Nothin' But Nets
Fansided

Brooklyn Nets: Grading the pick — Rodions Kurucs an injury risk at No. 40

By Phil Watson

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 09: Rodions Kurucs, #17 of FC Barcelona Lassa in action during the 2017/2018 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 25 game between FC Barcelona Lassa and Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade at Palau Blaugrana on March 9, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Rodolfo Molina/EB via Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 09: Rodions Kurucs, #17 of FC Barcelona Lassa in action during the 2017/2018 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 25 game between FC Barcelona Lassa and Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade at Palau Blaugrana on March 9, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Rodolfo Molina/EB via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The Brooklyn Nets took Latvian wing Rodions Kurucs at No. 40 in the 2018 NBA Draft. He’s already had 2 major injuries, but has great size at the wing.

The Brooklyn Nets took their second European wing of the night when they selected Rodions Kurucs from Latvia in the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft.

The Nets had previously taken Bosnian Dzanan Musa with the 29th overall pick in the first round.

More from Nothin' But Nets

Kurucs is listed at 6-foot-9 and 200 pounds and played the last two seasons with Barcelona, bouncing between the second team in Spain’s LEB Gold circuit and the parent club in the Liga ACB. Barcelona was also a Euroleague entrant each of the last two years.

Kurucs was sidelined in 2017 with a meniscus tear. He had entered the NBA Draft in 2017, but withdrew in part because of a high buyout figure to get out of his deal with Barcelona.

He’s certainly got potential because of his ability to shoot and score, but has played more with the Barcelona second team, so he lacks some game experience against elite competition.

Last season, limited to 26 games across all levels because of knee issues, he averaged 7.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.2 steals in 15.1 minutes a game on a slash line of .441/.328/.769.

He only played 10 games with the Barcelona parent club, six in Liga ACB and four in the Euroleague, logging only 59 minutes and scoring 14 points while shooting 6-for-15 overall and 2-for-7 from deep.

Per NBADraft.net, Kurucs has been used at both forward positions and even some at the shooting guard spot, showing his versatility.

But as fearless as Kurucs can be, he’s just not strong enough to actually play through contact and is predictable because his left hand is a liability when he handles.

Defensively Kurucs can get lost at times because of a tendency to lean on his athleticism rather than fundamentals and can get caught straight up and down too often.

Still, he started his career with VEF Riga in Latvia and played with the first team as a 16-year-old. Now 20, he is another player that would appear to be more project than product at this point and will likely need some time with the Long Island Nets before being counted on to contribute in Brooklyn.

Kurucs was not projected as high as No. 40 on most draft boards, so this pick takes on the feel of being a bit of a reach. He has been compared to Los Angeles Clippers forward Sam Dekker, so if he can mature into a rotation player would be about the ceiling.

Next: Best 15 draft picks in Nets history

General manager Sean Marks has made some solid draft moves since coming to the Brooklyn Nets, but time will tell whether Kurucs will join that list. Draft Grade: C-minus