Ok, I'll admit I haven't followed the Nets really before this season and I started listening to sports radio and Evan Roberts is a Nets fan. I guess he did a good job getting the depth to trade for Harden to begin with. But it just seemed like signing Durant and Kyrie and then just trading every pick they have and every depth player they have for Harden. Now as I said I haven't been following the team much but that's the picture I got.
They drafted and developed two great players in LeVert and Allen (both taken with late-ish 1sts, BTW), whom they then traded along with 3 picks, and 4 pick swaps (at least two, and possibly all, of which won't convert) and some loose change for Harden. That's how you make those deals – and I would note, you need to do the difficult work to get the players in the first place in order to be in position to make such a move.
But they've also done a phenomenal job in scooping up and developing castoffs (e.g. Harris and Dinwiddie, though the latter's out injured and is a pending UFA [albeit one whose Bird Rights they own] both of whom they kept in the deal), as well as trading for good, young, under the radar players (e.g. Landry Shamet and Bruce Brown). Then, there's Nic Claxton whom they drafted with a (Knicks
) second rounder, 31st overall in 2019, who's developing into a real player in his own right.
As for Kyrie and KD, sure, they signed both (facilitating the latter with a trade for DLo), but that was only possible because they first turned the org into a desirable place to play.
(Lastly, I should add that, while I'm pumped they've added both Blake and LMA, neither is the guy they once were. Though I think the former in particular has a real chance to revitalize his game here.)
