Brooklyn Nets General Manager Sean Marks. Photo / Getty
Brooklyn Nets General Manager Sean Marks. Photo / Getty
The city which never sleeps is deep in the REM cycle - though not by choice.
The yellow cabs aren't being hailed down and speeding off. The fumes of cheap pizza aren't wafting through the streets, drawing people into stores to indulge. Even in the middle of April, Frank Sinatra's "New York New York" can't be heard blearing out over Yankee Stadium.
It's a state that's struggling, and it's eerie.
"It's been a trying time. But you hope you see the best in humanity," Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks tells the Herald.
The Kiwi, like most people living in America, is stuck at home.
For Marks, there's no noise of basketballs bouncing in a gym, shoes scuffing on the floor or players talking, laughing and yelling. There isn't the regular knock on his office door as another athlete, coach, or other staff member wants to have a chat – but the phone still rings, probably more so than usual.
"I've commandeered the master bedroom and I roam around the house on all sorts of calls. But when you've got four rambunctious boys who are all home-schooling and needing to burn off some energy, it does make it a bit of a tough task to find somewhere quiet."
That means Marks the GM sometimes has to become Marks the referee or mediator.
"We have the basement downstairs where the boys have their one-on-one or two-on-two matches, so they're getting after it and burning off some steam. It often ends in a sore loser or some tears, but that's to be expected."
In between wiping cheeks, pumping up balls and deciding whether it was a deep two or a fair three, Marks still has an NBA franchise to run.
"It's been weird to say the least," he concedes. "I probably haven't spent six weeks at home in over 20 years. That's taken some getting used to. But the priority has always been for everyone - get your own health and your family's health sorted. Work can wait. This pandemic transcends this silly game of basketball."
But as familiar as talking hoops is to him, this new way of living may as well be a completely different sport.
"I'm the first to admit I don't know what I'm doing during this time. There isn't a rulebook, and I'm sure I've screwed up plenty of times. So it's just a matter of appealing to each individual and their personalities and family dynamic and needs.
"It's far more than 'if you need me then I'm here'. We're looking over 200 staff and players who are quarantined. That means delivering food to these guys or attending to personal needs. It's also about what are we doing for the community."
Brooklyn Nets General Manager Sean Marks. Photo / Getty
The lockdown began frantically for Marks and the Nets. They were in the middle of a West Coast road trip when they were told they'd be playing without crowds. That resulted in leaving travelling parties in Los Angeles, while the team moved on to San Francisco for a game against the Golden State Warriors.
"And then when everything got called off - we had to get everyone back together and fly back to Brooklyn and New York as fast as we could, just because we didn't know if we would get quarantined in another state or hotel."
There were multiple people involved with the team who had Covid-19 symptoms, but ended up testing negative. Since then, Marks has been working with the rest of the league - firstly trying to understand the situation, and then act as best they can.
"I've had multiple, if not daily conversations with other GMs around the league. Our commissioner [Adam Silver] has shown to be extremely creative and a great humanitarian, so we know his priorities are in the right place. I think we'll get through this, but when we come out, and what it looks like, nobody knows."
Marks has two further big tasks on his hands. He currently doesn't have a head coach. The Nets and Kenny Atkinson mutually agreed to part ways last month, and his replacement still hasn't been named, with Jacque Vaughn, Atkinson's assistant coach, serving as interim coach.
"Everything is on the backburner with that. It's not a priority for us right now." Marks insists. "We're going to give our current coaching staff 100 per cent support, and navigate how or if the season unfolds.
"This would've been the case regardless of the current situation. This pandemic's put a hindrance on a lot of the way we conduct business. But it's enabled us to think and debrief and wonder if we were doing it right in the first place."
Sean Marks talks with former San Antonio Spurs teammate Manu Ginobli at the FIBA World Cup. Photo / Getty
He also has the small matter of a draft, which is currently scheduled for late June. Based on their record at the time of the league's suspension, the Nets are unlikely to be high in the lottery, meaning they'll probably miss out on even getting a chance to pick former New Zealand Breakers guard RJ Hampton. Not that Marks is even entertaining the idea of a poetic relationship with a man who played in the same area he grew up in.
"That's one thing I'm not allowed to talk about!" he laughs. "I think we'll be looking at a lot of guys, so to single out one or two I'm not allowed to do."
So, for Marks, it's back to the phone calls, back to the master bedroom, and back to helping his wife run their four-student school.
