The Brooklyn Nets continue to be one of the worst teams in the NBA, but even before the offseason hits they are making a lot of moves to set themselves up for success. The first move they made in that regard was hiring Sean Marks as their general manager. Marks has done a couple of things since coming in but nothing too major yet.
On Tuesday afternoon, though, Marks added to his staff as he will bring former NBA player Trajan Langdon on to be his assistant GM. Before being hired by the Nets, Langdon was the director of player administration and basketball operations for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The hiring of Langdon brings another connection between the Nets and the Spurs, as Marks was the Spurs' assistant GM and Langdon was a scout for the Spurs for three years before moving over to the Cavaliers. Marks said that he and Langdon worked very closely when they were in San Antonio, and he is reportedly well respected around the league.
Langdon is best known for his college days when he played at Duke University. Langdon left Duke as the team's all-time leading three-point shooter and was a three-time first-team All-ACC selection. The Anchorage, Alaska, native was drafted 11th overall by the Cavaliers in the 1999 NBA Draft and played three seasons there before going over to Russia.
In Russia Langdon played for CSKA Moscow which happened to be the team that Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov owned at the time. Langdon was a star for CSKA Moscow as he led the team to two championships and was named to the Euroleague All-Decade team for the period spanning from 2001-2010.
It is no secret that the Nets want to model themselves after the Spurs, and they are trying to do so by bringing many members of that organization over to Brooklyn. There have been many that have speculated that the hiring of Langdon only furthers the idea that Ettore Messina will be the Nets' next head coach. Messina is an assistant under Gregg Popovich and was always going to be a candidate for the Nets vacant head coaching position, but hiring two members of the Spurs' organization makes it seem even more likely that will happen now.
