In a game against their closest lottery rival, the Nets not only got back injured regulars Cam Johnson and D'Angelo Russell but led wire-to-wire in a comprehensive 132-114 rout of the Trail Blazers.
Brooklyn's GM Sean Marks has collected not just the NBA's biggest horde of draft picks (31) but also the league's largest cache of cap space ($65 million) to build a strong team.
The win moved the Nets a half-game ahead of Portland in the standings - or more accurately, dropped them from sixth to seventh in the lottery standings.
A team has to weigh the potential of a pick, the worth of every prospect, and the benefit of the experience its young players get in a tank against the damage that all those inevitable losses can inflict.
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