The Brooklyn Nets are admittedly rebuilding. The strategic approach has the franchise looking to use their future draft capital to secure the right pieces. Maybe the No. 1 pick falls to them in the Draft Lottery and they acquire Duke freshman star Cooper Flagg, who, along with his teammates, practiced at the Nets’ HSS Training Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn last week before before crushing Illinois 110-67 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Flagg or another talented teenager, perhaps Rutgers’ Ace Bailey or Dylan Harper, both who are also projected top five picks, can be the foundation of a potential Nets championship team down the line. However, going into their game last night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, which had the Western Conference’s best record at 46-11, the Nets, despite being 15 games under .500 with a mark of 21-36, were only 1 1/2 games behind the 23-35 Chicago Bulls for the last play-in tournament spot in the Eastern Conference. The Nets are the 11th seed while the Bulls are the 10th seed.
Nets rookie head coach Jordi Fernandez has managed significant changes to his roster this season, including the team trading Dennis Schroder (Golden State) and Dorian Finney-Smith (Los Angeles Lakers) in December. Yet the 42-year-old Fernandez has his players being competitive on a nightly basis, which his peers have noticed.
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“I think I said this last time I was here, you know, with Jordi, I feel like I’m watching a FIBA team, you know, and that’s a real compliment,” former Nets head coach and current Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson said last when the Cavs defeated the Nets 110-97 in Brooklyn.
“Extreme physicality and I think they’re fouling a lot,” added Atkinson, “which is fine. They’ve made a commitment. They have an identity. They’re physical.
Atkinson, one of the favorites for NBA Coach of the Year, with his Cavaliers at 47-10, the top record in the East, when they played the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, also remarked that the Nets’ aggressiveness on the glass and defensively results in increased scoring opportunities.
“They attack the offensive board, so they’re going for the possession game, like full out, and it’s translating to wins, so a ton of credit to Jordi and the players over in that locker room, really impressive.”
Brooklyn is hoping their newest addition, guard Killian Hayes, can give them productive bench minutes as guard Cam Thomas, who was averaging 24.7 points this season but has played in just 19 games, works his way back toward a return. Thomas has been out since January 2 with a hamstring strain. Hayes, who was drafted in 2020 by the Detroit Pistons with the seventh overall pick, scored seven points in Monday 107-99 road loss to the Washington Wizards, where he played 25 minutes.
“I think he did a good job sharing the basketball,” Fernandez said after the game. “I need him to be aggressive as well … and I want him to shoot more threes. Not enough. I need to see him letting it fly.”
Hayes has made under 28% of his 600 plus career three-point attempts.
Brooklyn will host the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday night at the Barclays Center before heading to Detroit to face the Pistons on Saturday, followed by a game on Tuesday in San Antonio against the Spurs.
