On how rookies can contribute to an already championship-caliber team

"I look at it like it's a great opportunity," said the Nets GM. "With every championship team, the players that are often talked about the most are obviously the stars. ... But if you look back at every championship run, there's always been that one, two, three players who maybe aren't in that top-eight rotation that come in, and whether it's throughout the year or in a playoff run, really step up big. We're gonna need that. When we're competing, and we're hopefully contending - that's the plan here - we're gonna need somebody to step up for us. And I think for those two specifically, they played at a very high level in college, they've had some great coaches, and just the level of competitiveness from both of them, and the fact that they're not afraid. It'll be great to get them with the group."

Trade bait?

"The plan is with these players we have right now, they're on our team," said Marks. "They're the Nets. These guys are gonna get a great opportunity to be part of the Nets family. We look forward to welcoming them to Brooklyn and going from there. One thing we always try to do is be as honest and upfront as we can, If there's rumors out there, which is honestly, it's part of the business we're in. It's not the fun part having to read your name out in the press and so forth, but it's the nature of the business and it's the job we chose. Guys are mature enough these days to figure out what's real and what's not, and all we can do is make sure we have honest conversations with them and make sure that we're available, whether that's myself or Steve or anybody else and have these honest conversations with our players."

On second-round picks Kessler Edwards (No. 44), Marcus Zegarowski (No. 49), and RaiQuan Gray (No. 59)

"We enjoy watching Kessler, his ability to stretch the floor, get up there, a positional need for us, looking forward to developing all three. Marcus, I'm sure you guys have seen him shoot and play at Creighton and what his ability is. Can really stretch the floor again, and a really fierce competitor, a very tough individual. RaiQuan is a very unique player. Step out on the court, stretch the floor, facilitate as a big, handle the ball, and if you watched him play at Florida State, very well-coached, high, high basketball IQ. So we're looking forward to getting those guys in the Summer League program with us and going from there.

"Especially at this level, and this time for these guys' development, we'll be doing them a disservice if we tried to put any individual in a box. We haven't had an opportunity to see them live in our gym with our players and specifically our coaches. Our development coaches have done a heck of a job. These are the things that I'm excited about, is getting a young group that hasn't been molded yet."

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