It was an National Basketball Association draft-acular — even for a home team that’s seen better days.
Fans from all over the East Coast arrived at Barclay’s Center for the wildly anticipated National Basketball Association draft on June 22. The draft was populated mostly with fans of the Brooklyn Nets, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers, and, most surprisingly of all, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Because of the disastrous trade the Nets made with the Celtics in 2013 — which sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn for three first-round picks, as well as the right to swap first-round selections this year — Celtics fans who were in attendance had nothing but glowing things to say about their team’s general manager, Danny Ainge.
“I’m surprised that Danny Ainge doesn’t own this building yet,” said Adam Moore, who came down from Rhode Island with his friends Jake Elmslie and Jackson Reaper.
As part of their trade, the Celtics and the Nets swapped picks this year, which — after another Boston trade with the 76ers — left the Celtics with the third overall pick this year. Because of that – and the fact that the Nets also have to give the Celtics their pick next year — Reaper was far from grim when he discussed then-Nets general manager Billy King.
“If everything goes our way for the next couple years, I think there should be a nice big statue of Billy King in Boston.”
But the Nets’ bleak outlook didn’t stop their fans from showing up at the draft to support their team. The Nets had the 22nd pick in the draft — thanks to a trading deadline deal with the Washington Wizards. And just before the draft, Brooklyn traded long-time star Brook Lopez, along with the 27th pick, to the Lakers for guard D’Angelo Russell and center Timofey Mozgov.
It was a move, many Barclays faithful believe, was a step in the right direction for the struggling squad.
“Russell’s better than anybody we were going to get with the 27th pick and with the rebuilding that we’re doing, we can afford to eat Timofey Mozgov’s contract,” said Nets fan John Morgan. “I’m really confident in (Nets head coach) Kenny Atkinson and (general manager) Sean Marks. They’ve done a good job this year so I’m confident that they’ll make the bleeding stop.”
“I trust Sean Marks. I want him to surprise me. I want him to take someone I didn’t think of because I think he’s got good judgment,” said Ryan Mowbray, another Nets fan.
Some of those in attendance at Barclays were drawn by more than just a rooting interest.
“I’m here because my cousin is going into the NBA draft, but it is awesome to be here in Brooklyn and I feel blessed to have family in professional sports,” said Leslie Dorton, whose cousin, Jarrett Allen, was selected by the Nets with the aforementioned 22nd pick.
The Nets still have plenty of work to do to rise in the NBA’s increasingly-tough Eastern Conference standings, but when this year’s draft was over, some fans came away optimistic about the future.
“They’re at rock bottom, so the only way to go is up,” Nick Larosa said of the Nets’ 21-61 record in 2016. “And once they eventually get their picks back (in future drafts), they’ll get into it again.”
