NBA Draft Preview: New Jersey Nets
Team Outlook: The Nets finished 34-48 last season, missing the playoffs for the first time since 2001 -- the year before Jason Kidd arrived and turned the franchise around.
Point guard Devin Harris, one of the many players traded for Kidd in February, has become abuilding blocks for the Nets next season and beyond. At age 25, Harris averaged 15.4 points, 6.5 assists and 3.3 rebounds in 25 games for New Jersey last season.
Harris' right-hand men are Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter, who averaged 22.6 and 21.3 points per game respectively last season.
New general manager Kiki Vandeweghe knows that both Carter and Jefferson still have some value on the trade market, and might use that to his advantage and find other players to surround Harris.
Team Needs: Low-post scoring, rebounding and outside shooting.
Draft Picks: No. 10 and No. 21 in the first-round and No. 40 in the second round.
Who to get at No. 10: Look for the Nets to take small forward Danilo Gallinari of Italy. Only 20-years-old and very unpolished, Gallinari has nevertheless been a proven scorer in Europe.
He can shoot off the dribble, contested or fading away, and could provide the Nets with a versatile, 6-foot-9 forward who is a long-distance threat.
And we thought the Mets were the biggest choke artists in the tri-state area!
