Sean Marks Nets, States Vision For Nets

JULIE JACOBSON/AP

Nets new GM Sean Marks may need GPS - Nets fans and Brooklynites will have to forgive newly minted general manager Sean Marks for slipping up during the opening remarks of his introductory press conference on Friday, where he said he hopes to “capture all that I’ve learned and bring it to New Jersey.”

Although he spent 12 years as a self-described “journeyman” player in the NBA and several more as an executive – including the last five apprenticing with the model franchise of the league in San Antonio – Marks, after all, was once “just a little boy from New Zealand.”

Beyond one misspoken geographical gaffe about the Nets’ former home, the 40-year-old Marks confidently outlined his “vision” in taking the job after owner Mikhail Prokhorov upped the team’s offer and convinced him to leave the Spurs and take a reported four-year contract to help turn around the Nets.

“The family that I came from, the Spurs organization, to end up here, is special to me,” Marks said before the Nets beat the Knicks at Barclays Center. “I have a clear vision what I’d like to implement here. I’m realistic about the goals and the challenges that are ahead of me, for sure. That goes without saying, but I’m in a great environment with a great group of people.

“My time spent with Mr. Prokhorov and the rest of the Nets’ group here led me to do this. We have a similar vision and I’m privileged to have had the opportunity in San Antonio and to be around really great staff members, both Coach Pop (Gregg Popovich) and (GM) R.C. Buford were tremendous mentors for me. With what I’ve learned from them, to be honest, it’s time for me to see if I can do this, but it’s not on my own. It will be a collaborative approach.”

Nets chairman of the board Dmitry Razumov, on the dais in place of Prokhorov, said the billionaire owner introduced the new GM to players and the coaching staff earlier in the day, but “chose not to distract the spotlight from Sean.”

Razumov said the Nets, who fired coach Lionel Hollins and reassigned GM Billy King on Jan. 10, “didn’t rush and did extensive due diligence in this (hiring) process.” Eight candidates were interviewed, Razumov said, with that list also reportedly including former Raptors president Bryan Colangelo and Nuggets assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas.

“It was unanimous by our decision-making committee, and we knew immediately that this was our guy,” Razumov said.

Still, there is much work to do for Marks and the Nets, who have a record of 15-40 under Hollins and interim coach Tony Brown — and no first-round pick in this summer’s draft (traded to Boston in the 2013 trade for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce).

“By no means is this a wasted year,” Marks said. “We have some really talented young guys on this team that need to be developed, and we have a culture that needs to be set, and that’s from Day 1. … Everything I do with the organization behind me is going to help set that culture.”

Asked later about implementing the famed Spurs way, however, Marks also warned: “It’s something special there, but I think culture is something that gets thrown around pretty loosely. … The people within the organization are going to define this culture.”

Marks, who officially was hired Thursday on the day of NBA trade deadline, hopes to accomplish that as quickly as possible.

“It was an interesting 24 hours, I’ll tell you that, because, the night before I was working for another team. (The Spurs) quickly kicked me out of the room and I got on the phone with the Nets here,” Marks joked. “Sometimes the best thing you can do is not doing anything (at the deadline).

“So for me it was important for me to get up here to evaluate this roster and we didn’t want to jump to any conclusions or do anything drastic.”