Brooklyn Nets Rumors: Nets Offer GM Position To Sean Marks!
Breaking News to Brooklyn’s Finest! Or yet another of the million Brooklyn Nets rumors floating around the Barclays Center. The Brooklyn Nets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski on The Vertical and numerous sources - including ESPN’s Mike Mazzeo - have formally offered the General Manager position to Sean Marks.
Check out what Mr. Wojnarowski said on Twitter…
“The Brooklyn Nets have offered the job of general manager to San Antonio Spurs assistant GM Sean Marks, league sources tell @TheVertical”
However, in other reports on Yahoo! Sports, Wojnarowski states that this is not a done deal yet.
Sean Marks was one of the last reported candidates that joined the GM list. It was reported that he was on the Brooklyn Nets’ radar less than a week ago. Sean Marks currently works as the Assistant General Manager of the San Antonio Spurs. Marks played the journeyman role for 12 years in the NBA and has a background in international basketball, playing for New Zealand in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.
He joined the San Antonio Spurs in 2012 and is considered a valuable asset in the organization. In the last three years with the Spurs, Marks has taken full advantage of the commitment to excellence that is the San Antonio Spurs. Marks has climbed the ladder first as a basketball operations assistant, then he became the director of basketball operations before becoming an assistant coach to Gregg Popovich. He helped bring home a championship over the LeBron James-led Miami Heat before becoming the Assistant GM last season. Marks also headed up the San Antonio D-League affiliate, the Austin Spurs, which looks very well on a resume for the Nets, who are set to launch their own D-League team, the Long Island Nets.
What put him in the final three after only a week, you ask? Sergey Kushencko, a member of the Nets search committee, is personal friends with R.C. Buford, the Spurs’ GM. The way I see it, if you can’t get a hold of the best, have the best point you in the right direction. Sean Marks has to be the real deal, if one of the mainstays of the Spurs dynasty has a good word for him. Period.
This move proves again no matter how hard to you try to figure out the Brooklyn Nets and their blueprint of running basketball operations, you just can’t.
In my opinion, the “can’t-miss” choice was Bryan Colangelo, getting the nod based on his experience in building up not one but two franchises, picking up two NBA Executive of the Year awards along the way.
But he wasn’t brought up in the Spurs organization, maybe the gold standard of how professional teams are run. Of the four candidates, Marks had the total package. He played in the NBA, then worked his way up through the organization as an assistant coach and assistant GM. Plus he has rings. He’s no Phil Jackson, but he owns two of them. One as a player back in 2005 and one as an assistant under Gregg Popovich in 2014.
Maybe that’s why Gregg Popovich had this to say about Sean Marks in an interview (You mean he really does those?) with Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio Express-News last week…
“He really has a great feel for talent and has a great personality, really commands respect and gets along with people,” “He’s going to have a bright future. We’ll have to kick him out the door here pretty soon.”
Strong words from a man who DIDN’T EVEN KNOW about Marks being interviewed for the job in the first place.
Tom Orsborn on Twitter…
Pop says he was unaware of Sean Marks reportedly being a candidate for Nets GM job #Spurs
But is it a done deal yet? No. This stays in the Brooklyn Nets’ rumors pile until the ink is dry.
Plus, will the San Antonio Spurs be willing to give Marks up?
Adrian Wojnarowski seems to wonder…
Marks, 40, has emerged as the Nets’ choice through a two month process, but there’s no assurance they will come to an agreement.
Spurs president and coach Gregg Popovich and general manager RC Buford hold Marks in high regard, and the organization has been grooming Marks to eventually take over a more significant role in the organization.
This is huge. It is been hinted at for the last few years that Gregg Popovich would retire and step away right along with Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli. Along with Tony Parker these men have enjoyed a ton of success together and built the Spurs organization as the best run team in the NBA, top to bottom.
To say the Brooklyn Nets have had a couple of issues with how the organization has been run the last few years is being kind. Let’s be clear here, Marks has been with a organization that has been run like a well-oiled machine for the last 20 years. The Nets can’t piece together 20 years in their entire existence. That includes the New York Nets with Julius Erving.
It’s going to be interesting to see if Sean Marks goes in and takes a long look at the road ahead for this franchise. It is going to be a MAJOR culture shock for Marks leaving the Spurs for the Nets, especially with no GM experience.
If the Spurs bring out the big guns and offer a better deal down the road (It’s the Spurs! Whatever they offer is gold in most NBA pundits book), don’t be surprised if Marks takes it and stays. But the job right now is his to take at this point.
If the dysfunction continues and Marks pulls a Dwight Howard?
The Nets still have a two-time NBA Executive of the year in Bryan Colangelo, Denver Nuggets Assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas, and Houston Rockets Vice President of Basketball Operations Gersson Rosas in the fold.
