Do the Nets have any hope?

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Athletic NBA Daily

Episode Title: Do the Nets Have Any Hope?
Date: September 18, 2025
Host: Dave DuFour
Guest: Mike Smeltz (formerly of The Glue Guys)

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Overview

In this episode, Dave DuFour welcomes former "Glue Guys" host Mike Smeltz to break down the state of the Brooklyn Nets ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season. The discussion focuses on Brooklyn's recent moves, expected trajectory, roster construction, and the overall bleakness of the coming year as the franchise leans into a rebuild. Smeltz delivers a blend of dry humor and hard truths, offering an honest appraisal of what being a Nets fan feels like right now.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Mood in Brooklyn: Why Being a Nets Fan Is "Too Depressing"

• Smeltz shares that he and his podcast co-host ended “The Glue Guys” because "it was too depressing."
  • Quote: “We just couldn’t do it anymore. It was too depressing. So we just ended it.” (02:36, Mike Smeltz)
• The general feeling around the team is one of gloom after a 26-56 season, with another tank seemingly underway.

The MPJ Trade: Hype, Controversy, and Outlook

• Acquiring Michael Porter Jr. (MPJ): Dubbed the Nets’ biggest change, Smeltz defends the trade despite MPJ’s notorious media antics and contract.
  • Quote: “MPJ is the Nets' best player and we'll get an insane amount of shots up this year. He is the most impactful change.” (04:10, Mike Smeltz)
• Smeltz discusses how, despite criticism, MPJ has a higher ceiling than Cam Johnson, and the team managed to net a draft pick in the process.
• MPJ’s off-court persona: Mike touches on Porter’s odd media appearances, noting, "He has gone on the most epic media tour... the most insane thing." (04:02)

Tanking, the Draft, and Lottery Math

• The hosts agree the Nets are set to tank again, though last year’s results (ending up with only the 8th pick) demonstrate how risky this strategy is under the modern lottery odds.
  • Quote: “I'm trying to decide if they organizationally will realize tanking isn't as fruitful as we believe or if they're like, well, the odds can't screw us again, so let's, let's tank. I mean, they're tanking.” (06:58, Mike Smeltz)

Roster Construction and Cap Space Strategy

• Questioning Brooklyn’s plan to maintain cap flexibility for 2026: Dave wonders, “Free agency isn’t really a thing anymore. So, why have all this cap space?” (07:33, Dave Dufour)
• Smeltz believes the front office wants to leverage cap and draft assets to land a "super duper fun young player," likely through the draft rather than free agency, given modern league trends.

Rookie Talk: Jaegor Demaine and the Five First Round Picks

• Smeltz is optimistic about Jaegor Demaine, Brooklyn’s rook, admiring his love for hoops and his pre-draft shooting performances.
  • Quote: “I will always fall in love with a 6’8”, 6’9” ball handler, who is a smart person. And so that’s what I think Jaegor is.” (10:25, Mike Smeltz)
• He notes the team’s five rookies but expects few to stand out immediately due to crowded development situations.

Cam Thomas: The “Black Hole” Returns

• Cam Thomas accepted the qualifying offer, thus can’t be traded this year. Smeltz anticipates Thomas will play for stats and a new contract, not for team cohesion.
  • Quote: “He is going to be the most selfish player in the league this year. Let’s not say the history of basketball, but he’s going to be pretty selfish.” (13:02, Mike Smeltz)
• The hosts joke about the inevitable disaster of a Cam Thomas/MPJ-led offense with little sharing.

Potential Trade Chips: Terrence Mann and Nic Claxton

• Terrence Mann acquired in a trade could be “rehabbed” and flipped for picks—potentially yielding “28 second round picks” according to Smeltz’s quip. (21:00)
• On Nic Claxton, Smeltz explains his utility but notes his $25 million contract makes him tough to trade this season. “He was an awesome fifth starter...defensively, could guard guards...but he just makes $25 million.” (21:53, Mike Smeltz)

Tank Race: Are the Nets the East’s Worst Team?

• Compared to the Wizards and Hornets, both agree Brooklyn is the clear favorite for the East’s bottom, with a “clear road, wide open, ready to just drive through to tank.” (24:34, Mike Smeltz)

The Rebuild’s Limits: When Does Patience Run Out?

• Dave asks about the long-term plan if the lottery luck doesn’t turn. Smeltz suggests another failed tank might trigger the end of Sean Marks' tenure as GM and a shift in team-building philosophy, possibly toward merely staying competitive like the Pacers.

Reasons for (Limited) Enjoyment: Shotmakers, Ball Handlers, and Awaiting the Next Fun Era

• Smeltz reminisces about prior enjoyable eras—specifically when low-expectation Nets teams with “bubbling up” young players provided glimmers of hope. He sees some entertainment potential in this squad, especially for fans who appreciate flashy bucket-getting.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On MPJ’s Public Persona:
  “He has gone on the most epic media tour...That is the most insane thing. It’s like...The Denver Nuggets PR, congratulations. You’ve kept this guy under wraps and now he’s been unleashed as a media entity in the wildest way.”
  — Mike Smeltz, 04:00

• On Cam Thomas:
  “He is going to be the most selfish player in the league this year.”
  — Mike Smeltz, 13:02

• On Rebuild Fatigue:
  “I know this is such a sad pot. It’s going to feel pretty sad this year.”
  — Mike Smeltz, 27:45

• On the Tanking Landscape:
  “It’s so rare in the greater New York City area to have a clear road. They have a clear road, wide open, ready to just drive through to tank.”
  — Mike Smeltz, 24:34

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:13 – Mike reflects on Nets fandom and ending "The Glue Guys"
• 03:20 – Discussion on acquiring Michael Porter Jr.
• 06:53 – Lottery odds, tanking strategy, and cap space plan
• 09:21 – Rookie Jaegor Demaine and draft picks
• 11:52 – Cam Thomas’ season outlook, selfish play style
• 19:41 – Trade value: Terrence Mann, Nic Claxton analysis
• 23:49 – Tanking rivals in the East (Wizards, Hornets)
• 25:34 – Outlook for the rebuild and franchise patience

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Tone and Takeaways

• This episode’s tone is self-aware, sardonic, and laced with gallows humor, much of it delivered by Mike Smeltz—"It’s going to feel pretty sad this year. Yeah.”
• Brooklyn is fully in tank mode, with hopes pinned to the lottery and development of a raw, young roster.
• Entertainment for Nets fans will come in flashes: MPJ’s volume shooting, Cam Thomas’ shot selection, and the slow rise of intriguing rookies.
• The general consensus is that while the outlook for 2025-26 is bleak, the draft and the team’s future flexibility hold some promise—if they can get lucky and smart about their picks.

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In short:
The Nets are in for a long, challenging season. The front office’s plan is to tank hard, hope for lottery luck, and leverage assets in future trades or drafts. Cam Thomas and MPJ will provide shoot-first, ask-questions-later basketball. For now, hope is in short supply—but maybe, as Smeltz suggests, there’s something perversely entertaining about embracing rock bottom.

Transcript

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[Dave Dufour]

All right, welcome back to the NBA Daily. I'm Dave Dufour here with my guest who you may know as the former host of the excellent Brooklyn Nets podcast the Glue Guys. Also former producer here at the Athletic who produce things like Playmakers, King's Reign, the LeBron James documentary that we did. Mike Smelts, welcome home. How are you?

[Mike Smelts]

I'm so happy. I was texting one of my Nets, one of the people that listened to the Nets show, the drummer of Vampire Weekend is a massive Nets fan. And I text him. I said he dropped there.

[Dave Dufour]

But you didn't give his name because why would you know?

[Mike Smelts]

No CT Chris Thompson, one of the greats. I was like, I'm going to talk Nets today. Couldn't be happier. I haven't talked Nets in a while as you referenced the glue guys pod. No more. We just couldn't do it anymore. It was too depressing. So we just ended it and But I'm happy to be with you.

[Dave Dufour]

What's so depressing about being a Brooklyn Nets fan?

[Mike Smelts]

Sure. I mean, yeah, it's, it's, it, it's all sunshine and pancakes over here. It's dope as hell to be a Nets fan.

[Dave Dufour]

So, yeah, they were awful last year. And not because they, they necessarily have bad players. They don't really have any good ones. They have very good coach. But they were 26 and 56 last year. Obviously they were, you know, we'll say they were tanking. It feels like they're probably lining up to do that again. You know, biggest change for them. Is it Michael Porter Jr adding him to the roster?

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah. It's so exciting to have that tone setter there at the top of the organization. Mpj, you know, I'm going to defend the Nets probably consistently throughout the show. I felt like there was, particularly during the draft, there was a media pile on I, I would be defending mpj. Like the, my argument is I know Cam Johnson's going to look so good with Jokic. It's going to be perfect. He's so good at like resetting and shooting and all that good stuff. That's going to look like peak Contavious Caldwell Pope, though, he's not as good of a defender. But the thing is, I was like, all right, so we're, we're blowing smoke up Cam Johnson's booty for being like a role player on a bad team. And MPJ was like an elite scorer at times on a championship team. Right. So, okay. And I know the contract. Let's not talk about the contract. And the Nets got a pick. Right. I, I, so I would defend it, but MPJ has gone on the most epic media tour. If people haven't been following it, it's very big in Nets Twitter. What, what this guy. I won't even get into the topics he's discussed, but one of the things that he does is he publicly talked about this plays an Andrew Tate podcast. If you don't know who Andrew Tate is, good for. You don't look him up while, while he's with. Yeah, you make it investigated with, with women just to see the reaction. Like, he has gone. This media tour won't go to specifics. That is the most insane thing. It's like he was, I don't know what What The Denver Nuggets pr. Congratulations. You've kept this guy under wraps and now he's been unleashed as a media entity in the wildest way. But yet he's the net's best player and we'll get an insane amount of shots up this year. He is the most impactful change. Okay, so personal, right? Let's talk about the player.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

I will defend an element of MPJ which is just simply that his ceiling is higher than Cam Johnson's. And in the state that the Nets and it made all the sense in the world to get rid of Cam Johnson, I think they kind of. No one has reported this. I don't have any reporting. I think they made a little bit of a promise to Cam that they would move him. They've tried to trade him for years. Cam Johnson has then been the good soldier all that time. I think they basically said because the deal was less than optimal, right. There was the discussion that the Grizzlies at one point were going to offer X amount of first round picks for a wing like Cam Johnson, and it didn't materialize. They had a very high price tag. I think they just said to Cam Johnson, like, if you're a good soldier, we will get rid of you this off season for the best thing that we can get. They kind of did that with kd. Well, they very much did it with kd. When KD trade requested. Rescinded his trade request, they traded him in the offseason. They happened to get a very good trade for Kevin Durant, less so for Cam Johnson, because, you know, Cam Johnson is not Kevin Durant. So anyways, yeah, MPJ is the best player and he is a complete goof. But I'm. You know what? I'm going to be optim. I'm excited to see the guy unleash 25 shots a game and see what happens.

[Dave Dufour]

I mean, I think it'd be better than last year because of Michael Porter Jr. Like, do you think that improves their. Their ceiling a little bit? I mean, this is not a team that's going to even make. They're not going to sniff the play in and I don't think they necessarily want to, but you know, will they be more competitive and in games?

[Mike Smelts]

So I'm still trying to decide if what happened in the lottery where they, as you said, they tanked the last 2/3 of the season, right. They had a good first third with Dennis Schroeder leading the way, and then they trade Schroeder. They. They did everything they could you know, Dorian Finney Smith got out of town, right? They did everything they could to tank. They tanked and then they still got the eighth pick in the draft. And I'm trying to decide if they organizationally will realize tanking isn't as fruitful as we believe or if they're like, well, the odds can't screw us again, so let's, let's tank. I mean, they're tanking.

[Dave Dufour]

Yes.

[Mike Smelts]

Just how bad of a tank it's.

[Dave Dufour]

Going to be okay, but they also have cap space, right? And the idea is that they wanted the cap space for the summer of 26. So next summer when, when a lot of guys were potentially scheduled to be free agents, especially Luka Doncic, but Luka sign an extension, summer 26, like it doesn't. Free agency isn't really a thing anymore. So, so why have all this cap space? Why not try to be competitive now?

[Mike Smelts]

Well, because they, they, they want to go. They want to use all their draft picks. They have some of the best draft capital in the league. Right. They want to use their draft picks to get like a super duper fun young player. This draft is going to be good. Again, not, maybe not Cooper flag, but actually could be pretty good.

[Dave Dufour]

He's gonna be a good NBA player. So, I mean, if you can get, I think one of the top three picks in, in this upcoming draft, you're, you're in good shape. But like you just said, the math doesn't always math in your favor. So it's, it's, it's not a great strategy.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah, so that's the thing. I, I just, I wonder if, you know, like when you're sitting outside of the math, when you've not gone through the math gymnastics of the early lottery and you think, oh, well, 14% chance for the top pick for, what is it, 40% for a top four pick if you're in the top three. Whatever it is, it's like, yeah, so that looks like good math from the outside. Then you experience it and you're like, oh, crap, the Mavs get it from, what were they, the 10th position? 11th? And so then, you know, obviously the spurs jumped up too. And then the Nets just completely, just damaged every thing they sold anyway. So, yeah, I mean, they're going to tank. There's no question. It's just, how aggressive is the Tank going to be?

[Dave Dufour]

Are any of these, are any of these rookies exciting to you at all? Like, I mean, do you, do you feel like they, they move the needle? Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

Jagor Yeage Gore, my guy. If anyone doesn't know, it's. I know it's. It's ego. Dave, am I right about Jae Gore as a pronunciation? I know you're just in Europe.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, I mean, sure. I haven't, I haven't gotten the pronunciation guide, so. Okay, I know yet.

[Mike Smelts]

I'm pretty sure. So it looks like Igor, but it's Jae Gore. Like you're rooting for the Democrats in the 2000 election. That's how I've. That. That's how. That's the way I think about it.

[Dave Dufour]

Demean.

[Mike Smelts]

Yeah. To be an optimist again. Early college basketball season at byu. He was a top pick and he's shooting craters. They take him. He's in Vegas and is lighting the world on fire. Okay. My guy was incredible from three and so. And the more impressive thing this is I'm a big listening to people talk guy, even though I've talked a lot on this podcast. But that he seems to love hoops. Like when you hear him in interviews, he talks about guys that are not like, you know, how most guys say their favorite players, Paul George, for whatever reason.

[Dave Dufour]

That is odd. Yeah, it does happen.

[Mike Smelts]

I don't. There's some weird algorithm thing that happened to children of that era, the Brandon Millers, that thought that Paul George is the goat. But he, he's referencing sort of more obscure players, more players sort of aligned with who he is as a basketball player. I think he's going to be. Listen, it's going to get ugly. Right. But I will always fall in love with a six, a six, eight, six, nine ball handler, who is a smart person. And so that's what I think Jaegor is. Now, is he gonna be. I don't even know. Is he gonna be giddy with a worse jumper? I guess. But he's already shown that he's a better shoot. Like, I know it's summer league, but like summer league shooting is usually the thing. Right. That translates. If we can. Anything could translate.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

So I'm pumped about him. The rest of the dudes is just. Who knows? There's. They have five first round picks. There's no way.

[Dave Dufour]

That's a lot of mouths to feed. Speaking of mouths to feed. Hey, look, Cam Thomas. Cam Thomas, he wants to. He wants to be fed. He signs the one year qualifying offer betting on himself. All right, you said MPJ is the best player on the team.

[Mike Smelts]

Yes.

[Dave Dufour]

Cam Thomas is going to act like it. So, like, what is the expectation from Cam Thomas this year? On this, on this one year, I Mean, I know your head's in your hands right now, but dude, you know, what do you, what do you expect? Is he, is he going to shoot the ball more?

[Mike Smelts]

I just want to give people a Cam Thomas quick history lesson. Cam was brought on during the peak of the nets like Katie. I think he was Katie, Kyrie and Harden. I think he still played with all of those dudes and he, he would turn them down so he could take his own shot. He is going now that he's going for money. Not only is he going for money, he's going for retribution because the team didn't get. They gave him such a, such a, I mean so anyone who's been a glue guys listener and if you're a glue guys listener, who, who is waiting to like, who jumped in on this show just to hear what, what I'm talking about. God bless you. But I, Brian and I, my co host, we've been Cam Thomas non apologist. I don't call us haters for just because we. The way he plays basketball is something that's objectionable to me. Like I like passing. That's why I like Jaeger Demon. Cam Thomas hates passing. Just loathes it. Don't look at his assist numbers. Those are like dump off passes because he runs into trouble. So like he's going to be the most selfish player in the league this year. Let's not say the history of basketball because I don't really, I can't go that far back. But he's going to be pretty selfish and it's. And he has a no trade clause because of that qualifying offer he signed. He will not be traded. I don't know if it's a no trade clause, just that he can't be be traded. Right?

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, he can. Yeah. I like a one year contract. Yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

So he's, he's gonna shoot the ball an insane amount and MPJ is going to shoot the ball an insane amount and I don't like can how. What about shoot right.

[Dave Dufour]

Do you feel like a, a pick and roll, a pick and pop with these guys? I mean do you feel like it's going to be effective or you.

[Mike Smelts]

Nope.

[Dave Dufour]

No.

[Mike Smelts]

Because MPJ can't set screens because he's brittle and Cam Thomas a role would be ineffective. Yeah, he's gluten free as, as a role man. He passes up the role, you know, gluten free on that. So he's not gonna, it's gonna be a disaster. I can't wait. I mean honestly I, I really wish he, he Wasn't he? He is a 20, let's be fair. He's a 24 point per game scorer. He'd had three assists a game or whatever.

[Dave Dufour]

Like he is career high, like 3.8 assists.

[Mike Smelts]

Oh my God. Chris Paul. Chris Paul, my guy. But he's just, he's. He is not built to have a retribution. Let show me the money season to help a team win. Now conversely, that could be the best tanking solution possible that you have these two ball hogs shooting the ball.

[Dave Dufour]

I don't know. Would you rather have Cam Thomas or Jordan Pool in this role? Right. Like to me, I don't know. Yeah. Oh. Oh, okay. Yeah, might be available.

[Mike Smelts]

You never know because I think Jordan Pool is like more of a, more of a ball handling guard who's. Who could pass. Where Cam is really is a such an elite bucket getter. But. And like he is insane. Like his ability to, to score from anywhere is crazy. But it just. When you have a lot of young players in the team, I want them to touch the ball and it's going to be harder for them to touch the ball if it's going to be shot.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he does tend to be a black.

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[Dave Dufour]

Anybody on this roster you can see them moving. Whether it's for like future draft pick or you know it's not going to be for a player but who is, who is on this roster that's going to help another team?

[Mike Smelts]

I can't wait for Terrence man to pop up on what's the I mean I don't even know if they're going to do who, who where he at or whatever. The Charles Barkley thing. It's like so Terrence man is a Brooklyn net they actually like in a trade to get a first round pick. They also took on his contract and he has a pretty Decent long contract. I, I've always liked Terrence, man. He's going to be the classic. Like the Nets did have Dennis Schroeder and they, they got value out of him and shift him off to Golden State. Right? Like they bad teams have. Some bad teams have an ability to take a guy who has some talent has been good enough and to rehab that and then flip them. And I think that's what they're going to do with Terrence Mann. And he's kind of perfect with MPJ and Cam Thomas in that he doesn't need a, he's not a high volume dude. So I could see him like easily like if he's shooting 40% from three early in the season. His, his shooting numbers last year weren't that bad. It was 37% from 3, 50% from the field, you know, so like it's, it wasn't as horrible of a situation as it maybe kind of felt when he, he just didn't, he didn't ascend when his career trajectory was ascending. He just kind of went down. So I could see him being flips. Two second round picks. The Nets could have 28 second round picks over the next.

[Dave Dufour]

What about Nick Claxton? You know, I mean, I would love.

[Mike Smelts]

To get rid of him. I would love to.

[Dave Dufour]

I mean it feels like again, it's sort of like Cam Johnson to a certain degree, although, you know, a lesser player. But this is a useful rotation, big on a team that is not going to be competitive. And I mean, you think a couple years ago when the Mavs made the big swing and got Daniel Gafford and how that changed their season. I mean, I like could Claxton be a guy like that for, you know, for one of these teams, like maybe the Lakers, you know, who, who might need a backup center depending on what happens there with deandre Ayton and some of the guys that they've got. You know, Claxton is a guy that always pops up to me is why is he not available? Or why aren't teams going after him? And maybe that's the question for you is how come teams aren't going after Nick Claxton?

[Mike Smelts]

I mean, it's just that he. So he's three years left, he's at 25 million this year, which is a lot for a guy. So like when Claxton was on those kd, Kyrie, James Harden teams, he was an awesome fifth starter as the center. So flexible defensively, could legitimately guard guards when he's had to switch onto them and obviously he could protect the rim. He wasn't like a imposing force in terms of as a body on bigger bodies, but he was great as a help defender and all that stuff, and extremely flexible. He just makes $25 million and that's. It's hard to find. That's kind of where it is, where it's like, it's hard to find a team that needs a center to pay, a center that really can't create on their own. But the good thing about Claxton is his. He, as Sean Marks, tends to do with these guys declining salary figure on that contract. So 25 million this year. I think next year is when you get rid of them, when you can, because then it's 23 with the rising cap, and then it's 21 in his last year. The deal, it'll only be 28 years old. The thing that's hard is that, like, it's going to be hard for him to look good on this team again because there isn't a, like a ball handler looking to help out a big. And Claxton is just one of those bigs who needs a ball handler who's looking to help out, you know, so like, he's going to look unless if he just. He's nuclear defensively. Nuclear being a good term as opposed to a nuclear disaster. So if he can be what he kind of was maybe two years ago defensively, three years ago defensively, he's still young, 25 years old. Well, I think he's 26 now. But like, he could be someone and he could be very helpful. It's just the $25 million. It's hard to find that unless if it's one of the situation where like the Nets get a bad contract, send out Claxton and you just kind of you the Nets, like shorten the window of that net classic contract with like, I don't know, name some guy who's making 25. And this is the final year of their deal.

[Dave Dufour]

Are the. Are the Nets going to be the worst team in the East? I mean, I know that's the goal. Please can they pull it off?

[Mike Smelts]

So who's the competition? I mean, Wizards are too good, right?

[Dave Dufour]

The Wizards might have too many guys and their young guys need to play. They showed a lot of promise, I thought, last year. And also like the. The Wizards also have veterans who are going to play to start the year. I think that the Wizards will be better than they were by a lot last year. I mean, Brooklyn is kind of the only team to Me.

[Mike Smelts]

Have a way better base of talent.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

You know, like, if they tank this year, that would be bad. Like this. The Hornets are a team ready to be interesting.

[Dave Dufour]

They should be fighting for the play in the Hornets.

[Mike Smelts]

Yes.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

So the Nets have this clear, beautiful. It's so rare in the greater New York City area to have a clear road. They have a clear road, wide open, ready to just drive through to tank. I mean, really, even if you look in the west, there's not a ton of teams that are like clearly tanking teams on that. So, like, they have a real Tank opportunity. But again, the, the opera. The benefit of that opportunity isn't quite as juicy as it used to be. But they'll tank. They'll tank.

[Dave Dufour]

Let's say that it doesn't go well, they don't get a top three pick. I mean, how long can this team be this bad? You know, at a certain point, don't, like, don't the Nets need to at least just field an actual professional basketball team that is competing, you know, whether it's competing for the play in or the, you know, the six seed or whatever? I mean, don't they need to get good players in there at some point or people just willing to trust the process until. Until it hits?

[Mike Smelts]

Well, that's the interesting thing, I think. If the team stinks this year, which they will, and then they get the seventh pick, let's just say, or whatever. And it's so disappointing, you know, like the whole thing. Like, players, like, they do want to come to New York. There's obviously no space in the Knicks to come to New York now. And so the Nets will be sitting there. To me, the next move is like the reign of Sean Marks will probably be over because that's the time you kind of say goodbye to the gm. He's gotten to rebuild twice or almost like three times, if you really think about the Katie Kyrie, like, micro build as its own rebuilding session. So, like, that's, that's kind of the time. So then who do you bring in? And is it now because it's a fresh start, that administration will have the ability to tank or is it will bring in a, you know, I'm trying to think what, like, good front office, like someone from the Pacers to be like, you know what? We're going to be the Pacers of New York, which is we're not going to tank. We're just going to try to always be pretty good. And then if we can grab a Tyrese Halliburton, we're going to do it right. That's a great plan. So. Yeah, they can't. I mean it's going to feel pretty. I know this is such a sad pot. It's going to feel pretty sad this year. Yeah, the, the cool thing is there are five first round picks to like get, get in on and to, to be excited about. And my old like, like when I really think back to my favorite time being a podcaster for the Nets, it was when Spencer Dinwiddie and Joe Harris and those guys were like bubbling up when Jared Allen was becoming those. You're like, oh, Jared Allen, you know, he's like a 21st pick in the draft.

[Dave Dufour]

Yeah.

[Mike Smelts]

That was obviously carousel. Yeah. I didn't mention him on purpose. Yeah. But you know, because I was anti care so I used to call him no Legs Levert because he just always got hurt. So anyway, so the. Yeah, so there's a version of this team where if you remove sort of from your mind, let's say Cam Thomas and mpj, you kind of separate them out into their own tranche of bucket shooting. Well then there's this like, you know, the common complaint about the Nets draft was oh, they had too many ball handlers. It's like when, oh, there's one ball. When has there been too many ball handlers? Like ball handling is a skill. It's not a negative. Too many shoot like not shooters in terms of efficiency, but shooters in terms of people looking for their shot. That's a, that's a potentially bad thing. But pretty much all of their draft picks that they got besides Drake Powell are ball handers. Even Danny Wolf is a seven foot point center. So like that will be fun to watch and exciting but you know, you're just gonna have to slog through a lot of MPJ Cam Thomas stuff. Though I will say there's an entertainment to, to bucket getting and Cam Thomas, as much as I was negative about him in this, he's a very entertaining player when it's right. And mpj, few players look as good as him at moments like from a pure bucket getting. So it's, you know, there's be some visual.

[Dave Dufour]

Cam Thomas is going to be must watch I think. But I, I also, I echo your sentiments. There you have it. Mike Smelt says the Nets, they're gonna be sad. The 2526 Brooklyn Nets Mike smelts, thanks for joining me for this very sad season preview for the Brooklyn Nets.

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