The Nets may have only won 20 games last season, but the newcomers have already brought a winning mentality to the building.
At the Nets’ rookie news conference and basketball clinic Monday afternoon, Mikel Brown Jr., the sixth overall pick, said he recently spoke with veteran Julius Randle and that the team plans to “shock the world” next season by winning more than people expect.
“[Randle] “Man, the best thing he said was, ‘We’re going to shock the world with our competitiveness or try to bring this winning culture,’” Brown said.
“It’s just going to take day by day, step by step, getting just 1% better every day. I think that goes a long way.”
While Brown was unable to attend the Knicks’ championship parade on June 13, he said he was inspired by what the Nets’ crosstown rivals have accomplished recently and hopes he can bring the title to Brooklyn.
“It’s a dream to win a world championship. [The Knicks] “We’ve cemented history forever, that’s the goal,” Brown said. “And it shows you what it could be like in this city. Obviously we’d like to have it here on the other side of the bridge. That’s what we’re trying to strive for.”
If the Nets hope to shock the world next season, whether that’s a playoff appearance or just a huge improvement, there’s a chance their success will be similar to when Randle surprisingly led the Knicks to the playoffs in 2021.
The Knicks were coming off a terrible 21-45 season with little hope, but with first-year coach Tom Thibodeau at the helm, the team defied the odds and won 41-31, earning the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Much of that success is due to Randle’s heroics, as he earned Second Team All-NBA honors after averaging 24.1 points per game.
As is the case now with the Nets, he was surrounded by a lot of young talent with the Knicks such as players like RJ Barrett, Obi Toppin and Immanuel Quickley.
“It makes me proud that we all want to win right away,” Nets rookie Joshua Jefferson said. “We’re not going to be satisfied with losing or playing below our standards, so that’s the thing that’s going to be big for us, playing above our standards and competing every night.”
“I think that’s great,” No. 43 pick Tyler Bilodeau said of the Nets’ desire to shock the world. “That’s what it’s all about. And I think we have the tools to do it.”
After the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving-James Harden era ended without a Conference Finals appearance and with ongoing turmoil, the Nets have embarked on a youth movement in the last two seasons.
In 2025, the Nets had five first-round picks and kept them all, taking Igor Demin, Nolan Traoré, Drake Powell, Ben Saraf, and Danny Wolf.
With Brown and Jefferson, they add two more first-round picks in 2026.
But at the same time, general manager Sean Marks is also trying to stay competitive — evident with the addition of veterans Michael Porter Jr. and more recently Randle.
For Marks, having so many young players and so many veteran players is about balance and ensuring good development for the starters and sophomores.
“I think it’s important to surround this group of young juniors and our sophomores with the right kind of veterans, right?” Marx said. “We hope that these vets that come to us are professionals. They know our habits, and that’s how you get to where you have a 15-year career. So learning from them is going to be really important.”
“Learning from the sophomores is important. They’ve felt what it feels like to play an NBA game,” Marks said of the junior’s development. “I think it was 6,400 minutes [that the Nets rookies played last year]which are all kinds of records for beginners to play, but that’s exactly what we were hoping to do last year.
Marks added that the Nets’ rookie players will get strong self-motivation when seeing the athleticism and speed of actual NBA players.