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Jarrett Jack, forgotten man in Brooklyn Nets off-season

By Net Income
David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

In a normal off-season, the arrival of Jarett Jack would have gotten a lot more attention. He is, along with Bojan Bogdanovic, the Nets biggest off-season acquisition. But in a season where the focus is clearly on the team's two best players' recovery from injury; Mason Plumlee's rise; and questions, now answered, about Kevin Garnett's return, Jack's arrival has been treated as somewhat of an after-thought.

That's about to change. He'll get a lot of attention starting in training camp.  Deron Williams appears to be healthy and ready to go, hopefully eliminating one reason for getting Jack -- as D-WIll insurance. But the other reasons, having a solid vet as a back-up and a gifted scorer to play next to D-Will, remain important.

The Nets got Jack, Sergey Karasev (and a small trade exception) for Marcus Thornton in a three-team deal after Shaun Livingston opted to go for the big bucks in Golden State. Jason Kidd wanted Jack instead of Thornton at the trade deadline. Acquiring Jack, say league sources, was Kidd's top priority at the deadline and he was not pleased Billy King went for Thornton..

King preferred to go for Thornton, an expiring deal, and think about getting Jack in the off-season. Kidd was gone by July but King and the Nets still wanted Jack and the Cavs were willing to give him and Karasev up so they could dump salary for their LeBron James-driven remake. (And Boston's $10.4 million trade exception from the Pierce-Garnett trade was ironically the mechanism used to make the three-team deal work.)

Now the question is, as Ohm Youngmisuk asks, is this: can Jack replace Livingston? And as a subset of that question, did the Nets acquire the Jarrett Jack who averaged 15.6 points and 6.3 assists for New Orleans in 2011-12 and averaged 17.2 points and 4.7 assists in the 2013 playoffs ... or the Jack who fell off dramatically last season in Cleveland? No doubt he is the anti-Livingston in that terms of strengths and weaknesses. Livingston could defend but couldn't shoot. Jack can shoot but his defense is a question mark.

Lionel Hollins will make the decision on how to use Jack, but he has few options other than Jack at this point. He may think Marquis Teague has potential,but it's doubtful he's going to rise to the occasion this season.  Jorge Gutierrez isn't even guaranteed and although Markel Brown thinks he can play the point, that thinking isn't necessarily shared by those who make the decisions.

It's not that he's unexcited. He tweeted this on Wednesday...

The Nets have a lot invested in Jack ... $6.3 million this season, another $6.3 million next season and a $500,000 guarantee in 2016-17.  They're about to find out how big of  a gamble he is.

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