The Nets enter Monday’s Martin Luther King Day game against Milwaukee with three superstars and three straight wins, but also three open roster spots to fill.
General manager Sean Marks is nothing if not patient, so he may not rush to fill them. But he readily admits there’s plenty of holes to plug and work to do before the playoffs.
“Without a doubt the roster is not done. It’s not yet finalized,” Marks said. “I mean, it should never be, to be quite frank. We should be doing our due diligence.
“We have open roster spots, so I have utmost faith in our scouting department that over the years has done a tremendous job for us. We’ll continue to try and add pieces as we go through this season.”
The Nets have 12 players on regular contracts, with Chris Chiozza and second-round pick Reggie Perry on two-way deals. Perry will be needed even more after the team dealt center Jarrett Allen in the trade for James Harden.
So how do the Nets fill out the roster? And where can they look?
Presumably Brooklyn will apply for (and be granted) a Disabled Player Exception for Spencer Dinwiddie, but that’s down the road. For now the Nets can make a trade, scour the free-agent market or look in the G-League, including Long Island where they have guards Jeremiah Martin and Elie Okobo.
Two other veterans who played for the Nets in the restart are also available: Jamal Crawford and Michael Beasley.
Crawford, 40, signed and was held out the first few seeding games to get in shape. He looked sharp in his debut with five points and three assists through the first 5:58 against Milwaukee, but pulled his hamstring and didn’t play again. He’s still in contact with the Nets, according to Yahoo.
Beasley — who grew up near Kevin Durant in Prince George’s County (Md.) and calls the star his “best friend” — signed with the Nets, but the 6-foot-10 forward tested positive for COVID-19 and never got a chance to play.
Defensive wing has been an issue since the offseason, and trading away Allen created a desperate need for a center to spell DeAndre Jordan.
Andre Roberson is Durant’s former OKC teammate and the brother of Dinwiddie’s significant other. He was NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2017 before suffering a left patella tendon rupture in January 2018. He didn’t return until playing seven games in the bubble, but he’s now a free agent and available.
Like Roberson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson is a 6-foot-7 defensive-minded wing. He started his career in Brooklyn from 2015-19, and was waived in December by Minnesota. Corey Brewer and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist — a former teammate of Kyrie Irving at St. Patrick (now The Patrick School) in New Jersey — fit the mold.
Centers by nature are harder to find; but as irony would have it, trading Allen may have forced one on the market. Cleveland waived 7-footer Thon Maker to create space for Allen, with the 23-year-old having shot 55.6 percent overall and 90.9 percent from the line in limited duty this season. He even hit 22 of 64 from deep last season.
Dewayne Dedmon, another 7-footer, is a more experienced stretch five. He averaged 10.8 points and 7.5 rebounds on .382 shooting from deep two seasons ago in Atlanta, but last season got fined in Sacramento for demanding a trade. (He eventually got shipped to back to Atlanta and averaged 8.1 points and 8.2 boards)., Tyson Chandler, 38, and Kenneth Faried — another ex-Net — are options.
