It was hardly a state secret, but Nets general manager Sean Marks acknowledged what neutral observers had said all season: That Brooklyn has to get bigger.
And meaner.
“Without a doubt we need to make some changes in terms of adding some size. I think [Jacque Vaughn] said it [Saturday] night, add a little nastiness,” Marks said. “Without a doubt we need to make some changes. Add a little bit of the Brooklyn grit that we’ve talked about for sort of six years.”
The Nets finished next-to-last in the NBA in rebound percentage (47.2) and defensive rebound percentage (68.9).
Their inability to keep teams off the offensive glass haunted them in allowing second-chance points, something that was used to great effect by Philadelphia in a first-round sweep.
Marks also confirmed an earlier report by The Post that injured Ben Simmons is progressing in his recovery and that at this point is not currently expected to need any follow-up back surgery.
“He is checking the boxes on meeting different markers along the way. So at this point, he does not need surgery,” Marks said. “That is the hope going forward, that he will not have to endure another surgery and we can keep progressing.
“The timeline for this is that he’ll be back 100 percent probably by Sept. 1. That would be the goal and he’s a full go in training camp and ready to go.”
Simmons had microdiscectomy surgery for a herniated L-4 disk on May 5, 2022. He played 42 games this season, none after Feb. 15. He was diagnosed on March 24 with nerve impingement in his back and eventually was shut down to rehab.
Mikal Bridges averaged 26.1 points for the Nets in the regular season, and 23.5 in the postseason. Despite the young small forward clearly wearing down after leading the league in miles run and minutes logged (the latter for a second straight year), Marks sounded confident Bridges can be a No. 1 scoring option.
“Regarding Mikal, I think he’s proven to a lot of people that his role can continue to get better and better and bigger and bigger, so I think I would be pretty silly to be up here and limit him and say he cannot be something,” Marks said. “I think that a few people have had their eyes opened to what he can do. But now when the ball’s in his hands in those key crucial moments of games, can he step up?”
“Can he be that guy that we can rely on in big moments? I think we saw it a little bit in Phoenix when Devin Booker was out, he carried a considerable load for them. And then we saw this year where he came in and immediately was a crowd favorite. You could get behind him. It’s just the way he played, how he played and he didn’t shy away from those moments either. So I would definitely not limit him and say he could only be this for us.”