The Brooklyn Nets have found some diamonds in the rough over the years.
The Nets, in both Brooklyn and New Jersey, haven’t always had the best luck in the NBA Draft. Be it trading away years of picks in the infamous Celtics deal, acquiring Gerald Wallace with the pick that became Damian Lillard, or oftentimes pissing off the basketball gods to the point where the lottery ping-pong balls never turn out in their favor, the draft hasn’t always been kind to the Nets.
Having said that, current GM Sean Marks has built the foundation of this team through solid drafting, and legendary executive Rod Thorn helped the Nets reach the Finals in consecutive seasons thanks to some savvy picks of his own. The Nets have stolen some quality NBA talent right from under the noses of several other prospective teams, with these three players standing out as the biggest steals in Nets history.
These three players have been the biggest draft steals in Nets history
3. C Jarrett Allen, 22nd overall, 2017
Kenny Atkinson’s offense was defined by plenty of pace and shooting, but what doomed him in the beginning of his Nets tenure was a lack of interior defense that allowed bigger teams to pick up an easy two points every time they went down the floor. In order to remedy that, Brooklyn used the No. 22 pick on Allen, a 6-11 center out of Texas who earned plenty of praise on #DraftTwitter for his gangly 7-5 wingspan, impressive leaping ability, and skill at attacking the rim for a player of his size. While Allen’s lack of a jump shot helped contribute to his slide down draft boards, the Nets selected him to fill a specific role as a rebounder and shot-blocker, and the afro-sporting center has done just that.
Even after he vacated his starting spot after the DeAndre Jordan signing, Allen has remained as productive as ever. While his scoring has dipped, his 11.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game would both be new career-best marks. Considering how the late first round of the NBA draft is often filled with unknown European prospects being judged off of a few clips of 144p video and productive college players without the athletic ability to stick in the NBA, the fact that the Nets were able to find a raw player like Allen, accentuate his strengths, and make him a valuable role player on one of the league’s best teams is a credit to Brooklyn’s development system.
Time will tell if Allen re-signs with Brooklyn, which would move him even further up this list in the near future.
2. SG Caris LeVert, 20th overall, 2016
Purely based on talent, LeVert should not have been available at pick No. 20 for Brooklyn. A 6-7 guard that can handle point guard duties, get white-hot from three-point range, and glide to the rim, injuries limited LeVert to just 33 games in his last two years at Michigan. Despite the injury risks, Brooklyn needed to take some risks if they wanted to get back to contention, and going all-in on LeVert was a gamble that has paid off in spades for the Nets.
After trading Thad Young to the Indiana Pacers for this pick, the Nets were able to draft a franchise cornerstone that is coming into his own as the tertiary scorer behind Kevin Durant, with whom he works out frequently, and Kyrie Irving. Over the course of his five-year career with Brooklyn, LeVert has evolved from an intriguing wing on some of the worst teams in the league to a capable scorer that would share the load with D’Angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie to a legitimate third option on a title contender that put up 51 points in a single game.
Considering that players like Guerschon Yabusele, Wade Baldwin, and Henry Ellenson, none of whom are on an active NBA roster at the moment, were picked ahead of him, Brooklyn has to be pleased with the fact that the rest of the league screwed up in such a dramatic way.
1. SF Richard Jefferson, 13th overall, 2001
Can a lottery pick truly be a steal, especially in the same draft that produced players like Pau Gasol, Joe Johnson, Gilbert Arenas, and Tony Parker? Well, DeSagana Diop, Kedrick Brown, and Rodney White were all picked in the lottery ahead of Jefferson, and their careers never got out of the doldrums of mediocrity. Jefferson, on the other hand, was a valued member of the Nets during the most successful period in team history, serving as Jason Kidd’s primary wing scoring outlet on New Jersey teams that won the Eastern Conference title in consecutive seasons.
After being traded from the Houston Rockets to New Jersey along with Jason Collins in exchange for No. 7 overall pick Eddie Griffin, Jefferson showed that his production under Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson wasn’t a fluke, as he averaged 22.4 points per game during his fourth year in the league. While his production dipped slightly once Vince Carter arrived in New Jersey, and his long, somewhat nomadic NBA career makes him look more like a veteran journeyman than a former star, Jefferson was one of the game’s premier two-way wings in his prime, and he was able to show off skills on Byron Scott’s Finals teams. Considering how Griffin never approached Jefferson’s tier as a player, Thorn is probably still ecstatic he was able to secure Jefferson in a chaotic 2001 Draft.
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