Dating back to 2010, when Mikhail Prokhorov first became the team's majority owner, the Brooklyn Nets have dedicated most of their time and resources to dodging patience and process.
Trading for Deron Williams, acquiring Joe Johnson, mortgaging the future for Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, dealing for Thaddeus Young—that was more the Nets' speed.
Those moves came to define them. They chased immediate fixes without ever procuring permanent answers, slowly chipping away at their foundation until there was no way out—no slapstick solution to mask longstanding need for direction.