have to consider. Everybody gets as much information as they can. We’ll have to see what happens with him.”

Thorn did say that Williams is “a guy you have to consider and he’s one of the players in our mix.”

The Nets have done their due diligence and look towards tomorrow night to bear out the initial fruits of their year-long, and in some cases longer, scouting rounds. With a pick in the mid-first round, they have a short list of players they like and who they see falling into their range.

But they need look no further than a season ago – when Marcus Williams, the much esteemed point guard out of UCONN fell to their number 22nd pick – to see that the best laid plans of scouts and GMs can go oft awry.

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