 Thanks for coming back to a special yes-network presentation. Brooklyn Nets media day, Ryan Rucco, Sarah Kustak with you and we are now joined live by the net general manager Sean Marks. You know a busy summer Sean, some things happen, go on a little bit, you all right? I'm just glad we're rolling the balls out tomorrow, it's time to go. Sean, there's obviously there's so many different things to dive into with you. I guess first things first we'll start towards where we're at now. How do things feel right now with this group collectively? Yes, Kevin, Kai back in the fold, but the team as a whole as you guys get ready to start training camp tomorrow. Yeah look I think what we've seen the last couple weeks as guys come back into the gym, you know there's a level of anxiousness about getting back around each other. There's a lot of smiles, guys have been competitive you know. That's what we're all about right? Seeing this group together, seeing them play together, start formulating these bonds both on and off the court. So that's the fun thing for me right now is and then of course you know tomorrow when Steve gets to roll the balls out there and we get after it. That's you know when you can when you can do that the other rest sort of gets you know pushed to the wayside a little bit. The rest there's a lot in the rest and you look back I mean we can date back to two seasons, the past two seasons, but in particular last season all the moving parts, different iterations of the group and all the challenges that came along with it. But after the postseason and the way things finish, what was it like for you as you were initially trying to approach the offseason, figure out what was going on with the group and then deal with the trade request by Kev. Yeah look I think collectively as an organization none of us were happy just to be brutally honest when you don't live up to your expectations, you know you fail, you fall short, whatever you want to put it. This gave us an opportunity to really do a deep dive and reflect on you know our processes right you know it does everything we do for you know whether that's from staffing, from roster management, coaching, you name it, we looked at everything, we did that collectively as a group from you know myself, Steve, Joe and every department we looked at that and said look you know you can't point the finger you've got to look in the mirror and say could I have done things differently here that's not the outcome we wanted and again nobody's gonna sit here and make excuses we don't want to sit here and go well we lost X amount of games because of this mandate or this mandate or that so you know it's time to move on from that but again you know take hard and learn from some of the mistakes that were made along the way. When Kevin made the request did you think I'm going to have to trade him or did you think I'm gonna try and find a way to still keep him here how did you navigate that? Well it's tricky one I think when a player of that you know stature comes to you and says look this this may not be the place to me I want to look somewhere else I mean you've what can you learn from that you know again sit back and say okay why do you want why do you want out you know is this you know you know can we change this at all or are you just completely steadfast in your approach right now Kevin so you know we spent a lot of time talking you know as a group with including Kevin and so forth and obviously we came back to you know we're here and we're gonna go after it again with him and we're very thankful for that you know that's that's not an easy ultimatum to handle and you've got on that you know as a GM you've been on that as an ownership you know Joe and Clara had to own that you know and the coaching staff Steve right so it's on all of us. When you say not an easy ultimatum to handle there's there was a lot of not easy things to go on in Kevin spoke Kyrie spoke Ben spoke obviously earlier in they seem very open and insightful and honest about conversations that were had hard conversations that were had Kyrie mentioned you know with his contract extension a tough pill to swallow in the way things went on with him what do you think that can do for this group moving forward in just the approach of going through a lot of uncomfortable awkwardness to get to the place that you're at. Yeah I think if you look back six years ago we we pride ourselves on having a chip on our shoulder and something to prove flying under the radar whatever cliche you want to use but now I mean you hear the guys up on the podium and and they have that chip on their shoulder you know there's there's a level of humility amongst all of us but again it's it's it's nice when your backs against the wall and really kind of nobody may be expecting you to bail while the naysayers are still out there so well let's go prove them wrong you know and I think you saw the guys up there being able to be very honest and upfront about you know some of their emotions and some of their feelings of what they went through the summer you know people talk about like you know maybe what Steve and I had to go through I mean the whole organization had to go through it and you know reflect on it you know you talked about Sean at the year end of your press conference some of the getting back to the culture that was being built and last year being I don't know your exact terms we're talking about kind of like a bump in the road or a step back when Kyrie and Kevin are talking about those honest conversations how much of it also was you guys as an organization telling them hey this is what we need culturally from you as well here if we're going to make this work I mean I'm sure it's a two-way street but what what kind of was important for the organization to get across that these are things that are going to be important for us collectively no matter who's a part of this group moving forward yeah it takes everybody you know this is not just the culture is not decided by one guy in an office right there's decided by an organization as a whole and we have to have an identity that fits with the brand out here that's you know that's always being the Brooklyn way and it will continue to be the Brooklyn way so for us it's important to have those conversations with those guys include them in it but into the way into the day you know it goes back to our press conference earlier than you like you know have people that want to be part of something bigger themselves you know a competitive group and I think that's all we have here when you finally come to that conclusion for Kevin and and you guys to continue the partnership what was what was the the final conversation like or what kind of got you guys all to that place of hey not only do we want to do this but we can do this even after everything we've been through and we can do it right and build what we want to build honestly I think that's it's best when you're face-to-face when you look somebody in the eye and so I'm like look this is how we're building this organization this is what we're doing this is how we're gonna go ahead and do it and you're the right guy to be a part of us and you know he obviously took some time to think about it and and came back and said yeah this is where I can this is where I can leave my championship aspirations and you know he has a legacy at stake like we all do we've talked a lot about lineup roster combinations optionality that comes along with it coaching staff obviously the first two seasons for Steve Nash unlike probably any other for the first two years of a head coaching career some different pieces on that staff as well this season what's what's your expectation anticipation what are you looking for in terms of growth out of that group and out of the staff you know I think what makes Steve special is there's there's nothing he hasn't seen on the court and off the court that our players haven't sort of gone through or maybe gone through so there's an area of expertise there's some storytelling that Steve can do that can certainly help our players I mean he's been at he's he's been to the top of the top right and as close as you possibly can be so you know I hope our guys really utilize him for what he is and his experience out there what I've seen so far this summer from from our coaches and the dedication that's been put in you know they too have a chip on the shoulder everybody has something to prove here you know so again it gets back to just just literally being excited to get back on the hardwood you know and once it's media days over we can sort of forget about that and get back to what the important things are one of the other things Kevin talked about was even as he had requested the trade noticing what you were doing with the roster and liking what was being built and still envisioning how he would fit what were some of your focuses with who you did bring in here in the offseason whether it's TJ Warren or it's Sumner or obviously Royce O'Neill in that trade and kind of the pieces that you brought in to augment the stars who are in fact back yeah well you're always looking your roster throughout the season seeing where the holes are what might fit what didn't fit what didn't work and so forth and and where our holes are moving forward and what are some of the complementary pieces around there and I think you know you start with with Royce you know the trade that we made for him knowing the contract that he's on and and not really be able to find a player like that in free agency so being able to trade for him knowing that here's our window what he brings to us on and off the court from you know from the defensive person he is you know being able to spread the floor like he can the one thing that's not talked about enough is Joe Harris being back yeah I look at Joe as a little bit of a new addition right he's back and that's gonna be super excited but to bring in you know my Keith and Edmund and TJ with their area of expertise they all have something in common which is they have something to prove you know every single one of us something to prove from a previous season or couple seasons that have been lost Ben obviously is someone there's a lot of focus on and how he'll fit his style of play him coming back from the back surgery what have you noticed out of him this summer I know he's been here been in the gym what have you seen from him I think it's just his confidence you know I think talking to him you know when we when we first acquired him it's it's a different been you know and he's got to become accustomed with who we are and you know we're gonna put our arm around him support him and and do everything we possibly can't for him to deliver on the court for for this group and be in the best place possible succeed and I think we've seen that we've looked at the dedication that he's put in this summer I mean you could look at his body yeah he is he's a big man out there and it's been impressive just to see to see him go and the way he goes is a little bit like our engine I mean he'll fuel us I mean the speed with which a guy that can play with is pretty impressive I'm waiting to see if his accent comes out a little bit more being around you and Patty staff it's downplayed a bit throughout the course of his career but I think it's strong of the mind we'll see we'll keep an eye on it showing you've addressed this in part and you're about to go to a press conference and I know once you get past this day you'll be happy to not have to address this anymore but just a few a few bookkeeping things for people at home that I'm sure are wondering one did you ever come close to trading Kevin Durant do you feel like you ever there was ever a deal that was almost made look I think we have to be honest about it and when a guy asks you know to be traded you have to do your due diligence so yeah absolutely we made those calls and we at least picked up the phone when when when teams called I could be honest I wasn't making a whole about going calls I mean why would you do that they're gonna come in when Kevin Durant's available exactly there was no shortage of that but when you know you hurt him up there I mean it's he even admitted to it it's he's not an easy person to trade right when you're trading Kevin to get like for like I'm not sure how you do that so there was also a report that he wanted you and Steve gone was that your impression at one point with Kevin this off-season look we he and I never had that exact conversation together but like you know I think we have this mutual respect for one another you know I obviously respect the heck out of what Kevin is on the court and who he is as a person I love our upfront conversations we've been brutally honest from day one here so you know this has been a tough offseason and and for for a lot of people so let's own it and and it's been tough for Kevin and I don't want to put words in his mouth as to what he was feeling and what he was going through but the same time my job here is to put the right pieces around him and to help you know collectively here lead this organization and get to where we want to be and then the other one is Kyrie he talked a lot about having honest conversations and getting to a place where he also felt like he needed to get to know everybody going on this journey as Ben goes by going on going on this journey together getting to know it it sounded like he was implying beyond just his teammates but everybody here collectively when you guys came to a place of where you're now at in harmony what what was that conversation like or what were those interactions like to bring you to a place where he clearly feels like he's all in on this group and what you need and you guys seem to get across the message that you needed to at the end of last season as well. Yeah well I think it's usually beneficial for both sides right I mean you heard him before like how he was thinking about what what else is out there is the grass greener but then you know he wants to finish something he started to started here in Brooklyn I think he brings up a good point to getting to know one another both on and off the court and we talk about that a lot but when you miss over 200 games you know and I'm not talking about just Kyrie I'm talking about the you know the rotation players for us last season that's tough to sort of build camaraderie and community you know there's a sense of chemistry you know on the court so hopefully this year knock a wood you heard all all the guys talking about health and getting after it and being around each other so you know see where it goes. How excited are you just to see the pieces you've put together out on the floor collectively Sean hopefully with somewhat of a runway this season to actually play together. Very excited I mean these guys have put in a lot of work this offseason so I'm extremely proud of what the staff has done and what the players have done I mean there's a lot of guys who have been in in Brooklyn for a lot of this offseason so you know let's roll the balls out. All right Sean well we appreciate the time we know it was a wild offseason we know some of these questions aren't the easiest answer but we appreciate you being with us here alive and don't worry you get to go do it again with everybody else in just a little bit so that's Sean Marks net general manager joining us live still a little more