The Nets have selected 18-year old power forward Derrick Favors with the 3rd overall pick of the NBA Draft. He is a big guy at 6′10″, 246 pounds so he could get a lot bigger. Favors played in 36 games (35 starts) at Georgia Tech last season and he averaged 12.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 2.1 blocked shots per game. Teaming Favors with center Brook Lopez give the Nets an outstanding set of young big men to build the franchise around. I look for the Nets to try to move Yi Jianlian in this draft as they don’t likely want anyone blocking Favors on the roster.

The Nets own the #3, #27 and #31 overall picks in tomorrow night’s NBA Draft. The Nets have been in contact with the Hornets trying to pry Chris Paul away from them and it could happen tomorrow night as the Nets have offered the #3 overall pick and Devin Harris for him. If the Nets don’t trade away the #3 pick then they will likely decide between power forward Derrick Favors and small forward Wesley Johnson. I think they will lean more towards Johnson because their are a lot of free agents that are power forwards and the Nets certainly have the cash to nab one of them. But if they are going hard after LeBron James then Favors is the pick. It will be interesting to see how active the Nets are going to be tomorrow night as they have the ammo to make some big trades.

The Nets have traded 23-year old shooting guard Chris Douglas-Roberts to the Nets for a 2nd round pick in 2012. Douglas-Roberts played in 67 games (38 starts) last season for the Nets and he averaged 25.8 minutes, 9.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. He played in 111 games (41 starts) in his two years with the Nets and he averaged 20.8 minutes, 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. I don’t like this move for the Nets unless it’s part of a bigger plan to clear cap space to bring in free agents.

The Nets have signed 45-year old Avery Johnson to be the new head coach. Details have not been released yet. Johnson last coached in 2007-08 with the Dallas Mavericks. Johnson has a career record of 194-70 (73.5) during the regular season. He is also 23-24 (48.9%) in the post season in his NBA career. He led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals during the 2005-06 where they were defeated 4-2 by the Heat. He won the Coach of the Year Award that season.

With the Nets getting the #3 selection in the NBA Draft it makes perfect sense that they will keep 27-year old point guard Devin Harris. If the Nets had won the lottery they would have likely drafted John Wall out of Kentucky and traded Harris. Harris played in 64 games (61 starts) for the Nets last season and he averaged 34.7 minutes, 16.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He has now played in 158 games (152 starts) in his three years with the Nets and he has averaged 35.1 minutes, 18.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, 6.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game. The Nets should see by now that Harris is a player to build around not one to trade unless they get an offer that they can’t refuse.