INSIDER: Brooklyn Nets rotation will SURPRISE fans | Ben Saraf and Noah Clowney earn expanded roles?

INSIDER: Brooklyn Nets rotation will SURPRISE fans | Ben Saraf and Noah Clowney earn expanded roles?

Coming up, Ben Saraf and Noah Clowney prepare for expanded roles in a Nets rotation that might look different than some fans expected out of the gate. I’ll dive into all those preseason takeaways and more after this. You are Locked on Nets, your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome in to the Locked On Nets podcast right here on the Locked on Podcast Network. It’s your team, the Brooklyn Nets, every single day. I’m Eric Slater, Brooklyn Netsbeat reporter for clutchpoints.com. Thank you for making me your first listen of the day. This show is 100% free on all those great platforms. And on today’s show, I’m going to be offering some takeaways from the Nets’s first preseason game and training camp as a whole. I’ll touch on several players who could surprise fans out of the gate and how Jordy Fernandez could craft the team’s rotation early in the season. And joining the pod again, we got Lucas Kaplan from Nets Daily back for the second straight today. And Lucas, today we’re going to be giving some takeaways from the Nets first preseason game and also training camp as a whole. But you got an opportunity to watch the film on what the Nets uh put on tape against Hoppel Jerusalem and that riveting contest at Barlay Center on Saturday. Uh so, you know, we’ll touch on a few things, but your top takeaway from that film and what you saw on the court, obviously a mismatch, but what do you got for me? What was the top thing you saw? Oh, man. Do you think Anthony Lamb is close to maybe a two-way look from Long Island? Possible. Possible. Um no. Yeah. Listen, the real the different the NBA is a very good league, I think, is the main by the first the main takeaway. But, um, I I’m like excited. I’m getting excited again. Like, I’m I’m looking forward to see all these guys play. It really put into perspective to me like this is that time of the year. Um, I just realized their two games against the Suns are 8 a.m. and 7 a.m. local time, which is putting a little bit of a dim on it, but I’ll get through it. Lucas isn’t a morning person for those of you who don’t know. So, that’s going to be a change of pace for him. I’m a late night, early morning person. Not a not an 8 a.m. sort of guy. Um, yeah, Saraf looked Listen, I think Saraf, sorry, looked like I think if you asked people in the no, like including, you know, both of us, like I before that game, you know, I was asked on some pod like gunto-head, what do you think the starting five is going to be opening night? And I was like, I I think Ben, right? And I think that you saw why. Like he is legitimately a big very confident ball handling guard. And I said this to you, he’ll miss jumpers, but he won’t look overwhelmed. And like Nolan, conversely, and you know, Jaor has the foot thing. Nolan. Yeah. Let me let me just butt him for a second. This is all the Ben starting is all with the assumption which it’s not an assumption but there seems like it’s trending in a direction where there’s a decent chance that Jayor Deman is not going to be ready for the regular season opener because he has not done contact work yet two weeks out from the Net’s first game and I talked about this on the pod right after the preseason game and some people were like you know Ben starting over Jagor that’s a disaster it’s like no like if Jagor’s healthy he’s probably going to be starting this is with the assumption that Jagor’s out Ben and Nolan being the competition. But also why like also Jake, let’s say he’s ready for that game, right? Let’s say he’s ready for October 22nd off what like two healthy practices like maybe one preseason game. I think it’s fine. And I don’t think it’s a disaster if you know Ben has been healthy all training camp. Probably in a little bit more of a groove, can get the ball where it needs to go. You know, just giving your offense a little bit more of a stable structure, you know, as much as a rookie point guard can actually provide that. So, yeah, that’s fine. And he again, competent ball handler, and I I don’t say that as a backhanded compliment, like just again, I keep using this phrase, professional handle, like the right amount of craft and downhill decision-m, you know, knows where his outlet, his release points are, where the shooters are going to be, you know, how to read the weak side. And I think Nets fans who, you know, didn’t like dive into his Euro League tape or or really keep up with every piece of reporting from training camp kind of see what we see now, which is, yeah, this guy’s probably ready for an NBA look. You know, not that it reflects a ton on his long-term upside, but not super surprising after what we saw on Saturday. Yeah. And when you would juxtapose that to what you saw from Nolan Troy and just what you know about him, what do you think about what you saw on film from him? Because obviously like I think they both looked good. I thought Ben looked better. Again, not going to take like too many huge takeaways from a game against this competition level, but I just my takeaway after that game was I think the pace that Ben is playing with, the size, I think all of that kind of lends itself to him having a little bit more time and space to make decisions and just looking like he’s playing the game a little bit more under control and, you know, through a slower lens as opposed to Nolan who’s kind of just getting downhill and going and that maybe doesn’t always leave as much room for error in terms of the decision-m process and that might play into what you say about the coaches having trust in Ben to get the ball where it needs to be in the right spots. Yeah, I think you can see why the coaches at this point in time would just feel more comfortable with Ben out on the floor than Nolan, you know, if it were an NBA game tomorrow. Nolan is trying to turn the corner, which I love, but if his plan A gets cut off, you know, what’s what’s the plan B? Ben at least we know okay like a retreat dribble you know spin kind of slow down at least at the very least seems like he’ll be able to avoid turnovers and like you know if you think about it like a quarterback the big negative plays like he’ll be able to throw the ball away under pressure right like retreat whatever it’s fine um and Nolan isn’t quite there yet but again like I don’t think that’s a bad thing if you just this is kind of what he looked like last year summer league. This is kind of who Nolan is. And you can see the tools and some of the defensive acumen, right, from time to time with just being quick and the long wingspan, but just going to take a little bit to be ready for consistent onball reps at the NBA level, whereas Ben can probably do a passable job sooner. And it needs to be made clear that this isn’t to say anything about their long-term ceilings. Like the there’s a reason that the Nets picked Nolan. you know, what was it? Seven spots ahead of where they picked Ben. They clearly see a ceiling and a trajectory with Nolan. Not that they don’t see that with Ben, but it would lead you to believe that they were higher on No Nolan in the pre-draft process. This is just out of the gate for a point guard. You know, there’s some things that Nolan’s going to need to improve. Obviously, the size being the biggest one, adding weight to his frame, and also playing with a little bit more pace, a little bit more of an in between game and developing that craft that Ben has out of the gate. some of the physical tools in terms of speed and things like that that Nolan has might lend itself to a higher ceiling. When you look at Ben in this expanded role this season, because I think it’s safe to say at least out of the gate, he’s going to play a lot of minutes, probably going to have the ball in his hands a lot and that might be something that obviously fans weren’t expecting when this draft uh class, you know, came together. What do you think are fair expectations for Ben in this role early? Yeah, I think a lot of the draft stuff too is maybe less so about position and more so the Nets especially because we can see that they had a very consistent philosophy and through line on who they believe to be best player available and what they valued probably just more about like where are these guys going to be available, you know, like is is Nolan going to be available at 26? Probably not. But Ben is okay. Um but I think a fair expectation is at this point, and it’s tough to read a lot into it, probably not a ton of G-League time for him compared to the other rookies. Like, if they if you trust him to be and maybe probably not a great opening night point guard in the NBA, day one of his rookie year, but at least if you’re going to throw him out there, like you have to believe in his current floor a little bit. And so the expectation a good year would be well you’re getting real NBA minutes and you’re showing flashes that you can create downhill and like do some of the stuff you did against good Europe European competition like uh stack you know moves like crossover between the legs spin move to get into the lane again dropping people off with the upper body and if you can just do that enough against NBA comp if you’re starting on night one I don’t want to see it in the G-League I want to see it now I think that’s a fair expectation like and hopefully he’s not, you know, the worst shooter in the league. Um I don’t think he will be, but you know, hopefully he’s making some three-pointers when guys go under and stuff like that. I think it’s fair to expect him to have some positive games in the NBA uh in his rookie season, which is not easy for a guard. No, it’s on. I think it’s it’s fair. You know, Ben has a pretty well-developed skill set for his age. I think that that’s a reason that he’s taken a lot of these Nets players by surprise in training camp and the offseason runs who didn’t really know that much about him. And it’s a reason why, you know, after reviewing some of his tape and looking at stuff, you know, after the pick, I was pretty on board with where the Nets got him with that being a good pick and a good dart throw, a good value ad at that spot in the draft. You know, what would you Yeah. Last thing, what do you say? Like he was the 26th pick in the draft. Like it’s not that common I feel like that you get ball handlers and he still hasn’t played a game against NBA competition yet so we don’t know but the Nets are also trying to tank so there’s not too high expectations for the point guard but you get a guy at that spot who’s going to start at point guard for an NBA team like that obviously says something about the Nets’s tanking agenda but also they’re putting him out there and they trust him to run an off offense confidently and that’s not something that you often see from point guards drafted you know rookie point guards in that draft spot I feel like yeah it’s this thing that I talked talked about last year where we kind of conflate we should conflate floor and ceiling a little bit more because if you can get on the court that’s how you get better like if you can just get yourself playing time it leads to getting better and so Ben at the very least maybe we underrated it maybe I underrated it around draft time but like if he can get on the court this guy can get better and that’s a swing to take at 26 like you know I guess we’ll see how the talent around him in that draft draft slot develops. But I’m not afraid to say like it’s been a good I guess start to his very very brief NBA career and like can at least see the vision with the Nets drafting him. Um that being said, you know, obviously a million miles to go and hopefully a jump shot that is in progress and uh yeah, you know, Nets fans should be I mean not through the roof, but like a little excited about it. at least happy that this guy seems off to a decent little start. He’s got a little bit of uh dog to him. You know, you can tell he gets a little chippy. Like also, how do you think about how do you think he’ll resonate with the fan base out of the gate? Because he’s going to be a guy who has probably the most significant role of the rookie is until Jagor is back at full strength. Like what do you think the fan reaction is going to be to some of the things that he does? I have some hope that there could be some good moments because we have talked about the flash that he has to his game. Like I think that could at least we’ll get some highlight clips like fans might get excited about that stuff. What’s your expectation? I don’t know. I hope it’s not like a bridesmaid thing where people just want to see Jagor and Nolan and are like annoyed, right? But like you should be excited about anything. I mean, they don’t draft a lot of 19-year-olds that contribute in the since coming to Brooklyn. like if he’s contributing, I I expect the fans to be, you know, not like scheduling their days off for the parade in in the spring, but at least allowing themselves to smile. You know, I get a bunch of comments on Nets Daily like enough with all the self flagagillation and like woe is me. I’m like, well, that is kind of a prerequisite for being a Nets fan, but you know, I will allow for some optimism on this one. All right, we got some other Nets takeaways from this preseason action and also from training camp as a whole. Noah Clowny, we got some rotation predictions. We got some other stuff we got to get to. So, we’ll hit on all that and we continue locked on Nets after a quick break. But before that, want to tell you about our friends over at Quo. Guys, one of the tools that helps make a huge difference for business owners is Quo, formerly Open Phone. It’s the same great business phone system you’ve heard me talk about before, just with a new name. And here’s why it matters. Every missed call is money left on the table. When every customer conversation counts, you need a phone system that keeps you connected 24/7. Quo is the number one business phone system that streamlines customer communications. It works right through an app on your phone or computer. So, no more carrying two phones or relying on a landline. I love how Quo, formerly open phone, lets your team share one number and collaborate on calls and texts like a shared inbox. So, no customer gets left hanging. Their built-in AI agent is a gamecher. It can answer afterhour calls, capture leads, and keep business moving even when you’re off the clock. Guys, see why over 90,000 businesses trust Quo, formerly Open Phone. Get started free and get 20% off your first six months at quo.com/lockdownba. That’s quo.com/lockdownba. And if you got existing numbers with another service, Quo will port them over at no extra charge. Quo, no missed calls, no missed customers. Coming back from the break on today’s Locked on Nets episode. Talking with Nets Daily’s Lucas Kaplan given some of our takeaways from Brooklyn’s first preseason game. Lucas just got to watch the tape a little bit delayed. We talked about Ben Saraf at the top, but I think Noah Clowney someone who stood out not necessarily from the production or anything along those lines, but I think from how he looked on the court and it matching kind of the hype and also the eye test of what we’ve gotten to see at Net’s practice and Net’s training camp. So, what do you think about Clowney and what stood out to you about him during his first game action of his third NBA season? He just looks big and like you really notice it after you’re used to just observing him through a screen for two years, then he’s back on the screen. You’re like, “Oh, he looks different and just stronger.” And also like that’ll probably help the release point on his jumper. Just I’m excited for him and and it it did nothing to quell um that excitement. And I hope he gets to play a lot um and soon and can do some very defensive things like he can be a guy that you play as a wing in terms of like switching, you know, he switched a lot of actions and he can also, you know, if you want to really turn up the aggressiveness, like you can trap like a wing to-wing ball screen with him or a guard to wing ball screen, something like that. Like you just want him to be making mistakes out of aggression and trying stuff. And I think he has the body this year to do that. Um, instead of just, you know, what Nets fans don’t want to see and what I totally get is it’s like he plays 25 minutes and it’s like where is Noah Clowny other than taking like five catch and shoot threes standing in the corner. Like can you just do things? This will be a year of doing things I hope. And that added weight obviously that added mass is going to be a big part of that. It sounds like you’re mo you’re more bullish about those standout moments coming on the defensive end of the floor and this added size really, you know, you’re more optimistic that he’s going to have a bigger impact on that end as opposed to him rounding out the less polished aspects of his offensive game which is putting the ball on the floor being an offscript decision maker and creator and things along those lines. Yeah. I mean, and when even when they drafted him, that was clearly very far away. But also like he was really good on defense in the G- League or got a lot better in his rookie year and then he comes up and he’s blocking like five shots and kind of flying around and doing varied things and then we just didn’t really see that last year. and the offense, I think we can all accept, will kind of come and go and he’ll make shots and miss shots and figuring out his role, but defensively it’s like where did that go? You know, the activity. Um, so I’m where do you where do you think it went? Because it’s such a hard thing for me at least to distinguish like why that kind of disappeared from the end of his, you know, rookie year tape to then. And obviously like you always need to take NBA action in March and April with a grain of salt because that’s you know there’s a lot of watered down stuff going on. But he looks so stand out in those games. I mean he had the six block game. He was doing all those things and then in the sophomore season even before the ankle injury it’s like that’s the thing you would point to is oh he was hobbled the whole year but we had like 20 or so games before that and it didn’t feel like that was standing out at all. So do you think it was scheme? Do you think it was just him not being active enough? Like what what do you attribute it to? I think a little bit of scheme. Like I think the Nets under Kevin Ali, right? Am I getting the years right? were and and the hold over from JV were were a little bit more like base, you know, drop coverage, like keep the low man where they are, a little bit less like maintain the shell, less flying around. And I think that helped Noah because it’s like, all right, you’re here, you’re coming over and help, like you’re not really having to fly around and X out and all this stuff. And so I think if you’re looking for a schematic reason under Jordy, they have been more like let’s fly around, we’re breaking the shell, we’re like trapping and hedging and and and recovering for each other. And I think that was a difficult transition for him. And then I think also there’s just like he sprained his ankle four times and just it was just really hard for him to get a rhythm. And I’m willing to kind of just accept that as the primary reason. I think I think the point you made about Jordi Fernandez’s defense is a really good one because that’s something that I’ve asked players about and I’ve heard at training camp Cam Thomas actually a player and I asked him where he thinks he can improve defensively this year and he did say just like understanding of the defensive principles and being more engaged and he said because the way the Nets are playing defense under Jordy Fernandez is a lot more on a string and it’s a lot more involved and there’s a lot more, you know, movement and understanding of defensive principles that have to go in that. So that would, you know, kind of fit along the lines of what you’re saying about Noah, whereas his rookie season it being a little bit of a watered down like stand here, you know, rotate over, get these blocks as opposed to doing all these other things. But I’m excited to see, you know, with Noah, he looks the part. I think it stood out. Like he had one play where Drew Timmy kind of threw him like an alleyoop on a back door and he got up and kind of elevated over the guy and threw it down. And I’m like, those are the athletic flashes that I’m hoping to see obviously on both ends of the floor. and I’m pretty excited that he’ll be able to make those flashes. Anything else from you uh stand out in this game? You know, any other players who you think that kind of jumped off the screen in certain moments? Um, last thing on Noah, I do think he also just had the runup of like, man, I’m getting so much better. I’m playing all the time in the G-League. All right, I’m ready to go in the NBA. And then last year, it’s like, I’m on the bench. I don’t know where my minutes are coming from. Then I hurt. So, I just think that all kind of melded into one big not regression, but a little bit less, you know, of those flashy moments on tape. The other thing from this preseason game, I just they’re going to keep playing an aggressive style of defense. Um, I was kind of looking at Nick Claxton, like I feel like I couldn’t glean much. I you know I mean he is just this interesting almost like elephant in the room this year of we’ve kind of all moved on from his arc but it it’s been weird and up and down from him and he’s still only like 26 you know and I feel so much older than that. It’s like so weird with him seven years and Cam Thomas it’s like I I asked Cam about this at training camp practice. It’s like Cam calls himself an old head. He’s 23. It’s like the weirdest thing. Like some of these guys feel like they’re like seasoned vets and that might be more a testament to how young the NBA is than anything else. And also the roster turnover in Brooklyn I think plays a big part in it too. Yeah, Nick Claxton was teammates with like Jared Allen and uh dig up some other names. David Naba, my David Nwaba, Nets legend for like two weeks. RIP Noa. The only thing I remember about that 2019 2020 team um other than the Caris Levert v Damen Lillard game in the bubble um yeah I am you know curious I like I felt like I just couldn’t glean much from Nick like I just if the athleticism is back and it’s not even so much a Nets thing more about like what is his career going to look like no matter where he is. Um, you know, I just felt like I I I am going to need to see more. I couldn’t really develop like an opinion after one preseason game against an overmatched opponent. Um, what what do you think about the Nets defensive scheme? You said if they’re going to play an aggressive scheme, it’s going to be really involved with all those things. How do you feel about the uh Cam Thomas, Michael Porter Jr. combination in that defensive scheme? I think we’re I did I maybe I mentioned yesterday that one play they were responsible for like exing out on the weak side and they both kind of looked like two outfielders not calling a ball that drops between them. They’re like you you get it. No, you get it. It’s like they’re like staring at each other far. They’re like MPJ’s MPJ’s defensive effort and engagement in this game out of the gate. I wouldn’t I I call it less than stellar to to put it nicely. What’s the antonyym for teach tape? I don’t know. Burn after reading. Um, yeah. I don’t know. I’m not gonna take too much away. Uh, but yeah, it it should be good. It’ll benefit a guy like Danny. I think I I’m I think I’m I guess I’m going against the grain against Consensus. I see him more as like the biggest guy on the court, aka center versus the four. Like, he really is. This has been my main takeaway since they drafted him. Legit 611, 7 feet, maybe legit 250, like big. obviously going to have to trim more of that weight into muscle and just get on the NBA training regimen, but big and long and I think can hang more in the paint. Being smart about like positional contesting and getting his hands in passing lanes, you know, like you get those centers from time to time like Joic or whoever that like average two steals a game and are near the top of the leaderboard. I’m not saying that’ll be him, but that’s more of like a feasible outcome for him to defensive impact rather than like to be a four in this league. Like you got to like X out and and and be too it’s a lot of run. It’s a lot and that that honestly like that was a worry for Noah and like you know it’s still a question mark with Noah. Obviously, we’re talking about his defensive, you know, fall off last year. And I think for Noah and Danny, they’re both these kind of tweeners. And I think defensively, you might see some similarities. I think the difference is Noah has a lot more vertical explosiveness, you know, as like a rim protector and things along those lines, whereas Danny might have a little bit more like weight and mass to him, but doesn’t have that vertical pop. So, it’s different. And then offensively, obviously, like they’re just completely different players. I also think Noah can like flip his hips a little bit more and like kind of live on switches and and you know contain with his length whereas I don’t want Danny Wolf in space. So that was another thing from the preseason game like I’m like yeah I could see Danny as a five in this system where like that’s interesting. He’s hedging and recovering and it probably won’t look great, but you probably need to you probably need to insulate him with like maybe a bigger rim protecting four or something like that. Zier and Noah on the side. Yeah. Yeah, that that’s interesting. And honestly, like I I’m very intrigued by Danny. Intrigued by some comments we got from Jordy Fernandez. Some things, you know, I talked to Danny twice last week. So me and you maybe we might do a whole episode on Danny because I’m interested with what you just said. But I do also think there were some rotation takeaways from this game, particularly obviously with the point guard battle and also at the bottom of the roster. So what were those and how do we feel about them? We’ll get to all that. We close out locked on Nets after a quick break. This episode is brought to you by Prize Pick. Every day we make decisions, but on Prize Picks, being right can actually get you paid. Don’t miss the excitement of this football season with Prize Pick where it’s good to be right. Playing prospects is such a fun, simple way to add more excitement to football. You just pick more or less on player projections like Josh Allen’s passing yards or Saquon Barkley rushing for a touchdown and you’re in the game. Guys, I love how quick it is. You can make your lineup in just under a minute. My favorite part, prize picks, just added stacks. So, if I want to ride with a player, I can select their pass yards, rush yards, and touchdowns all in one lineup. It’s also fun to follow other players in the app and copy their lineups with one click. Guys, download the Prize Picks app today and use code lockdown NBA to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $ five dollar lineup. That’s code lockdown NBA for $50 in lineups after your first $5 lineup prize picks. It’s good to be right. Coming back from the break, closing out today’s Locked on Nets episode, talking with Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily with some takeaways from Brooklyn’s first preseason game and just things we’re hearing overall at training camp. I do think that while you can’t always take so much away from preseason rotations, I do think there were some telling developments with how Jordy Fernandez handled this with all these guys. You know, there’s, you know, 18 guys available for this preseason game or whatever it was. What did you take away rotationally? You know, was the biggest thing? And also just things you’re hearing from training camp, like what’s the most surprising or biggest rotation development that you’re looking at right now? I mean, I think other than Ben leaping to the top of the point, like, dude, there’s so many guys there’s so many guys that like have a case for minutes, you know? Like, if we’re being real and it’s merit-based, like Kobe should probably play more than the other young guards other than Cam Thomas. And like I know Haywood Heismith’s not healthy right now, but I’m sure he feels like he deserves minutes, you know, being a a piece on a on a finals team, right? Like that and the Nets are going to want to the Nets probably want to flip him. So, they’re going to want to play him right out of the gate. My question is just like, listen, I just keep coming back to the front office and like in the organization, how aggressive are you going to be tanking this year? Because if you’re not that aggressive, there’s no way you can get all 14 of these guys playing time. Like someone is going to be benched and it’s just going to be tough. I mean, Drake is going to be in Long Island, right? Yeah, that’s that’s what I was Nolan. Like I think Nolan I think Nolan, Drake, and Danny Danny are gonna be early, you know, they’re going to have like residency at Nassau Coliseum out of the gate. And I don’t think like some Nets fans might be annoyed by that or frustrated by that, but it’s just a reality of the situation because if you look at this first, you have a guy like Haywood Highmith like in regard to like say Drake’s position. The Nets are going to want to play him if he’s healthy just because they’re going to want to trade him. And you could say that shouldn’t be a priority like whatever. He’s only going to get you a second round pick. I’m sure the Nets want that second round pick. And Shawn Marks wants to say that he got him, you know, alongside a second round pick and flipped him for another second round pick. And like is that does that have no significance? Like I don’t I don’t think that’s the worst thing in the world, but there’s just there’s a lot of guys like you’re saying like look at the wing rotation. You have Terrence, you have Haywood, you have Zire, you have obviously MPJ bigger wing, but there’s just all of those guys. So outside of the point guard, and then if you’re talking about Danny Wolf, I mean, you have at both positions, you have Nick and Dron ahead of him at center, and then you have MPJ and Noah ahead of him at forward. And you know, those guys are going to have to spend some time in Long Island out of the gate. And you don’t want to clip Jord’s wings entirely. Like he keeps like you, you know, Nets fans roll their eyes and I get it. But like they played hard last year. They were by all accounts a well coached team, right? And like fun to be around. There was something of like a culture happening. You wanted to be in the building, right? And so if a bedrock of that is, yeah, we’re going to play the guys that do the right thing and and execute my principles, right? And you come in and like Heywood Heismith knows where to be on defense all the time and Terrence man is like making the right rotations and doing what is asked of him even if he’s only shooting 29% from three. It’s you’re not it’s a weird look to play Drake Powell over these guys. Especially Drake you can’t you just it doesn’t work like that. It’s not how Yeah, it’s it’s not how the NBA works. You also you get a bad rep around the league if you trade for these vets and then you especially some of which are in contract years like Haywood and then you bury them on the bench and you do some of these things and you start messing with their money and things along those lines like unless there’s warrant to it, right? which in this case they’re I guess you could say there’s warrant to playing the rookies ahead of them just because of where the Nets are at, but it’s it’s it’s a slippery slope I would say with that stuff. Especially if they’re doing what’s asked of them and like they’re I would put my life on the line that they’re a little bit more impressive in training camp than these rookies that have never played. Um you know, that being said, them, as you said, being down in Long Island is good. I think the big rotational takeaways is that it’s going to be what we’ve said, veteranheavy, and then it’s going to look a little bit like last season where they lean into the young guys a little bit more down the stretch. You know, the first Nick Claxton or Dron Sharp twoe injury, you’ll probably see more Danny, right? Yes. Or or Zier or Noah if you want to try to play him a little bit more at the four. Um but and I’d expect trades, you know, in addition to the injuries, like there’s going to be trades. Haywood I would definitely point to if the Nets if Cam Thomas comes out of the gate hot. I think that a Cam Thomas trade could come early in the year similar to what we saw with Dennis Shruder last year. We got like three more minutes here, but last thing I want to close it out on is the Nets do have like I I saw an article today from Bleacher Report that was doing win loss projections for every team and they said 16 and 66 for the Nets and I was like I get it. like they’re going to they have a ton of all the incentive in the world to be really bad, but I went through it and like they do have a lot of capable guys who have been in playoff rotations before. What are your feelings with all these guys that are going to be getting minutes early as we just said? Are you are are you like you spoke about this in the past a little bit, but are you buying into could there be a hotter start than expected like there was last year or do you think that the ball handling limitations and all that is just going to handicap them where that’s not really in the cards? That’s a good question. It’s kind of what I’m struggling with. I think there will be something similar to last year where again they just have a decent game plan and like they’re rolling out a lot of quality NBA players. Yeah, I don’t know. The drop off from from Dennis Shruder on a heater to like Yeah, that’s where I’ve landed. The rookies and like right you slide Cam Thomas over to the one maybe sometimes primary ball handling like between even CJ even CJ to MPJ I think there’s going to be Yeah. I I just I’m also trying not to like get too excited about the Ben Saraf versus Havo Jerusalem tape. Like we’ll see it against NBA teams this weekend and then we’ll have a decision on that. Last thing uh before we close it out, just the Nets started obviously what was it 10 and 11 last year out of the gate and that was like nobody ever saw that coming. 21 games say same sample size. Give me your record prediction. I think they were nine and 10 but uh nine and 10. Okay. 20 games. Give me your Give me your record prediction. See, I could load up the schedule and go through it, but I’ll say six and 13. Okay. I was going to say I was Yeah, I was going to say five wins. That was where I landed. So, you know, I think I think it’ll be slightly I think it’ll be worse than last year by a decent amount, but I think that they’ll be in some games that might surprise people. That’s the other thing. It was really they had a wild clutch time just like hot start last year which you would just expect to regress and like you know I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the fact that I thought Dorian was just like a really reliable dependent as well as he could have played at the beginning of last year and like Zier and Noah just aren’t that good. Aren’t as good as right now. So yeah, I’m I’m with you on six wins. But again, I think the story of the season is like how aggressive are they willing to get with this tank? I have no idea. And we’ll have conversations. We could do a whole pot on that down the line and I think we will. But Lucas, we got more Nets basketball. You’ll be up bright and early and uh yeah, I think we’ll uh we’ll circle back. We’ll talk about those games and we’ll have some other stuff that we get back to. So, appreciate you taking the time as always, man. That does it for today’s episode of Block.net. Hope you guys enjoyed the talk with Lucas. If you do not already, make sure to subscribe to Lockdown Nets on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast, whether Apple Podcast or Spotify. If you have a second and you enjoy the content, smash that like button, leave a comment, leave a fivestar review. Anything you can do to engage, much appreciated. We got more Nets preseason action coming up. We got more practices, a lot more going on. So, I have all that and more when I’m back tomorrow talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball.

Erik Slater and Lucas Kaplan offer takeaways from the Brooklyn Nets’ first preseason game. They outline how Ben Saraf and Noah Clowney could exceed expectations and why Jordi Fernandez’s regular-season rotation could surprise fans.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-nets/

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

📲 Follow Locked On Nets on Socials
Locked On Nets https://twitter.com/LockedOnNets

#BrooklynNets #NBA