Next up is the much-maligned Keith Van Horn (mainly because he was overhyped), who arrived in New Jersey via a draft-day trade after he was chosen second overall in 1997.  Van Horn proved immediately that he was a more than capable scorer with a 19.8 points per Game Average, and he would exceed that the following season with a career-high 21.8 PPG, which led the Nets and ranked fifth overall.  He would also have 8.5 Rebounds per Game, a number he equaled the following season.  While his numbers would recede following the arrival of Jason Kidd in the 2001/02 season, he was a large part of why the Nets reached the Finals, and it was his bucket that was the game-winner in their Conference Final against the Boston Celtics.  He would be traded after that year to the team that drafted him, the Philadelphia 76ers.

Named the National College Player of the Year as a senior at the University of Cincinnati, Kenyon Martin was the first overall draft pick of the 2000 Draft, where, for the New Jersey Nets, he was the runner-up for the Rookie of the Year Award, losing to Mike Miller.  Jason Kidd would join Martin, and they helped reverse the fortunes of the Nets, who would make back-to-back NBA Finals, but his best season was 2003/04, which would also be his last in a New Jersey uniform.  He matched his 16.7 Points per Game average of the year before, but averaged 9.5 Rebounds and was chosen for the All-Star Game, the only one he would be selected for.

From Princeton of the Ivy League, Brian Taylor would become the starting Point Guard for the New York Nets, where he would dazzle fans on the way to winning the American Basketball Association Rookie of the Year Award.

In terms of overall talent, few could match Rick Barry.  Actually, the same could also be said about overall bad temperament, as few were as surly as the Basketball Hall of Famer.